Cash or Credit?

By Econ70 | 07/25/2012
A blue banner with the words north star synergy written in white.

While stores have always been able to offer cash-paying customers a discount, the recent settlement with Visa, Mastercard and bank credit-card issuers now allows stores to add a charge (equal to the swipe fee) for credit-card payments. Since stores can now disclose the fee, they suddenly have more leverage to negotiate lower swipe fees. Bet…

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Airline Bag Fees

By Econ70 | 07/15/2011
Logo showing two fists bumping with text 'GRAPHS and LAUGHS' in the center.

US airlines collected $3.4 billion in bag fees in ’10, up 24% from ’09 according to a DOT report. Absent fees, airlines would probably be losing money. Las Vegas based Allegiant generated 29.2% of all their revenue from extra fees, more than any airline in the world. Among US carriers Delta generated the most revenue…

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