Credit card surcharges rise as small businesses adapt

Jason Lavery faced a hard determination past spring. He could rise the terms of drinks and nutrient astatine Lavery Brewing Co. oregon adhd a surcharge to each recognition paper payments.

Like galore different tiny concern owners crossed the country, Lavery added a surcharge. Credit paper customers present wage an further 1.75% positive 20 cents.

"We paid $40,000 successful recognition paper fees successful 2025," Lavery said. "Our operating margins were getting tighter, truthful the choices were to rise prices crossed the committee oregon adhd the surcharge. We didn't deliberation it was just for customers who wage with currency to rise prices, truthful we implemented the surcharge."

Businesses are ever looking astatine ways to support their bottommost line, and lately that includes however customers wage for their items oregon services.

Many, similar Lavery Brewing Co., person added recognition paper surcharges portion a fewer person stopped accepting recognition cards altogether. Others person gone a antithetic way and nary longer judge cash.

The percent of businesses that adhd a surcharge for recognition paper purchases has accrued to 35%, according to the J.D. Power 2026 U.S. Merchant Services Satisfaction Survey. The percent of businesses that judge recognition cards has risen to 96%.

Going cashless saves wealth due to the fact that employees don't person to walk clip counting and depositing up to $50,000 aft a hockey crippled oregon concert, said Gus Pine, Erie Events enforcement director. But the main crushed for the alteration was to service much concession basal customers.

"The main occupation we saw erstwhile I archetypal came present was velocity of service, handling up to 5,000 customers astatine 1 clip astatine our concession stands," Pine said. "It was ever the No. 1 interest radical cited successful our yearly instrumentality survey."

The institution nary longer needs a 2nd idiosyncratic astatine each registry to grip currency and the buying process is much streamlined, Pine said.

"You tin spot the quality if you locomotion onto the concourse betwixt periods of an Erie Otters game," Pine said. "The waiting times for concessions are overmuch less."

In lawsuit you missed it: High earners person recognition paper debt, too. But they won't admit it.

Natalya Voyetz doesn't person to interest astir agelong lines of customers. The proprietor of Natalya's Sewing Center usually sees her customers 1 astatine a time.

They besides retrieve to bring cash. Voyetz hasn't accepted recognition cards since she opened the concern successful 2014.

"I figured that I would person to wage the recognition paper companies a fee, truthful I didn't judge them," Voyetz said. "My customers are mostly regulars and they cognize that I don't instrumentality recognition cards."

For caller customers, Voyetz has 2 signs taped to her beforehand counter. One has the planetary "no" awesome placed implicit pictures of assorted recognition paper companies, portion the different tells radical that she doesn't judge recognition cards.