Obviously, as I mentioned earlier, credit card fees are a percentage of the retail price, regardless of what products you're purchasing. What we see in the retail gasoline market is a high incidence of customers choosing to purchase by credit card, for lots of different reasons--convenience in terms of accounting for their purchases; maybe for business-related expenses, as well. So we see about 40% of customers choosing to use credit cards. As prices go up, as I mentioned, there's a direct relationship in terms of the 2% or 2.5% retailers are charged for credit card processing. Of course it increases with every increase in gasoline pricing.
As I mentioned, right now we're looking at a situation where credit card processing costs are about 30%, roughly, of the operating margin the retailer has to work within. With the balance of that, the other 70%, they're having to cover all of their other operating costs.
Independent retailers very much feel the pinch with rising prices and with customers continuing to use credit, perhaps even more so in a situation in which they're challenged with cashflow. And it really is impacting their ability to continue to operate. As I mentioned earlier, these are many small and medium-sized businesses that are providing, in many cases, vital services in rural communities and smaller communities and which are very much being impacted.