Wouldn’t it be an advantage for the Co-op to offer free online credit/debit card payments to its members as a service?
If the Cooperative were to pay the fee we would, in effect, be subsidizing the credit card program with money from the vast majority of members who, at least at present, have no interest in making payments this way. In other words, the majority of members would be paying the expense of offering a much smaller group of members this convenience free of charge. In a cooperative, all the members are also part owners. The revenue to operate this Co-op comes from all of them, and whenever SECO offers a new program, we try to make sure that no one segment of the membership is favored over another. The idea is to treat all members equally. We are offering it only as a convenience service; however, members certainly have other options. SECO also offers a free Bank Draft program, or bills can still be sent by mail or dropped off at any local office, area pay station, or paid online.
