[mikepurvis]

There are definitely lots of merchants who don't take (or strongly discourage) cash— think Apple Store, IKEA, the self-serve tills at the grocery store, anything online. But the common element in all of those is that they're big companies who can negotiate better rates.

Independent retailers, restaurants, etc are put in an awkward position where not accepting credit cards can cost them business, but accepting them forces raising prices which can also cost them business.

Canada has an interesting option in the form of our Interac system for debit, which has more favourable fees especially for small purchases. Since every Canadian with a bank account has an Interac card, one common option for indies is to accept only cash and debit.

[Scoundreller]

> Since every Canadian with a bank account has an Interac card, one common option for indies is to accept only cash and debit.

Except I hate using my Interac card for... well, anything... because if it gets compromised, it's my own chequing account that gets locked with the missing money.