You might recall that NACS’ last in-person Day on the Hill was on March 11, 2020. Yes, that 2020. Our attendees were one of the very last groups on Capitol Hill meeting with lawmakers. By March 13, Congressional offices closed their doors to any outside visitors. Shortly thereafter, the entire world shut down. Back then, we had no idea the impact the pandemic would have on the way we live our lives. We never could have imagined that it would force us to make our Day on the Hill event virtual in both 2021 and 2022. 

Needless to say, now that Capitol Hill is back to business as usual, the NACS Government Relations team was delighted to finally welcome back convenience advocates to Washington, D.C., for Day on the Hill 2023 in early March. 

Over the course of a day and a half, Day on the Hill gives convenience retailers and suppliers the opportunity to advocate on behalf of the convenience and fuel retailing industry on Capitol Hill. This year, 161 attendees traveled to Washington, representing over 11,000 stores in 44 states. Of those individuals, 41 were first-time attendees who had either never participated in Day on the Hill or only had done Virtual Day on the Hill.

The Impact of Political Engagement

Ahead of Congressional meetings, NACS spends time preparing attendees to hit the Hill the following day. To kick off our General Session, Legislative Committee Chair Lisa Dell’Alba, president and CEO of Square One Markets, discussed the importance of building meaningful relationships with legislators and returning to Day on the Hill each year. The convenience industry is in every state, city, town and neighborhood across the country, serving 165 million Americans every day, 24/7. Our industry plays a crucial role in the American economy and our story is one that lawmakers need to hear, whether they are a freshman representative or a senator entering their sixth term. That way, when they’re about to draft a bill or vote on a piece of legislation, they think of the convenience industry and the impact their choice would have on our businesses and customers.

Swipe Fees and the Credit Card Competition Act

The world has drastically changed since the last time our industry advocates met in Washington, but there’s one issue that unfortunately has remained the same: exorbitant credit card swipe fees. These fees continue to be the industry’s second-highest operating cost due to Visa and Mastercard’s domination of the marketplace. In fact, total card fees ballooned to $160.7 billion in 2022—a 16.7% increase and $23 billion more than in 2021. Merchants paid $126.35 billion in 2022 in credit card fees alone—a staggering 20.2% increase from 2021.

Why do these fees continue to skyrocket year after year? Because the market is broken. Visa and Mastercard centrally set the swipe fee rates that banks charge retailers to accept card payments. Because of Visa and Mastercard’s control over the market, retailers have no choice but to accept whichever network is on a card.

Because of this, NACS did something for this year’s Day on the Hill that we’ve never done before. We brought only one issue to the Hill—the Credit Card Competition Act. 

In 2022, the bipartisan and bicameral Credit Card Competition Act was introduced by Senators Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) in the Senate and Representatives Lance Gooden (R-TX) and Peter Welch (D-VT) in the House of Representatives. This legislation provides a market-based solution by requiring there be two network routing options on a credit card—which already happens on debit today. This would give retailers the choice of which network to route each transaction over, bringing some competitive pressure to how the networks set their prices. NACS Day on the Hill teams asked Congress to bring much needed relief to their businesses and their customers by supporting the Credit Card Competition Act upon its reintroduction for this Congress.

Keep On Keeping On

For this year’s Day on the Hill, 38 teams of convenience retailers, suppliers, state association executives and NACS staff participated in over 200 Congressional meetings, including meeting with 91 senators. Attendees were thrilled to finally be back in person on Capitol Hill, even if it meant standing in the cold to get into House and Senate office buildings. As they heard from lawmakers that day, nothing beats showing up in person to tell your story.

This won’t be our only fly-in of the year. In 2022, we brought small groups of convenience retailers to Capitol Hill an extra five times to meet with legislators and their staffs to advocate for the Credit Card Competition Act. Have your swipe fees skyrocketed over the past few years? Are you looking for more ways to join the fight? We need to keep up our drumbeat, so if you would like to join us in D.C. for one of our fly-ins this year or if you would like to get involved back at home, you can reach out to Margaret Hardin, NACS Grassroots Manager, at [email protected]. And swipe fees aren’t our only focus—there are a number of other issues (from SNAP to electric vehicles to labor and more) that we are lobbying on each day. If you would like to get engaged with any other issues, reach out to Margaret for tips on how to get involved.