ND1221091

Title: Utah Joins NACS Petition Drive

Description: The Utah Petroleum Marketers and Retailers Association is hoping for a huge response from residents.

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SALT LAKE CITY ? This week, Utah convenience stores began urging residents to sign a ?swipe fee? petition, the Deseret News reports. NACS launched the petition campaign earlier this month, with more than 10,000 convenience stores joining the drive thus far.�

?We have been approaching Congress for several years to try to require more transparency in allowing retailers to negotiate interchange fees with the bank. Until two years ago, (retailers) weren't even allowed to see all of the 1,500-page contract they signed,? said John Hill, state director of the Utah Petroleum Marketers and Retailers Association.

Swipe or transaction fees take a percentage of each sale paid for with a credit or debit card. Hill said five big banks have 80 percent of the credit card market and thus set the fees, which vary by card type and retailer. Up to 2 percent of each transaction goes to swipe fees, with MasterCard and Visa raking in $48 billion in interchange fees last year alone.

Retailers also pay the fee on the total amount, which includes taxes. For years, Hill said, banks have collected more in fees than gasoline stations make in profit.

Earlier this year, 7-Eleven brought close to 1.7 million customer signatures to Congress in support of swipe fee reform, said Hill, adding that it was ?the most signatures ever delivered to Congress on a policy issue in American history.?

Get Involved
Last week NACS launched the online component of its consumer petition campaign ? an unprecedented campaign that will generate millions of consumer signatures from convenience store customers, encouraging Congress to reform unfair credit and debit card interchange (or ?swipe?) fees.

Fightswipefees.com is the online face of the consumer advocacy campaign. Through this site, convenience store customers can learn more about the effect of hidden swipe fees, sign an online petition to Congress and write a letter to their U.S. senators and representatives.

If you are among the 10,000-plus retailers who are collecting signatures in your stores, this Web site provides you another opportunity to rally your customers to this worthwhile cause.

If you are not collecting signatures in your stores, Fightswipefees.com is a fantastic opportunity for you to help the effort by enabling your customers to speak out through the Internet.

Content Subject: Operations

Formatted Article Date: December 21, 2009

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