I get 2% cash back on all my purchases. So they are going to have to drop prices by more than that. And I also get the protection of the cc company if my card info is stolen or a company doesn't deliver what they promised.

Cashback on credit cards is really just a rebate on the CC fees that are baked in to all prices. It's still a net economic loss for consumers, just not as bad as if you weren't taking advantage of that.

Credit card only seem like a good deal to consumers because it is hard to reason about n-th order economic effects. The profits these companies make are ultimately coming from all of our wallets.

It's a net economic loss for consumers as a class, sure. That doesn't mean it's a loss for each individual consumer.

I'm not against lowering CC fees. But the idea that they're just rent seeking is very silly.

Yeah, I'm aware of "churning". AFAIK its only possible to beat the system by taking advantage of many temporary offers in series and distorting your spending to get the 'free' value offered by their featured partners. i.e. you can only beat the system to the extent that you value airline miles and gift cards as their cash equivalents.

I'm not even talking about churning, though that can be a thing too.

I need to use something for purchases, and each method of payment has pros and cons. Even if using a credit card had a visible 2% additional cost, I'd use it on certain transactions. If I'm dealing with a vendor I might not trust to do a refund, a cc lets me do a chargeback. If I'm concerned about holding large amounts of cash, a cc lets me limit my risk exposure. If I don't have the cash currently, a cc give me an interest-free advance until the statement due date (between 20-40 days in the future).

We can certainly argue about whether those things are worth 1% or 3% or .02%, but they're worth something to consumers.

Yea people keep talking about the convenience of not having to carry cash. I think the best benefit of a credit card is that you can do a chargeback if you're fraudulently charged or if the company does not deliver on the obligation of the purchase. Which I've had to do more and more lately as companies increasingly hide themselves behind powerless frontline customer support punching bags. I've done more chargebacks in the last two years than I have in the 20+ years I've had my Amex card.