You obviously don't know any small-business owners and didn't read the article.

Credit-card issuers in the USA are a textbook example of a consumer- and retailer-harming monopoly.

I think credit card fees are often positioned against what businesses believe is the cost of cash, i.e. zero.

However, with cash one needs to have / has / has to pay for:

* a more complex register * a person who takes more time to do the transaction * someone who counts the register at the end of the day to ensure it matches * someone who drives to the bank to deposit the money (at random times) * additional insurance * a bank account which probably charges for these cash services

If you don't count time, then cash is better.

And also, in Europe, if you as a business prefer cash, we all know it means that you make X, but you only report X/2.