Who still doesn’t take debit? Honestly. It’s 2010.
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For the Sake of Science 
http://www.pressherald.com/opinion/credit-debit-card-swipe-fees-too-high_2010-03-31.html
This is probably why.
I still do not have a debit card. I don’t want one. I use credit cards and I always pay the balance off each month. I have never paid interest on a credit card.
I try not to use my debit card for either small businesses or small purchases because of the debit card processing fees that the company must pay. I don’t think that a charge is necessarily a bad thing – it’s a service being provided by the processor and they should make money for making it an option – but if I have cash I’ll use it first.
Remember that the credit card company is ALSO charging the retailer a fee, so they are making money already. Maybe if they stop (collectively) sending me yet another offer nearly daily then they would make more money. They are making plenty of money charging both sides for every transaction (either a fee or interest or both).
Also, if the billions of dollars they make is not enough, they could increase their profit by better selection of who they extend credit and/or how much credit is extended.
Better selection how? The point of any kind of credit isn’t to lend to people who can afford to pay it off right now.
The point is to lend to those who will take time to pay it off and therefore pay interest. That’s the only way for a business to be built around money lending. Often times paying loans off ahead of schedule can result in penalties for exactly this reason.
The fee is not the problem, its the cost of the service itself. If the cost of processing is roughly the same as a check than the fee should be roughly the same as a check.
In reality more regulation will probably be a bad thing as it so typically is. How many hundreds of government employees would it take just in Maine to babysit credit cards companies and banks. Just what we need more government.
Better to let store rebel or pass the costs on to consumers. If it makes enough people mad it will take care of itself, we don’t need more bureaucrats.
Obviously, eliminate people who are at a high risk of default. They should know how to do that since that is what they do.
Yes, we know how it is supposed to work.
Yes, fee from retailer and fee and interest from borrower. Yep, lets all cry for the billions they make.
Who brought up regulation? Not me. Not Michael. Not biodork. Not the Press Herald. Who said more gummint? Not me. Not Michael. Not biodork. Not the Press Herald.
I know, I said all of that. Because… Its relevant!
Problem: Retailers pay high fees in comparison to other payment methods. More places are not accepting credit/debit because of it (at least in part, some might just like cash only, good for them)
Solution: Government or market…
By not being able to directly pass the fee on to consumers banks are shielding themselves from blame and forcing it on the merchants (higher prices). Remove that barrier and the blame will fall where it should, on the entity imposing the fee.
I’m willing to pay a bit more for the convenience. I’m not willing to pay 3-5% and in some cases 8% more per transaction. I understand there is no such thing as a free service, there is such a thing as a overpriced service they hide from you to make it appear free.
The third solution I suppose is to ignore it and hope it goes away… works less often than we would like though. I vote for the market to fix it.