Or open a bar tab

4 $ a drink loosing money ?

alchool 0.60/0.80 cnd avrg an ounce ... probably 20 cent for wahtever else is in it . still less then a buck ... how can he loose money ?

But processing a CC for every drink is a pain in the ass ...

The cost of a drink is much more than the ingredients. Insurance, leases, alcohol license, labor, processing fee, transaction cost, etc. There are plenty of bars and restaurants that are losing money even though the price per item is well above the cost.

I am sure that a Bar has a high charge back ratio, as men that go out with friends and girlfriends have no other way to defend themselves when the wife finds out. So they charge back.

Visa's regs are very clear.. if they don't want to pay the fees for transactions under $15, then they shouldn't be accepting Visa at all.

What gets me is the places that won't take AMX because of the extra 1% fee.. what BS :2 cents:

You shouldn't be going to the bar if you're squawking at a 15 dollar minimum :1orglaugh

Are you insane? You call what payment methods they accept as screwing over the consumer???

Read the thread again, Alan. What I'm saying is that charging miniums for credit cards is screwing over the customers. If they put a VISA logo on their door, that tells the consumer "we accept credit cards as a payment method". Not "we'll take your credit card contingent upon you spending $XX."

Anyway, the problem has nothing to do with me not wanting to spend a certain amount of money. It has everything to do with being required to do so.

Exactly. And it's beyond me that people can't see that.

open a tab. when you leave i guarantee its over 15 bucks especially at 8 bucks a drink in sf on van ness.

Read the post again. I do not care if the tab is $1000 at the end of the night.

I have never spent less than $15 in a bar since I am often the most well off person there I usually pick up the tab.

To be honest, you seemed like the most unintelligent 'guest' he has probably ever had in his bar...

Small businesses have a tough time as it is with covering their merchant fees ...

Many businesses have a minimum not because credit cards are a hassle to process or anything, but rather because many processors charge a flat fee of around $0.50 or so for each transaction *in addition* to the percentage of the transaction. Small businesses have little to no leverage when negotiating with a credit card processor unlike big businesses, such as Wal-Mart, Target, etc.

It's the flat-rate part that can really hurt margins and thus many businesses, in particular small ones, requiring a minimum purchase of around $10 to $20.

Ron