I tend to agree more with Minnie on this one. Most retailers have that % fee built into the price of it's products. I think they build it in based on everyone using a credit card....so, if you do pay cash, they are probably making a little more profit on you compared to the person who uses credit.
I seem to think that any company with competition would likely move towards this way of thinking as well. A utility company may not have as much competition as say a restaurant, so they will probably be more reluctant to take credit cards and have to eat the fees on them.
I do see another trend coming. More and more people are using their credit cards for bill paying, so these people are using their bank accounts less because of rewards. Well, my bank just started offering a rewards checking account. I now accrue miles for every check I write, ATM withdrawl, online bill payment, etc. I can cash in the miles for cash, gift cards, other items, or actual airline miles. Of course, our rewards system is a set number of miles....like 5 miles for every check you write, 5 miles for every ATM withdrawl, 10 miles for every online bill payment, etc. I can see where the bank accounts are starting to get competitive with rewards to earn your business not only away from using your rewards credit card, but also to lure you away from other banks.
My bank was bought out by Capital One bank and they just started offering this feature. I'm sure more and more banks will start to offer this as well...just to compete.
I'm really tempted to go to the ATM everyday just to withdraw $20 and earn miles every day...lol....
Here's a link for reference....
http://www.capitalone.com/bank/checking/rewards_checking.php
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