WASHINGTON -- The House Committee on Financial Services held a hearing yesterday to address legislation aimed at bringing fairness and transparency to the "unfair and burdensome" credit-card interchange fees that are becoming the second biggest operating expense after labor, utilities and rent for petroleum and c-store retailers, said PMAA. The legislation, the Credit Card Interchange Fees Act of 2009, would address a number of retailers' concerns with interchange fees.

Testifying before the committee were representatives for merchant groups, consumers and small businesses. Also testifying were representatives for electronic payment groups, Visa, banks and credit unions.

NEW YORK -- Shares of MasterCard Inc. and Visa Inc. rose on heavy volume Wednesday despite the broader market's decline, a move analysts attributed to several factors, including a bit more optimism from the card companies' perspective about possible interchange-fee legislation, said a Dow Jones report yesterday.

OVERLAND PARK, Kansas -- While critical mass adoption has yet to arrive, the use of social media--Twitter, Facebook and other burgeoning online tools--is beginning to build some momentum in the convenience store/gasoline industry. It is becoming a hot topic of conversation, according to Amber Battle, marketing coordinator at CarterEnergy. In a recent blog post, she said that she has been talking with area managers about social media and "spending time in the trenches learning more about how to incorporate social media sites into our marketing efforts."