businesses are charged for every single debit/credit card transaction, it is a huge expense for these businesses to have that convenience for their customers, I don't blame the businesses for charging a fee for under a certain amount. So as Peg said be angry at the P.O.S terminal companies. Or you want the convenience you have to pay, or carry cash and not pay the fee......

Then the businesses should increase there prices by a couple of cents so they dont have to charge us extra. They stoped it in Alberta they should stop it here.

Maybe carry some cash for those smaller purchases. Just a thought. Usually the minimum is only around $5.

Usually if I am in a store and don't have cash, I pick up a few extra things because I feel silly using my debit card for $5

Being a business owner, I do not practice this and believe you are technically not allowed to charge a fee. Same thing as some places charging you extra amount to use a credit card. From what I am told you aren't actually supposed to do this, the way to get around it is to give a cash discount price instead. That being said, these charges do add up for the business, but a debit transaction costs between 6 and 12 cents per transaction (credit cards charge a percent from 1.5-4%) depending on the terminal carrier, not 25 cents. As a business you should have all your added costs in you sale price. If you are concerned about this, contact the terminal carriers. It should have a sticker on the machine.