Originally Posted by
ThayerRags
The US Postal Service defaulted on a $5.5B loan repayment to the Federal Government on August 1st, and says they don’t expect to have the money for a second $5.6B payment due in September. Shipping rates for everyone may go up.
Due to a recent antitrust settlement on July 13th against Visa and Mastercard, Merchants will now be allowed to apply a surcharge at checkout if you pay with a credit card, in all but 10 states that have laws prohibiting merchant surcharges. (Oklahoma is one of those 10 states.) The settlement must still be approved by the U.S. District Court, which may not happen until late 2012 or early 2013, but if approved, both on-line and B&M stores in states allowing surcharges may begin charging an additional fee for the use of credit cards for payment of fabric.
I don't know how many people noticed, but the last time USPS raised their rates, they did not change the cost of a first class stamp (because people would fuss!) but they DID raise the prices on all their package rates, including their flat-rate items. Ironically, because I think it is the package part of their business that's actually paying its way!
As to merchants charging extra for credit carrd payments... gee but it would be nice not to have to eat the 3% - 4% fees! But I wouldn't have the nerve to pass on those costs to my customers. I'm very interested to see if any merchants actually do! I think it would be suicide, in terms of customer relations. But time will tell...