“The increased use of cash may be a side effect of the interchange fee regulations that capped these swipe fees for debit card purchases. While a smaller fee was good news for most retailers, it provided a cruel twist for the smaller merchants. Business owners specializing in lower-priced items like coffee, candy and ice cream now have to pay a higher fee when their customers use debit cards for transactions because many card companies discontinued the discounts that were often given merchants for small transactions. Issuers say the higher swipe fee previously paid by retailers subsidized the discount for smaller transactions.”