Small retailers urge customers to use cash

Shop keepers in French-speaking Switzerland are pushing back against the rising cost of electronic payments.

In Lausanne, one café has stopped accepting Twint altogether, saying fees on small purchases, like a two-franc croissant, are wiping out already thin margins.

Other small retailers are following suit, asking customers to put away phones and cards in protest at what they call excessive commissions. 

Twint is accused of favouring major chains such as Migros and Coop with lower fees, prompting a complaint to Switzerland’s Competition Commission.

Shop owners say the costs, which are invisible to consumers, now run into several thousand francs a year and threaten the survival of independent businesses.

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