Irony that you did cost benefit on a much broader scale (merchants and consumers as a whole) instead of a personal finance level. And you are right about merchants paying more. Didn't make sense when I was running a store until I read a paper on reward points and transaction fees.
This type of subsidizing happens around us, one that comes to mind is taxes. 401k and other tax shelters. People that are taking the greatest advantage of these have money to spare, and read up on the advantages (or hired someone that has).
Also, since you pay off your statement every month, reward cards make a lot of sense. Haven't seen one that requires a revolving balance. For me it's about optimizing returns on spend I already have.
This type of subsidizing happens around us, one that comes to mind is taxes. 401k and other tax shelters. People that are taking the greatest advantage of these have money to spare, and read up on the advantages (or hired someone that has).
Also, since you pay off your statement every month, reward cards make a lot of sense. Haven't seen one that requires a revolving balance. For me it's about optimizing returns on spend I already have.