I went to Fry’s Electronics yesterday to pick up a $1.99 part needed for an experiment at work. Over 90% of the time, I pay in cash if the transaction totals $10 or less. The cashier asks me whether I would like to put this on a Fry’s credit card. In my mind, I cringe, thinking about how much it would cost them to maintain this account I will rarely ever use and to mail the statement to say that I owe them $2.13 (after sales tax). My wild guess is that they would have lost 50% on this sale had I said “yes” with no guarantee that I will frequent the store for my other needs and with no revenue generated from interest as I pay my bill off on time every month. Furthermore, I find ridiculous the notion of a credit card that I can only use in one store.
I declined, for the one credit card and one debit card presently in my wallet are all I need.
