I assume that is why many small merchants and local restaurants in Mexico do not accept credit cards.

For a lot of them, even the normal 2-3% discount is more than they want to (or have to) give up - so they don't.

My attitude about credit cards remains the same...

The cost of taking credit cards is indeed a cost of doing business whether it be to rent the store, to pay the utilities on the store, the fees to the bank for a checking account and to deposit the receipts, the credit card processor whatever. One does not break down these fees in setting prices. Prices as a whole are set so that the merchant can make a profit.

Taking credit cards might bring additional customers into a store who wouldn't come in otherwise..that is presumably one of the selling points of taking credit cards.

If a store has credit card decals in its windows, it might cause me to go in when I might not have done so otherwise. The prices being charged reflect the decision to take credit cards. Therefore no matter what I buy, the prices has been adjusted however microscopically to reflect the costs of taking credit cards. Therefore, I believe that since I am being charged for using a credit card anyway, it is my right to insist the merchant live up to his contract to take my credit cards....whether this is right or wrong it remains my opinion on the matter. A store owner in the USA knows what he is getting into when he signs the agreement to take credit cards and as part of that agreement is the stiulation that he must accept all credit cards for every purchase no matter how small if it is authorized by the credit card company.

To me, it does serve as a customer protection.

Precisely.

And outside the US, no such near-criminal requirement exists that a merchant accept a transaction that he will lose money on. (I personally think it's a Restraint of Trade infraction under US law, but I don't really care.)

Take off your consumer's hat and put on a merchant's, and see if your attitude changes.

Actually Robespierre..

It is not a doctrine of US law...it is the merchant agreement signed by merchants who wish to accept credit cards..it all averages out anyway...obviously a merchant makes more on a large purchase than a smaller one...even if the merchant makes less because I use a credit card for a small purchase, the fact is that perhaps the credit card decal is what brought me into the store and without the credit card decal, he doesn't make the sale to me ot to the next person who comes in and makes a very large purchase...in the end it all averages out.

I think you still don't know how this works. If the merchant's volume/ticket size point on the grid is low enough, there is a "floor" on the discount he has to pay. In an extremely unfortunate case, the 25¢ fixed fee might be equal to his gross profit on a small sale. Who wants to be in business for the benefit of the card issuer?

I see terms and conditions in contracts every day that are illegal. The provisions of the agreement and their legality are totally separate issues. Coercive and exploitive merchant agreements are the industry standard - because the networks own enough congresscritters that they can have their way - whether it's ethical or not.

The ability to charge a merchant 3% for a $20 ticket but 25% for a $1 ticket is an abuse of the power the card issuers wield. The merchant should be free to take or leave any deal s/he wants to. It's called <i>laissez-faire</i> capitalism, and it's the system we defended against all comers for 50 years.

...I know the argument is boring but chances are no merchant only makes credit card sales for $1.36 so it is very rare that the merchant will be at the bottom of the scale..like I say it all averages out in the end and you can't discount, although it is not easy to compute, the number of customers a credit card decal brings into a store and at the same token the amount of pilfering of loose cash it avoids.

I think it's na&iuml;ve to think that just because US merchants aren't allowed to require a minimum purchase that it logically follows that European ones should be similarly constrained.

I have not a scintilla of doubt that if our countrymen weren't constrained by their Operating Agreements, they'd maximize their profitability exactly the way their European counterparts do.

Let's put it this way - would you prefer to see the PROFIT on your nice latte just off St Marks Square go to a CC company or the cafe that sold it to you?

Polite Comment: Your question is impossible to answer! We need to know if 'your money' is American dollars or something else. Practically speaking, A check/debit card withdrawal should be your most advantageous way to acquire Euros. Any airport or hotel cash exchange will cost more than a street one as they use a higher conversion rate. Remember that an ATM can be used to acquire local cash by using a credit card. Before you travel check expiration dates of your cards.

Thanks to all for your help! I forgot to mention I live in the U.S. :)

Maybe it's false thinking but after years of using this travel board, I always suspect that if someone doesn't say otherwise and starts talking about money, they probably are talking about US dollars.

no, it's a common thing on most travel forums

Actually we've stayed at some hotels over the years that, as a convenience to their guests, gave whatever the current institutional rate was on currency exchange with no fees of any kind. Not many, but enough that it's worth asking at the check-in desk. I think it's a good-will thing, and they usually limit how much you can exchange since they're probably losing a few cents on each transaction.