Interesting that you mentioned a surcharge on card payments. In the US we have the opposite. Cards have cash back programs that give basically a floor of 1% back on every purchase. Depending on the card you have, it can be a lot more. Now we have the Fold card that gives cash back in Bitcoin. As you can imagine, it heavily incentivizes everyone to use a card for everything. Unless these programs go away, I have a hard time seeing cash getting a lot of use in the US.
Vendors in U.S. must pay a fee to have credit card / contactless services etc? In New Zealand it is often passed onto the consumer. Especially at smaller stores you will be prompted on the payment terminal to accept a $0.15 fee for Visa PayWave etc.
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Yes, merchants in the US pay a fee to payment processors. I think it can range from 1-5%. It's transparent to the consumer, though.
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