The mayor of Maldonado, Enrique Antía, spoke out this Sunday in favor of the measure taken by some service stations in the department of do not accept payment with cards. This measure extends to both credit and debit cards.
The hierarch affirmed that from the service stations “they work all day, they break everything to work and the owner of the card takes almost the same as they do”.
For Antía it is necessary to “re-study the participation of the cards and the percentage of collection in the matter of fuel”. Otherwise, “all Uruguayans pay for it,” he added.
For the communal chief, this was “a measure of force that they took to defend themselves. Undoubtedly, changes will have to be made in this regard, ”he said at a press conference.
Measure
As of April 4, the 23 service stations associated with Maldonado Fuel Sellers (Vecoma) will no longer accept payment for services by credit or debit card.
Vecoma spokesman, Nicolás Pascaretta, explained that “the measure is taken due to the high tariffs that are paid. They are linked to the price of fuel, and when these rise, although tariffs remain at the same percentages, more is collected.
The measure had already been announced in December of last year, but “it had been postponed waiting for the card issuers to lower the tariffs,” Pascaretta said.
He argued that “these are variables for each of the card issuers, but they are between 1.1% and 1.5% of the total purchase. For every thousand pesos spent at a service station, between 10 and 15 pesos are used to pay transaction costs. In a liter of super gasoline ($74.88), about seventy hundredths is what the debit or credit card takes.”
When asked if any contact had been made with the government due to the situation, he said that “this is an issue between private parties and the government can help, but it does not have any legal power in this matter. What it can do is take a position, but not make any demands.
