I have a checking account with $100 in it. I go to a Starbucks and charge a $6 cup of coffee. I now have $94 in my checking account and Starbucks has $6. There is no fee for either. I don't care if that cup of coffee costs the bank a million fucking dollars. The customer doesn't pay and the business doesn't pay. That's all the public will see or care about. If that cup of coffee costs one penny more they will keep using their debit card. Remember I'm not talking about credit. Credit is another story and something Bitcoin isn't currently competing with on a large scale.
Edit: I'm talking about Pin Debit using qualified large merchants.
Hmm.. I wasn't aware that there are merchant service providers who have zero fees for pin based debit card transactions.
According to the FRB, fees for debit card transactions averaged $0.31 in 2014.
Large merchants like Starbucks bank where the tiered pricing is negligible or free. In the case of tiered pricing a business does not pay interchange fees. Instead, a business pays qualified, mid-qualified and non-qualified rates to a processor. Smaller merchants pay larger fees. Different types of businesses pay different rates also. The point remains that consumers won't pay anything because they don't currently have to. I am such a cheap bastard that I buy gas at ARCO with only cash because they charge more for any card. I refuse to give those blood sucking leeches one penny more than I have to for gas.
Bitcoin has a strong ability to compete with the international money transfer business even if the fee was two dollars. I see no reason why it should be used for everyday purchases where the competition will win. I can pay cash for little stuff under $20. Sending $10k to another country I would want to use Bitcoin and so would anyone else.
Sorry, I am a bit tired, so I am not sure, if I really got that. So, Starbucks is paying a fee, the customer doesn't see?
If so, there is really a simple solution to that: A discount.
When the merchants saves fees, when you use Bitcoin, he can give you part of it back as a discount and if you get a discount, that is bigger than the fee you are paying for sending Bitcoin, you have enough incentive to do so.