Trouble with stores charging Credit Card fees

UPDATE: A few years ago (sometime after the original posting of this article), Credit Card companies agreed to allow vendors charge fees for the use of their credit card.  It is now legit for a business to charge for the use of a credit card.

UPDATE 2: It seems in 2023, there's a separate lawsuit against Visa and Mastercard by merchants who claim they are charged excessive fees due to antitrust violations.  Although this is a separate issue from the one mentioned originally below in this article (back in 2007), it seems important to note it here.  The settlement agreement (backup link) to end the 2023 lawsuit was apparently effective on August 1, 2023.  

OUTDATED INFO: Have you ever run into a store with a sign posted that states they charge a fee for any purchases under a certain price if you pay with a credit card? Card Card companies have restrictions on when a fee can be charged. No fee is allowed for amounts greater than $1. If you come across a store that is charging a fee for any amount greater than $1, just leave and tell them why you are leaving. If you are a regular customer, perhaps gently remind them of this before you take off.
Then, report that place of business to your credit card companies. They will take it from there.

Someone made my day

I got the funniest automated news today. I was notified by Yahoo! Answers that I am now a level 2 member for earning 250 points on the Answers area. (That's not the funny part.) I checked out why.
It appears that I had previously answered the question "If only god can judge, shoudn't we abolish all the courts and tribunals?" with one simple little statement "LOL". So, apparently somebody thought that my answer was most appropriate and voted it as the Best Answer for that question. LOL I think I laughed for like a minute or more when I made this little, simple and yet ironic discovery. In fact, it is ironic in its irony. hehe This made my day.
Ok, so what does "Level 2" status give me? Well, I now have the power to rate other people's answers. ::insert unnecessary and fake maniacal laugh here:: I haven't even explored the Yahoo! Answers thingy in like 6 months. When I did, it was out of boredom for a few evenings here or there last summer.
Hmm, I'm not feeling bore right now...this being Lovers Day, I have some stuff I need to do, but maybe I can take a few minutes to explore.

Dollars and coins

With the new $1 coins coming off the mint now, there's renewed discussion about which (coin or bill) are better or needed. A common sentiment is found in the linked article quoting a fellow citizen, "I really don't see any use for [the dollar coin]. We tried it before. It didn't fly."
I personally disagree. I feel that the issue with the dollar coin is not that we tried it and it failed. It is that our Mint has made a series of mistakes in the design of the coin.
First, for 3 decades, they've been putting somewhat obscure characters from U.S. history on the coin. Susan B. Anthony is important, but is she more important than Eisenhower (who she replaced)?
The person on the coin may not be as big of an issue as the next mistake in the 1970's. They made the dollar coin of similar size, weight and color to the quarter. It is way too confusing for vendors to handle change when they can't immediately tell a quarter and a dollar apart.
Third, they did not commit the U.S. economy to depend on the coin, but rather continued to produce the bill at the same levels.
The fourth and fifth mistakes comes in the late 1990's when they replaced the Susan B. Anthony coin with a brass colored coin of an even more obscure character from pre-U.S. history. Honestly, to me, once these coins hit circulation and got tarnished, they resembled 1950's coins from Latin America. The idea was to make a coin that looked gold in color. They failed horribly on this.
The sixth mistake was again with size. They keep the coin the same size and shape as the Susan B. Anthony coin. This meant that even though the coin was goldish color, in dark lighting or at a glance, it was still very hard to distinguish the them from a quarter.
Given this series of blunders, one might have to suspect that the errors have been made intentionally to sabotage the efforts to establish an American dollar coin.

Talk about work

One thing I never do it talk about work directly. No exception today. But if I were going to talk about work, then I'd be saying some cool stuff about things that I may or may not be accomplishing. :)

Sex in Space

Just some thoughts about this psycho astronaut. Ya'no, there's only about 70 astronauts at any given time. Love triangles going on at this level, involving married people leads me to just imagine what else has been going on in this tight knit group. For example, has their already been first time people had sex in space in some extremely exclusive Zero-G club (as opposed to the Mile High Club)? Hmm. This could either desolve into a Sex in Space fantasy, or a 90210 nightmare. Right now, it appears to be 90210 in Space.

Da Bearrrrszz

Corus "It's Da Bears!"

Robert Smigel "Bill, what is your prediction for Super Bowl 41?"

Bill Swerski "My prediction for dis Sunday's big game is Da Bears: 171.5, and da utter guys: Forfeit due to dair entire team being seriously injured on account of dair fancy team bus being accidently leaned upon by a 10 year old girl."

Todd O'Conner "Really, are da Colts so weak dat dair'll injured by a 10 year girl leaning against dair bus? Is dat possible?"

Robert "No, Todd, but it is possible if dat 10 year old girl is Coach Dikka's daughter!"

Bill "Of course"

Robert "Not Coach Dikka's eldest daughter, but his youngest daughter, because we all know what Coach Dikka's oldest daughter would do to da Colts!"

Pat Arnold "Oh, yeah, of course!

Todd "So why is the score only 171.5 and not just 172?"

Bill "Well, actually da score will be a dominating 171, but on account of Da Bears shear mightiness, the N-F-L will award dem a bonus 1/2 point."

Pat "No, I think the score will be 172, but dee N-F-L will deduct 1/2 a point because Coach Dikka is not longer coaching the team!"

Todd "Yes!"

Robert "Da Bears"

Corus "Daaa Bearssszz"