Becca Morton is the owner of Back Cove Books in Portland.

While there are many reasons Mainers need to show up at the polls in November, as an indie business owner I want to highlight one of the largest economic burdens: parasitic credit card “swipe fees.”

The latest data shows that credit card companies like Visa and Mastercard siphon 2 to 4% off of each sale from businesses like ours when a customer pays with plastic. But what of it, right? Two to four percent doesn’t feel like all that much. 

To put it in perspective, Back Cove Books, a business that typically breaks even each fiscal year, paid just over $15,000 in credit card fees in 2025. In an industry where profit margins are slim and fixed (the price of books is set by publishers), this amount has a large impact on store finances. 

The indie bookstore community is not alone in losing big to credit card giants. Across the U.S., businesses paid an estimated $157 billion in bloated “swipe fees” just last year, up $9 billion from 2024. That makes credit card fees the second-largest operating expense for merchants. 

Consumers aren’t immune to these charges. When operating costs rise, some retailers are forced to increase prices, cut back on services or delay investments in their business. Research suggests the average American household now pays roughly $1,200 more each year due to price hikes associated with “swipe fees.”

While “swipe fees” are a burden to us at Back Cove Books, they are not (yet) actively crippling our ability to stay in business.

However, after the economic boycott of Feb. 28, 2025 — when we recorded a whopping 300% uptick in cash sales for the day — I began to wonder what I, as a small business owner who’s committed to strengthening my local economy, would do if the store was able to recoup even a small amount of that $15,000 in credit card fees. 

The obvious answer? Give my staff a raise.

Since February 2025, when you pay with cash at Back Cove Books, the percentage that would have gone to credit card companies now gets distributed to our staff on a quarterly basis. In effect, when you choose to shop with cash at Back Cove Books, you take money directly from large corporations and give it directly to your community members. Because, at the end of the day, they are quite literally who all of these mega-conglomerates are taking money from.

Visa and Mastercard are taking financial stability from Emily, Liv, Hannah, Katie, Charlotte, Jess and Kelsey — all of whom our customers and our community have come to adore and appreciate as much as I do. 

Will we shame you if you continue to use credit cards at our bookstore? Absolutely not. We appreciate the convenience of cards, tap-to-pay and more. But perhaps you try to sneak a few more ATM trips into your busy lives, and that you remember more cash given to local businesses means smaller profits for the big corporations who don’t care about your community. What an easy and accessible way to stick it to the man.

While individual actions are meaningful, there also comes a time when our elected officials have to step up and do what we elect them to do: work to create robust state and local ecosystems that put greed and overconsumption of large corporations in check. Thus, come fall, I will be looking for candidates who support the bipartisan Credit Card Competition Act. The bill would introduce more competition into the payments market, putting downward pressure on “swipe fees.”

It feels superfluous to talk about something as seemingly minute as credit card fees when so many of our neighbors are facing fear, uncertainty and exhaustion. With all the pain that is being wrought on our community, it is easy to question whether or not small changes can really help. But what feels small to megacorps meddling in Maine’s affairs can make huge impacts on our communities. 

Change is possible and it starts with your voices, your actions, your votes and, of course, your indie bookstore.