this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2025
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Visa and Mastercard are American companies, and they essentially tax everybody by taking a percentage of purchase prices for themselves. Not exactly a small percentage either, 1.2% to 2.65%. Ever wonder why so many merchants say they don't accept American Express? That's because they charge quite a bit more to merchantes, 50% more than Visa or Mastercard. Anyway, we're letting American companies tax us and we love them because we get rewards when we use cards. But it's just a shell game because we pay more up front because businesses need to charge more to make up for payment processing charges. They get to sit in the middle and rake in the money.

Now the alternative in Canada is Interac. Interac charges a set amount per transcation. How much? 2 to 5.5 cents. Unless you're going through Apple or Google Pay, and then it's a percentage again.

Interac is also Canadian.

Want to stick it to Trump? Stop using credit cards (and Google Pay or Apple Pay) and switch to Interac. Want to make Canada better? Stop using credit cards and switch to Interac. Is it going to be inconvenient? Yes. Online shopping will be much harder but I have seen online Interac payments before and we can ask our favourite Canadian merchants to accept Interac online.

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[–] sudo@programming.dev 1 points 5 days ago

I dont see how you can do that without launching your own national credit card companies. And good look trying to do any grass roots organizing for that.

[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 3 points 6 days ago

No one has enough money, and this trend will get worse as this trade war goes on. Unless you can replace the credit buffer this initiative is a non starter.

To many people are living partly on a credit card, we need to ether replace it with an non american credit card, some other form of credit (LoCs are harder to get at the moment) or find a way to get more money to Canadians.

[–] allo@sh.itjust.works -4 points 5 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (6 children)

For anyone curious like I was, Dicking Around is not what i thought. Looked it up and...

"the phrase "dick around" is actually from "dicker around" which is a 19th c. term. "Dicker" is to "Engage in petty argument or bargaining" and "Treat something casually or irresponsibly; toy with something". So when someone is "dick[er]ing around" they are treating serious matters lightly or doing things in an unnecessarily protracted way; which is precisely how we use it.

The word "dick" however, which I would gather, people would envision it meaning "penis" here, simply doesn't work. We don't use "dick" as a verb, yet alone a progressive verb. "To dick" or "to be dicking" a person, although fairly clear in its sexual connotation, is certainly not in use, "dicking (with) a person" however, makes perfect sense, because it's from that ye olden term "dicker" again.

So "dicking around" has nothing to do with the slang term for penis or the disused colloquial meaning of a rookie detective, or it being an everyman"

,

tho clearly OP didnt kno that and instead masculinizes his speech to be 'man talk' about and for Men.

edit: OP seems less evil than was implied.

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[–] The_Caretaker@lemm.ee -3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Even if we dumped all online transactions and used cash for in person transactions, there isn't enough cash in circulation. Less than 3% of US dollars are printed on paper. The rest is just numbers on spreadsheets. There is no way we could function without electronic payments. This is true in almost every country that has a central bank that engages in fractional reserve banking.

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[–] IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com -3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Cryptocurrencies?

I mean, how long would it be until the next fascist Canadian prime minister?

Better to just get the government out of our wallets.

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[–] UraniumForBreakfast@lemm.ee 83 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Ahh, so as an American my only option is cash. 😔

[–] Cheradenine@sh.itjust.works 52 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Cash is better for privacy too. Don't be paying for that abortion, gun, or donation to environmental cause in this climate with Visa.

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[–] knightly@pawb.social 66 points 1 week ago (14 children)

I work for an American credit card company, and my advice is to ditch credit and debit cards entirely. Use cash.

[–] HakFoo@lemmy.sdf.org 40 points 1 week ago (1 children)

As another American who works in the industry, it's a wedding cake of frighteningly bad software piled on top of well-intentioned but poorly implemented mandates piled on top of willful ignorance frosted with solving problems people don't actually have. And the little couple on top are both the capitalist pigman from a 1930s Soviet poster that we all recognize thanks to Hexbear :`(

I prefer cash too.

[–] fishtaco@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 days ago

Good info from the inside, thanks. I had some money in a Digital Payments ETF but I recently dumped it and moved the money to a European fund instead. This makes me feel a bit better about that decision.

[–] CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 32 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Credit cards (when used correctly) is one of the few pro consumer products we have left.

Most cards come with fraud protection, something you cannot get with cash, checks, or gift cards.

Similarly, most cards come with purchase protections like extended warranties. I have a credit card that gives me free damage protection on my cell phone so long as I pay the monthly bill with it.

I'm not saying cash isn't great but there are good reasons to use a credit card. At least for now.

[–] zqps@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 days ago

Right, but that shit should be required by law, not bequeathed by US tech monopolists at a ridiculous fee.

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[–] JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca 48 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The Canadian banks are big enough to build a wholly Canadian credit system for global use, especially if they could get everyone in Canada (and maybe elsewhere) to switch right now.

They probably get too many incentives from Visa and Mastercard to find it enticing though, which is why they're always pushing credit cards and offering cashback and airmiles, etc.

I think there is a European alternative being developed. Perhaps we can get in on that.

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[–] Banana@sh.itjust.works 32 points 1 week ago (19 children)

For this to work, Interac needs to incentivize using it like credit cards do.

All types of loans require a credit score of some kind, and credit cards are one of the best ways to build this. Additionally, credit cards usually offer some kind of return.

Also because of poverty, a lot of people have a dependency on credit or payment plans.

Interac needs to make a Canadian answer to the credit card.

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[–] ninthant@lemmy.ca 30 points 1 week ago (4 children)

I’m on board for this but this proposal is up against a familiar devil: the network effect.

Shops support Visa and Mastercard because customers use them, customers use them because shops support them. This creates a powerful network that is extremely difficult for an upstart to unseat.

So while it’s a good idea to encourage people to take individual action on this — and you’re doing a great job doing so, and I’m taking it to heart for my own actions — we also need to accompany this with a policy solution to help overcome the network effect.

[–] Albbi@lemmy.ca 32 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

You're right and the network effect would be very hard to overcome for this. It would need a lot of media attention just like liquor and alcohol.

I whipped this up too.

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[–] wirebeads@lemmy.ca 30 points 1 week ago

I’ve given up taking visa / Amex / Mastercard. My business now only accepts Interac e-transfer and cash.

Interac is hands down the most secure way to pay for something. I never have to take a card from a customer, the customer never has to take on additional debt, the money is automatically deposited into my account within seconds, and it costs me absolutely no money to do this and I have to pay no money to a merchant to make it happen.

I wish I could do this at more places.

[–] Empricorn@feddit.nl 23 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Just like tipping, a percentage system makes no sense. It's the exact same work to bring me a $50 meal vs a $500 one. And for payment processing, a flat fee makes much more sense because there's no difference in processing a $100 transaction vs a $10,000 one.

So why does a percentage-based system persist? Because workers want higher wages (understandable when restaurants refuse to pay them more and expect the customer to pay part of their income). And for giant corporations like Visa and MasterCard, it's literally never enough for them. They can make more money, so that's the only reason. It's so dumb...

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