Chicama Run Family Farm

I have been thinking about this the past couple of days.... ok .... people were asking me why I request a $15 minimum on credit cards and realized that most people (including myself before I had a business) did not realize the amount small businesses CAN be charged just for the convenience of accepting credit cards.

Now - this isn't a complaint panel.... I just want people to understand some of the costs in general with running a business - because I found it fascinating once I was taught.

So we'll use eggs as an example which I sell for $4.00 per dozen.

Now - I pay sales tax on the $4.00 - 2.5% so $0.10 goes to Virginia and Loudoun County
3% goes to the farmer's market association as a fee so we can help pay for advertising etc so $0.12
Then if someone charges (we'll say with Mastercard, Visa or Discover) I am charged 3.25% + .35 PER TRANSACTION - so that's another $0.43 (and if you use American Express it's up to 3.75% + 0.35 making it $0.49)

I'm not going to including egg cartons, cost of washing, running the commercial fridge etc. as that can get up higher - I'm just focusing on the additional FEES just to sell 1 dozen eggs.

So $0.65 is just wrapped up in fees for selling 1 dozen eggs at the farmer's market if someone charges it bringing the amount I bring home $3.35 per dozen (again not including chicken feed or anything else additional - but I'll tell you it's less than $3 per dozen easily - and I don't charge Joe for working here... I'm expensive enough to keep as a wife!)

Now if we sell 100 dozen (this past weekend was 128!!!) those fees can add up quickly!

Of course every business and every merchant account (the thing that allows us to accept credit cards) is different. But we are living in a plastic world plain and simple. People - including myself - don't carry cash nearly as often as they used to. Personally I can't even go "get cash" from an ATM because I have no idea what my 'pin number' is and really don't care to know because I am terrible about balancing my own checkbook.

So I hope this helps some people understand WHY the cost of things can change as our output for stuff changes all the time.