Well, if you shop for it, a cardholder can get a minimum of 1% rebated back to them, more in cases of special promotions.
But yeah, it's a stupid way to run a payments system.
You would think Starbucks would give you a free cup or something if you filled up your Starbucks stored-value card by EFT instead of credit card. (You would also think Starbucks wouldn't make me accept the wifi TOS every goddamn day, when they have an app/loyalty card relationship with me.)
You would also think that maybe Apple is leaving their options open in the future to 1) link up with retailers' loyalty programs and 2) help retailers bypass Mastercard and Visa and share in the savings.
> Well, if you shop for it, a cardholder can get a minimum of 1% rebated back to them, more in cases of special promotions.
The reward level is set by the card issuer and the merchant pays that, too, as part of the interchange fee.
In Australia legislation was passed that enabled merchants to add a surcharge for credit card use. The result was that 'rewards' disappeared from the market.
Merchants can offer cash discounts in the US. Few do and credit card rewards are the strongest they've ever been. 2% on everything is easy, bigger discounts are available if you work for it.
>Well, if you shop for it, a cardholder can get a minimum of 1% rebated back to them, more in cases of special promotions.
This actually makes it worse, since the people who pay with cash are typically poor and homeless who cannot get a credit card, yet the richer folks with rewards cards get cashback while they don't.
But yeah, it's a stupid way to run a payments system.
You would think Starbucks would give you a free cup or something if you filled up your Starbucks stored-value card by EFT instead of credit card. (You would also think Starbucks wouldn't make me accept the wifi TOS every goddamn day, when they have an app/loyalty card relationship with me.)
You would also think that maybe Apple is leaving their options open in the future to 1) link up with retailers' loyalty programs and 2) help retailers bypass Mastercard and Visa and share in the savings.