1) The 2% fee might mostly be captured by the credit company and thus represent a net benefit to most consumers (at the expense of retailers) because retailers tend to want prices like 1.99 and would be reluctant to raise that to 2.01 because of the reduced sales. Over time there might be other options like slightly reduced portion sizes to help the store, but profiting a little bit extra on most products is hard, and profiting a lot extra on a few products is near impossible because consumers will buy from competitors.
2) The 2% fee isn't reimbursed equally to all consumers, so individuals with higher credit scores might have a preference for the current system even if it's a zero-sum game overall. (this point also easily allows arguments the other way in favor of regulating fees because we probably shouldn't be extracting an additional percent here and there from young people and those with financial hardships)
>The 2% fee might mostly be captured by the credit company and thus represent a net benefit to most consumers (at the expense of retailers) because retailers tend to want prices like 1.99
How does it benefit the consumer if the credit company takes 2%? I cannot see why it would make a difference to the consumer (at least in the short term) whether the retailer or the credit company takes the 2%.
1) The 2% fee might mostly be captured by the credit company and thus represent a net benefit to most consumers (at the expense of retailers) because retailers tend to want prices like 1.99 and would be reluctant to raise that to 2.01 because of the reduced sales. Over time there might be other options like slightly reduced portion sizes to help the store, but profiting a little bit extra on most products is hard, and profiting a lot extra on a few products is near impossible because consumers will buy from competitors.
2) The 2% fee isn't reimbursed equally to all consumers, so individuals with higher credit scores might have a preference for the current system even if it's a zero-sum game overall. (this point also easily allows arguments the other way in favor of regulating fees because we probably shouldn't be extracting an additional percent here and there from young people and those with financial hardships)