[renhanxue]

A cheaper alternative to cards here is app payment via Swish (approximately like Venmo). Goes straight to the vendor's bank account at a flat rate of the equivalent of USD ~$0.15 per transaction.

[what]

Why don’t you pay the transaction fee every time you use your card or whatever then? Why should the merchant foot the bill?

[sebra]

That used to be semi-common for smaller transactions in Sweden but was made illegal. Not sure why, probably to fight tax avoidance.

At this point the cost of handling cash is way higher than handling cards and as no one in Sweden ever uses cash its no longer relevant at all anyway. Now many (maybe even most?) dont accept cash to avoid the cost of handling cash instead.

[renhanxue]

Having a cash register and handling cash costs money too, doesn't it? It's just a cost of doing business.