It's not for lack of trying. Retailers have spent years and millions of dollars lobbying for tighter rules on "interchange fees"—the non-negotiable 1.6% or so merchants pay to card-issuing banks each time a consumer buys something using a card. At an Oct. 8 hearing the House Financial Services Committee heard a small-store owner describe excessive and opaque fees the industry claims aren't held in check by competition and can wipe out already thin retail profit margins. Kathy Miller, owner of a grocery store in the 961-person town of Elmore, Vt., told the committee she may as well give small-ticket items away free because selling them costs her money after the interchange fees are accounted for. Currently, merchants are barred from demanding a minimum price for credit-card purchases. "We can't keep absorbing these fees," Miller said. "Some days I feel like I should just turn my keys in."
