Yeah, I know it’s been darn near two months since I’ve updated this thing. I have a much more substantial post in the works but I’ll just post this one tip for now.
It has to do with credit and debit cards with the Visa or Mastercard logo and minimum purchase requirements imposed by the merchant. Usually convenience stores do this and the minimum is anywhere from $3 to $5 (US), but I’ve seen at least one bar with a $10 minimum posted on a sign, and apparently in some areas $10 minimum purchases are more common at grocery stores.
To make a long story short, the merchants aren’t allowed to do this for Visa and Mastercard. Technically, they are allowed to do this for American Express and Discover, if and only if they impose a minimum for all credit cards, which is unlikely given both Visa and Mastercard forbid it. So, unless American Express or Discover are the only credit cards a store accepts, a minimum purchase to use a credit or debit card is a violation of the merchant agreement.
This post at nontoxicreviews.com goes into more detail and also has a handy wallet-sized card you can print out and carry with you.
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