Great, so the entire credit system is now going to collapse.
Somehow, this doesn’t pass the smell test. 60% of gas station revenues are via credit cards. They’ve always paid the 3% credit card fee. Just because gasoline prices are going up, why is the 3% fee now suddenly a problem? That doesn’t make sense to me. It sounds like a cover story for something else.
Hopefully PR Independence.
What is 3% at $1 a gallon vs 3% at $5 a gallon ?
It sounds like the Puerto Rican gas stations are limited to a fixed markup per gallon, but the credit card fee is proportional to the total amount. Thus the per gallon profit after credit card fees go down with higher gas prices. That also keeps them from having different cash and credit prices because they can’t mark up the credit price.
It came out yesterday credit card debt is at an all time high. There’s been talk of credit companies going bust.
From the article....
“According to Álvarez, the operational cost of gas stations is increasing, while the retailer’s profit is fixed as a result of the Profit Margin Freeze Order given by the [Puerto Rico Department of Consumer Affairs] (DACO).”
The Department of Consumer Affairs is price setting for the gas stations. Government screws everything it touches.