C-stores invented the cash price / card price sign — because they know the math better than anyone. If your store still eats the ~3%, you're paying for a problem the gas station next door already solved.
It's the same story from downtown Plano out to Legacy: the card reader takes its cut before you count a dollar of revenue. Most owners treat it like weather — annoying, unavoidable. It isn't. Here's the actual math for a Plano convenience store, and the setup that makes the fee line $0.
| Setup | Typical all-in cost | On $35,000/mo |
|---|---|---|
| Flat-rate reader (Square, Clover Go, Toast) | 2.9%–3.5%+ | −$1,015 to −$1,225/mo |
| Traditional processor + monthly fees | 2.3%–3.0% + fees | −$805 to −$1,050/mo |
| Pacta dual pricing | $0 to you | $0 — you keep 100% |
"All-in" is the number that matters: the advertised rate plus per-transaction dimes, monthly statement fees, PCI compliance fees, and batch fees. Pull one statement and divide total fees by total volume — that's your real rate, and it's almost always higher than the number you signed up for.
Dual pricing means your register shows a cash price and a card price — the small card fee is disclosed to the customer at checkout instead of coming out of your margin. You've seen it at every gas station in Texas your whole life. The price is posted, it prints on the receipt, and your regulars adjust within a couple of weeks — because they see the same thing everywhere else.
Yes. Dual pricing — posting a cash price and a card price — is legal in all 50 states, including Texas. It's a different animal from credit-card surcharging, which involves card-brand registration and percentage caps and is restricted in some states. Dual pricing is the gas-station model: two posted prices, customer picks, everything disclosed up front and printed on the receipt. That distinction is why it works everywhere.
Surcharging adds a fee on top of the listed price for credit cards — capped, regulated, banned in a few states, and it reads as a penalty. Cash discounting takes money off the listed price for cash. Dual pricing posts both prices side by side from the start — the most transparent version, the one customers already understand, and the one Pacta runs. No surprises at the counter, no gotcha on the receipt.
Exactly the same idea, brought inside the store. The pump taught every customer in America how dual pricing works. Your counter just catches up.
At $35,000/month on cards, about $1,050/month — over $12,000 a year, on margins that are often pennies per item.
EBT and lottery follow their own rules and aren't card-fee transactions — dual pricing applies to your regular credit/debit sales.
Free terminal ships configured; the switch is about 10 minutes whenever you're ready.