As 2025 comes to a close, the National Lumber & Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA) continues to advance advocacy efforts to address the growing burden of credit card swipe fees on lumber and building material dealers and the entire merchant community. This month, on Capitol Hill and in the courts, NLBMDA has been actively engaged in efforts to reform the broken credit card payment system that allows Visa and Mastercard to set interchange fees with little transparency, competition, or accountability. For many dealers, these fees now rank among the largest operating expenses, often surpassing costs such as utilities or equipment. Swipe fees have more than doubled over the past decade and have increased by roughly 70 percent since the onset of the pandemic, reaching a record $187.2 billion in 2024. During the current holiday season alone, credit card swipe fees are projected to generate more than $20 billion for Visa and Mastercard.