We have become a society that loves plastic. Cash is frowned upon, and the merchants and credit providers know that because that’s what they’ve been pushing for decades. So, they can charge high interchange fees because folks want the ease of swiping for what they want. The disadvantage is the cost of goods is higher because you better believe they pass along those fees to consumers. The advantage is we do get some pretty good consumer protections when goods and services aren’t delivered. Credit card companies go to bat for you because they don’t want a lot of chargebacks.