I find it amazing to watch hospitality operators manage the day to day happenings of their business or businesses. Managing labor, food costs, schedules, customers, logistics, waste AND family is a juggling act that, unless you have done it, is very difficult to comprehend.
So we go out to relax ourselves on occasion. Visiting our friends at their places or traveling to resorts to get away. And we charge it on our credit cards.
Here is something I imagine most of the public does not consider when it comes to one of these balls being juggled by our #hospitality friends. Did you know there are only 2 major credit card 💳 networks that control 80% of all credit card transactions? So what is the big deal? Well every time a customer pays with a card (like every time) the business is charged an average of 3%. It is like having to pay an entirely separate tax. 💰
Meaning, with that much power these 2 companies can basically:
1) ban anyone else from entering the market 🛑
2) simply charge whatever they want. 📈
Like my good friend T.J. Oakley says in this editorial "In an industry that averages 3-5% profit margins, an extra 3% on everything can easily put you out of business."
So I stand with T.J. and Scott Harper, MS and everybody else asking our federal leaders to pass the Credit Card Competition Act, a bipartisan piece of legislation in both houses of congress that would require at least 2 competing credit card networks on each transaction, introducing competition and reducing costs by an estimated $15 billion a year.
We all deserve some relief from swipe charges. 🥂
https://lnkd.in/enqtqMdR
#swipecharges #relief #restaurants #hotels #creditcardcompetitionact