> In the end, all costs are borne by the customer because there's really no other source of revenue.
This would be considerably more relevant if the price paid was related to the costs in any meaningful way. 50+ years of economic study demonstrates rather conclusively that it is not.
The best example of this is (was?) gas stations, where the ones taking cash or debit only would be cheaper, because the credit card processing is a significant cost in a low-margin product-interchangeable market.
The bigger companies try to make you THINK that there's a difference between their gallon of gas and that other gallon over there that came from the same depot, but there really isn't.
This would be considerably more relevant if the price paid was related to the costs in any meaningful way. 50+ years of economic study demonstrates rather conclusively that it is not.