[quote="David Lay
Once business owners start to figure out that they're turning away a lot of potential business by imposing a minimum purchase, they'll change their tune.[/quote]
Legally business owners aren't even allowed to place a minimum on credit card purchases, but the smaller guys do it anyway until someone complains. Then they change their tune or shut their doors.
Why it's hard to shop locally
Moderator: Jim O'Bryan
-
Will Brown
- Posts: 496
- Joined: Sat Nov 10, 2007 10:56 am
- Location: Lakewood
To me, the barriers to local shopping are the difficulty finding things (many local merchants don't do much advertising and too often aren't in the phone books, at least under the categories I use, and small merchants are not competitive with respect to the hours they are open. I don't like Home Depot, but since they opened, the local hardware stores I shopped at have dropped like flies.
We no longer have a community where we walk our neighborhoods and see what stores have opened and closed. Most of us drive, and the lack of parking in Lakewood, while not as bad as Little Italy, does impair the shopper who drives, so we are more likely to go to a mall.
I carry both cash and credit cards. Some merchants don't accept credit cards, and some cannot (when last I looked the credit card companies had requirements such as how long you have been in business, and your anticipated volume, which precluded some merchants from signing up). This may very well have changed in recent years as we are pushed more and more into a plastic society, where you aren't a real person unless you have five or six cards. My experience is that many merchants, especially the smaller ones, will give a discount for cash, and that discount is usually more than the rebate my cards offer, or the useless points they pay. In the US, the credit card companies have contractual terms barring a cash discount, but even so some merchants will cut a deal. In Europe, by contrast, such contractual terms are illegal, and cash discounts are common. It costs me virtually nothing to get cash, so an 8% cash discount all goes in my pocket, and the merchant makes more money, as they don't have to pay the credit card fee. Its a win win situation.
I know that cash that is stolen is gone, while a credit card can be replaced, but it takes time to get the replacement card (about 5 business days, in my experience), and if you really have no cash to fall back on, you have a real problem. Card replacement is a real problem if you travel; where will you be to receive it? That could depend on how long it takes, so my replacement card could be at an address in Italy, while I have moved on to Switzerland.
I certainly wouldn't refuse to enter a store because they don't have credit card signs, nor would I forgo purchasing something I wanted because the merchant who has it won't take a credit card. If nothing else, I would dig out my checkbook, wherever that is, and write a check.
I think a merchant who is selling the same thing other merchants are selling would place himself at a competitive disadvantage if he didn't match his competition on credit card policies, but a merchant who offers unique merchandise would have to make a decision based on many factors, rather than just assuming that he had to take credit cards. My car dealer takes plastic for repairs, but wouldn't take it when I bought a new car (the yahoos who issued my cards keep increasing the credit limit, so I thought I would try).
The financial industry is pushing credit cards because it is their biggest money maker; they make far more on credit cards that sub-prime mortgages. One poster here said the credit card was superior because if they were paying cash, they couldn't buy all they wanted. Duh. If you are overspending because you have a credit card (and statistics show that most of us do), then you a running up debt at a very high cost. When this bubble bursts, as it certainly will, the sub-prime mortgage "crisis" will look like a minor problem.
Credit cards have their advantages, but beyond facilitating e-commerce, they are a dangerous addiction, as few of us have the self control to keep track of our usage and pay the balance completely each month.
As to the original topic, shopping in Lakewood, this started to decline when we all got cars, and it has gotten to the point where all we have now are bars and hobby businesses (which I would define as a business run because the owner can subsidize his hobby with the business, although it is only marginally profitable, if that). Soon, we will all be shopping on the internet, and the only local businesses will be delivery services.
We no longer have a community where we walk our neighborhoods and see what stores have opened and closed. Most of us drive, and the lack of parking in Lakewood, while not as bad as Little Italy, does impair the shopper who drives, so we are more likely to go to a mall.
I carry both cash and credit cards. Some merchants don't accept credit cards, and some cannot (when last I looked the credit card companies had requirements such as how long you have been in business, and your anticipated volume, which precluded some merchants from signing up). This may very well have changed in recent years as we are pushed more and more into a plastic society, where you aren't a real person unless you have five or six cards. My experience is that many merchants, especially the smaller ones, will give a discount for cash, and that discount is usually more than the rebate my cards offer, or the useless points they pay. In the US, the credit card companies have contractual terms barring a cash discount, but even so some merchants will cut a deal. In Europe, by contrast, such contractual terms are illegal, and cash discounts are common. It costs me virtually nothing to get cash, so an 8% cash discount all goes in my pocket, and the merchant makes more money, as they don't have to pay the credit card fee. Its a win win situation.
I know that cash that is stolen is gone, while a credit card can be replaced, but it takes time to get the replacement card (about 5 business days, in my experience), and if you really have no cash to fall back on, you have a real problem. Card replacement is a real problem if you travel; where will you be to receive it? That could depend on how long it takes, so my replacement card could be at an address in Italy, while I have moved on to Switzerland.
I certainly wouldn't refuse to enter a store because they don't have credit card signs, nor would I forgo purchasing something I wanted because the merchant who has it won't take a credit card. If nothing else, I would dig out my checkbook, wherever that is, and write a check.
I think a merchant who is selling the same thing other merchants are selling would place himself at a competitive disadvantage if he didn't match his competition on credit card policies, but a merchant who offers unique merchandise would have to make a decision based on many factors, rather than just assuming that he had to take credit cards. My car dealer takes plastic for repairs, but wouldn't take it when I bought a new car (the yahoos who issued my cards keep increasing the credit limit, so I thought I would try).
The financial industry is pushing credit cards because it is their biggest money maker; they make far more on credit cards that sub-prime mortgages. One poster here said the credit card was superior because if they were paying cash, they couldn't buy all they wanted. Duh. If you are overspending because you have a credit card (and statistics show that most of us do), then you a running up debt at a very high cost. When this bubble bursts, as it certainly will, the sub-prime mortgage "crisis" will look like a minor problem.
Credit cards have their advantages, but beyond facilitating e-commerce, they are a dangerous addiction, as few of us have the self control to keep track of our usage and pay the balance completely each month.
As to the original topic, shopping in Lakewood, this started to decline when we all got cars, and it has gotten to the point where all we have now are bars and hobby businesses (which I would define as a business run because the owner can subsidize his hobby with the business, although it is only marginally profitable, if that). Soon, we will all be shopping on the internet, and the only local businesses will be delivery services.