Orange County Register

Orange County 7-Eleven franchisee Navdeep Bassi, who owns stores in Garden Grove, Santa Ana and Costa Mesa, is paying an average of $28,000 in transaction fees per store every year to credit card companies.

Photo courtesy 7-Eleven Inc.

So he has a petition at each checkout counter for his customers to sign as part of a drive by the 6,300 franchisees for the convenience-store chain. Their goal is to collect a million signatures to urge Congress to restrict credit-card transaction fees.

All 848 7-Eleven franchisees in Southern California are participating in the drive, the company said.

Credit card companies charge these fees, also called interchange fees, to store owners each time they accept a credit card payment. The interchange fee for convenience stores is double that for other types of retailers, 7-Eleven Chief Operating Officer Darren Rebelez says.

Interchange fees totaled $48 billion in 2008. That’s $427 a year for the average U.S. family. For some 7-Eleven franchisees, the fees equal 10% of their annual profit.

The franchisees are small-business owners representing 75% of 7-Eleven stores in the United States, Rebelez says. “This petition drive is a grassroots effort to get a fair deal, spearheaded by small-business owners in the communities where they live and with the customers they serve every day.”

The store owners lose money because a growing number of customers use credit cards for small purchases, he says.

The issue has been around for years. 30 Minute Photos Etc. in Irvine was a named plaintiff in a 2005 class action lawsuit against the interchange fees.

“Interchange fees are just a way that credit card companies squeeze merchants to enhance their revenue stream,” according to Mitch Goldstone, partner in 30 Minute Photos and ScanMyPhotos.com.

Credit card companies claim that interchange fees are just part of the rate that merchants are charged.

The 7-Eleven petition drive will continue through Aug. 10. The franchisee whose stores collect the most signatures in the company’s seven geographic divisions will be flown to Washington to personally deliver the signatures to Congress.

“We’re not asking for a bailout, we simply want to negotiate in good faith with credit card companies in the same manner we negotiate with thousands of our other business partners,” Rebelez said.
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