A lot of people use credit cards because they want 1.5% cash back or reward points and miles. But what they don't understand is that merchants are forced to increase the price of their goods sometimes upwards of 7%-15% just to make up for all the credit card processing merchant fees. Merchants are not volunteer charity organizations who are going to happily "eat" the processing fee on behalf of the customer. Merchants all know that card companies suck, but customers "demand" the store accepts their card because they really want that 1.5% cash back.

So they will raise the price of the items by 7%, give 7% to the credit card company. Then the credit card company gives you 1.5% as cash back, and keeps the 5.5% as their own for being the middleman. The customer is excited and jumps in joy for effectively paying 5.5% more than they really needed to and thinking that they got rewarded. The customer is an idiot.

The evil part of this scam is that once credit cards are widely accepted and prices are locked to the credit card price, then everyone who is NOT taking advantage of the credit card suffers the most. So it forces EVERYONE to use credit cards because otherwise they would be paying 7% more WITHOUT getting the 1.5% back. It's like a infectious cancer spreading across businesses and hurting non-card customers the most. They are not getting the rewards but paying the full fee-included prices of items.

Some merchants try to give some relief to customers who pay by cash or debit by offering cheaper prices. You see this on gas station signs everywhere. Pay by cash price vs pay by card price.

Merchants are suffering far more than the 5%+ processing fee seems like at first glance. If it costs $90 in supplies, employees, building space, oven electricity, etc. to bake a cake and they sell it for $100, then they made $10 in profit. But the 5% fee is on the FULL PRICE OF THE CAKE which is 5% of $100 and that is $5. So literally HALF of their profit goes to the greedy card companies. If you bought a steak, and someone came by and cut the steak and half, and told you that this half is going to the card company just as a convenience fee, you would say that's horribly unfair and extreme.

But really, merchants should be thrilled about an alternative system like Lightning and customers should also WAKE UP to the stupid scam, and see that they are getting charged WAY MORE and then getting excited for receiving a tiny reward back. Everyone using cards is contributing to waste, overpricing of items, and a billion-dollar useless middleman industry, and all of that could be eliminated. Think of the savings to everyday families and merchants. Hell, it's even a green initiative.

Some people unfortunately side with the card companies and like this scammy system, and why shouldn't they? If they are on the "winning-side" of the equation, getting great deals like "free" first-class airplane tickets. Well, actually, that "free" ticket was paid for by all the other stupid people on worse rewards cards and all that merchant processing fee money collected by the credit card companies. Sure, YOU won, getting that ticket, but at the expense of everyone else. It's stupid, and it creates a game that is completely unnecessary.

Up until now, we haven't had much option for convenience. Paying online or safely without cash or debit was pretty much limited to credit cards. But Bitcoin & Lightning Network changed all of that. It's time to move on, and away from credit cards.

When we eliminate the middle man, both the merchant and the customer wins. The merchant can charge the original price, and the customer is effectively getting a 7% CASH BACK REWARD which is an insane amount that no card company offers. But the customers don't understand that.

One thing that will help is spread this knowledge to customers. But also, merchants who accept Bitcoin Lightning should always offer a huge cash back discount on their products for paying with Lightning. And not just a lower price, but an actual reward redeemable at checkout. This is to help the consumer compare apples-to-apples. They will see, oh, I can get a 7% cash back reward for paying by Lightning, or a 1.5% cash back reward for using my credit card. Hmmm, I think I'll choose Lightning!

And eventually, the option will DRIVE OUT THE SCAMMERS who operate this gigantic billion dollar middle-man credit card companies. We all win. LFG.