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Does anyone know WHY these morons can't see past their fucking 3% loss and realise they're losing MUCH more than this by not taking VISA at all???
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I think there are two major reasons, the first being that the majority of customers aren't trying to pay via credit card - if they were, you'd see the restaurants accepting cards in no time - and the second being a matter of convenience for both the merchant and the customers. It's easier to run an all-cash business. Accepting credit cards comes with its own set of contingencies (customer's card is declined, customer pitches a fit, swears up and down he just used that card 15 minutes ago without a problem, screams loudly enough for all other customers to hear, etc.) which interrupt the streamlined "efficiency" of a fast food joint.
The only marginally "fast" food places around here that I know for a fact take credit cards are the pizza places. They pretty much have to, because if you're having a party and you order 6 or 8 pizzas at 10 bucks a pop you're getting beyond the average cash carry limit of most people. I tend to carry between 20 and 50 bucks on me, and in terms of the people I know, that seems to be about the norm. Plenty to pay for a dinner at Wendy's, or a fillup at the gas station, or a case of beer. The card comes out when it's time to buy 200 bucks worth of groceries.
When was the last time you went to a fast food place to order food for a large group, or spent more than $20 in one go? I've charged pizzas before when the bill came out over 50 bucks, but I've never tried at BK or McDonald's (and I don't see any swipers, so I don't think they take cards at all). Around here the average 500%-RDA-of-saturated-fat value meal at just about any fast food joint runs around $4.50, so even the guy ordering for himself, his wife, and his two kids can pay with a $20 and change, and be outta there. No swiping, no signing, no receipt to save, and one less entry on that month's bill to review.
On a road trip last summer, we stopped at a rest area and one of the friends I was travelling with was exasperated that the vending machines only took cash. He made a comment along the lines of "I wish this damn thing took credit cards, I didn't bring anything but 20's." I sat there in awe for a minute. I mean, seriously. If you don't have a dollar on you, you don't
deserve to use a fucking Coke machine! We can exit at the next burg and you can go buy a 12-pack at the Shell station with your credit card, for god's sake (or you can bum a buck off me). Every purchase on the planet does not need to support a credit card.
Cash is convenient, fast food is convenient, cash and fast food seem to go hand in hand. If they ever start taking credit cards in drive-thrus and I gotta sit behind 4 soccer moms in their Expeditions while each of their charges are authorized in turn - and one of them sits around protesting the fact that the $8 on her Amex was declined, holding up the line for 5 more minutes - I'm gonna flip my windshield wiper fluid sprayers around so they point forward, and fill the reservoir with goat's blood. A-spraying I will go at such inconveniences.
But that's just me...
And right now I want a 9-piece nuggets with a chocolate shake. Dammit, McD's doesn't sell nuggets at 6AM.