@Turbobuick wrote:If I could carry only one card, it definitely would not be Amex.
@FinStar wrote:Hmmm. I guess I never leave home without it
<shruggies>
Thankfully, there's plenty of options and no one is limited to carrying only 1 card, especially with the versatility of mobile wallets for those who have them.
@Andypanda wrote:The only place i want to use an amex and can't is Costco. My electrical utility company (SMUD) does not accept Amex, but even if they did I would still use my US Bank cash + visa with them. Everywhere else accepts Amex.
There are many utilities, insurance companies, and government entities, and many small businesses, that do not accept American Express.
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Andypanda wrote:The only place i want to use an amex and can't is Costco. My electrical utility company (SMUD) does not accept Amex, but even if they did I would still use my US Bank cash + visa with them. Everywhere else accepts Amex.
There are many utilities, insurance companies, and government entities, and many small businesses, that do not accept American Express.
Something I just learned about. If you live in California and have AAA and pay for your tags or other DMV services at the AAA office, it processes as "Travel" and there's no additional fees.
I love AMEX but the acceptance issues are a real pain for someone like me. I live in a city with less than 1 million people, but that means the government agencies (like parking and documents), medical offices and utilities places I go to do not accept it. Same with some Asian places (others are finally getting with it). It's petty but I definitely keep my CSR; Visa Infinite, for use at these places.
@icednightpaper wrote:I love AMEX but the acceptance issues are a real pain for someone like me. I live in a city with less than 1 million people, but that means the government agencies (like parking and documents), medical offices and utilities places I go to do not accept it. Same with some Asian places (others are finally getting with it). It's petty but I definitely keep my CSR; Visa Infinite, for use at these places.
LOL, sounds like a pretty big city to me, I live in a state which has a population of less than 1.4 million. 
@Horseshoez wrote:
@icednightpaper wrote:I love AMEX but the acceptance issues are a real pain for someone like me. I live in a city with less than 1 million people, but that means the government agencies (like parking and documents), medical offices and utilities places I go to do not accept it. Same with some Asian places (others are finally getting with it). It's petty but I definitely keep my CSR; Visa Infinite, for use at these places.
LOL, sounds like a pretty big city to me, I live in a state which has a population of less than 1.4 million.
Hahaha fair enough! I was trying to compare to general US big cities but there's always a bigg- uh, smaller fish somewhere.
@icednightpaper wrote:I love AMEX but the acceptance issues are a real pain for someone like me. I live in a city with less than 1 million people, but that means the government agencies (like parking and documents), medical offices and utilities places I go to do not accept it. Same with some Asian places (others are finally getting with it). It's petty but I definitely keep my CSR; Visa Infinite, for use at these places.
Even in California, the only cities over 1M are Los Angeles and San Diego. San Francisco is in the upper 800K range with San Jose falling back under 1M to 984K as of 2020.
@W261w261 wrote:I have a smaller service business, in which a full-time customer is spending about 90k a year with me. I don't take Amex, because it costs me 2.65% whereas V/MC are about 2%. That extra .65% is a lot of money. Firstly, I strongly discourage customers from paying with a card at all, and in fact am largely successful. But it gets harder every year. I have been successful in saying "V/MC only," - so far, but the pressure is growing.
On the other side of the coin, in my 30,000 population town there are 2 independent shops that have the software, tools, and personnel to fix my Audi. One takes Amex. The one that doesn't I like slightly better, and I am about to go down for a $10k bill. I need the spend on my Amex Delta Res card, so I went to the owner and mentioned to him that 6/10 of 1% of $10k is $60, and that he should invest that to get an additional $10k in revenue. I mean, he could pad the bill and I'd never know it, and frankly wouldn't care.
No dice. "They charge too much," and that was that. It was an emotional thing I think. My $10k is walking around the corner.
Probably much of your potential business is "walking around the corner" too.
My personal philosophy is that it's penny wise and pound foolish to discourage people who like to pay by credit card.