I’m coming late to the party but I’ve tried to read through all the comments and haven’t seen this addressed:
Most small businesses, such as local coffee shops, won’t take a card for any transaction less than $5 or sometimes even $10 because the associated fees make those transactions too costly. If you don’t have a small amount of cash on you your only choices are to pay more or go to a chain that takes plastic for any amount.
Sadly more and more people seem to take the latter option which means local businesses are being driven out in favor of multinational chains.
