• July 8, 2009

In a nationwide grassroots effort, more than 6,000 7-Eleven franchisees are asking their customers to sign a petition urging Congress to give small business a place at the table.

Dallas-based 7-Eleven and its independent operators seek a chance to negotiate with the big credit card companies about interchange fees that continue to rise with no discussion and no end in sight. The 7-Eleven petition drive will continue through Aug. 10. At the conclusion of the campaign, the top signature-gatherers from each of 7-Eleven's seven U.S. geographical divisions will be flown to Washington to personally deliver the signatures to Congress. The goal is to deliver 1 million signatures to Congress this fall.

Interchange fees are hidden fees to the consumer and are set privately by credit card companies and charged to store owners every time that a customer uses a credit card. Transaction fees squeezed American businesses and their customers to the tune of $48 billion in 2008 alone. On average, an American store owner will actually pay nearly twice as much in transaction fees as they earn in profits, according to the National Association of Convenience Stores 2007 State of the Industry data.

"Interchange fees are hurting individual small business operators, which represent more than 75% of 7-Eleven stores in the U.S.," said Darren Rebelez, 7-Eleven, Inc. executive vice president and chief operating officer. "Because more and more customers are using credit cards for small purchases, there are small transactions where the operator actually loses money. The fundamental challenge is that in most business relationships, both parties have the ability to negotiate, and in this case we do not. "--Tanya Irwin