Pay As You Go

Americans currently use some 200 million credit cards, those convenient laisser-passers of an increasingly demonetized society. But what about the cash customer -- is he getting an even break? In a suit filed in U.S. district court in Washington last week, the Consumers Union maintained that he is being shortchanged. Naming the American Express Co. and a member bank of the BankAmericard system, C.U. charged that credit-card companies are in effect guilty of price fixing.

To sign up with a credit-card company, a shopkeeper must agree to pay a service charge of 2% to 8% of the sale price of goods, and may not charge a lower price to those paying cash. C.U.'s suit, if successful, would result in a court order that would allow stores and restaurants to give discounts to cash customers. Says one C.U. lawyer: "People who want to use credit cards should be prepared to pay an extra charge. Now businesses are making the cash customer pay for the convenience they're providing someone else." While C.U.'s suit has a certain logic, the prospect of bargain-conscious buyers shelving their credit cards in favor of wallets filled with cash could be a boon to an unintended group: muggers.

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