Credit, debit, and prepaid general purpose and private label cards issued in the United States generated $5.936 trillion in payments for goods and services in 2016 according to The Nilson Report and the merchant fees were $89.39 bn, see below:

Source & Copyright©2017 - The Nilson Report

The average cost, taking into account all the different fees and charges that the banks have developed since the regulators limited the level of interchange fees, is an impressive $1.49 for every $100 sales turnover on cards.

There are many ways to cut the cost of payment cards. Specialist consultancies can save large corporates $millions. 

Cash is cheapest at POS 

The British Retail Consortium have been waging war for years with the payment card companies, insisting that at the point of sale their research shows that cash is by far the cheapest:

Source & Copyright©2017 - British Retail Consortium from 2016 study

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CTMfile take: Payment cards are an essential part of payments at POS, but the charges and fees need checking and managing. Cash is cheapest, but many customers just don’t want to use it.