Comments on: Public Library’s $10 Visa Minimum Ruins My Day

By: Citizens Against Minimum Purchase

Citizens Against Minimum Purchase — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 19:25:21 +0000

I read your post regarding the minimum purchase amount to use credit cards. This has been a long standing problem without a way to combat it -until now. While Visa and Mastercard take the report and get results, there has never been a group to follow-up with the consumer to let them know the problem is solved. We recently launched “Citizens Against Minimum Purchase.” Feel free to visit out website http://www.citizensagainstminimumpurchase.com. The site was established to give consumers a voice against minimum purchase amounts. On the site you can also report establishments that have a minimum purchase requirement. Please email us if you have any questions or would like additional information.

Citizens Against Minimum Purchase
http://www.citizensagainstminimumpurchase.com
info@citizensagainstminimumpurchase.com

By: Library Drops $10 Credit Card Minimum Because of Blogger » Home Theater, Anime, Geek Gadgets for the whole family

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 21:05:18 +0000

[...] I could be completely ego-tripping here, but I think my post last July, complaining about my local library’s $10 credit card minimum, actually made the library change its policy and drop the minimum. [...]

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 20:42:05 +0000

I was just turned away by a gas station that said I needed to have a ten dollar minimum purchase. I was on my scooter, which only holds a galloon of gas so I was SOL. Luckily there was another store around the corner that had no problem with my 2.34 puchase. I will shop there often and I usually fill up my Jeep, which is a windfall these days for whoever I fill up with let me tell ya. If a for profit business turns my tiny purchase down I will file a complaint. After all, doesn’t Visa get paid once a year so I can use the stupid card where it is supposedly accepted? As for a non-profit, well, I hate to say it but they should have thought about the costs of accepting the credit card. I hate to think that they will really go out of business, but I think they could resolve that by raising thier late fees to compensate for the financial burden of accepting credit card payments. Yea, I seem like a tough guy, but if credit cards don’t work for the businesses then they should stop accepting them until VISA gets thier prices in line with what it costs businesses to use them. By adjusting thier requirements for customers it is just masking the real problem for businesses, that being VISA is asking too high a usage fee for all the small businesses to accept thier card. I am going to file a complaint on the gas station…but have to admit I may not on a ‘mom and pop’ coffee shop or non-profit. Well, these were my thoughts.

By: mia

mia — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 21:45:46 +0000

as a librarian, i am totally flabbergasted that you’re charged a fee for taking out *anything* from your library. but then again, i think late fees should be abolished too. public libraries would do a lot better image-wise if they moved to a netflix model of loaning items.

By: Jud

Jud — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 00:59:32 +0000

I understand your anger and it seems a pretty arbitrary minimum. I work at an academic library in New Zealand and we have no minimum for paying by eftpos, but not sure about credit (as far as I know - none). I get angered too when I’m offering my custom to someone and they won’t accept my method of payment (I’m thinking of an instance when I wanted to change my car insurance to another company but they would only accept my custom if I paid by direct debit from my bank account and I’m old fashioned enough to prefer paying by cheque so I know what goes out when). If it’s the credit card company’s policy then there’s not much you can do about it, but these seemingly arbitrary rules are annoying, frustrating, and hardly good customer service in my opinion.

By: geek

geek — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 21:58:34 +0000

Julie - The $10 credit is a good idea. I was so fumed at the time that I wasn’t thinking of any common sense solutions.

Natalie - Where did you find this exempt info? I can’t find anything about it in Visa or Mastercard’s policies. Though I did find many museums have the same $10 minimum. I’ve asked the library directly through their online comment form about the validity of the policy and if they could point me toward supporting documents from the gov or credit card companies.

Delfino - Yes, not carrying cash is stupid. But I never have to worry about parking meters because I only drive around the suburbs and many downtown Chicago parking meters take credit cards now, though I’ve found street parking and have to settle for a garage. We do keep change in the car.

By: Delfino

Delfino — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 19:43:43 +0000

You never carry any cash? Now, that is stupid. How do you pay for a parking meter with a check card?

By: natalie

natalie — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 16:48:33 +0000

“My other worry is the possibility of some obscure clause letting public libraries require minimums.”

Unfortunately, it’s not an obscure clause. Government agencies are exempt from the Visa/MC minimum purchase/service fee policy. Since the library operates on tax dollars, I’m sure it qualifies as a government agency.

By: Julie

Julie — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 12:42:16 +0000

my public library doesn’t even take credit cards!! but they don’t charge for videos either. And the selection sucks (coincidence?)

But really, keep in mind that they are not a MERCHANT, but a non-profit agency. Naperville is pretty well-funded! At $200 a year, that’s about 10 books and movies, which is one visit for me.

Didja ask them if they could charge $10 on your Visa and leave the rest as credit on your account?

By: geek

geek — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 04:27:00 +0000

Yeah, you have a good point. I’ll definitely contact the library first. I guess I don’t want to be the jerk blogger who made suburban children cry because he shut down their library over $2.20.

My other worry is the possibility of some obscure clause letting public libraries require minimums.