Most out of home companies take payment by credit card.  It’s convenient for clients and provides the out of home company immediate access to cash.  But credit cards are expensive.  Fees average 1.5-3.5% of the transaction amount.  At last week’s IBO show West Virginia Outdoor CEO Bill Lodzinski mentioned that his company saved $68,000/year by passing on credit card fees to clients.   “We want to make it as easy as possible for clients to pay”, he told the IBO conference, “but not at the expense of our company’s financials.”  Lodzinski tells Billboard Insider that if you explain your reasons and work with advertisers during a transition they have no problem going back to the old way of paying.  Billboard Insider hears that a public out of home companies just notified clients that they will add 3% fee to the bill of clients who pay by credit card.  Jim Matalone tells Insider that Ashby Street Outdoor would add the cost of credit card changes onto bills it sent to clients.

What’s your policy on clients who pay by credit card?  Do you pass the credit card fees on?  Take our poll below or email davewestburg@billboardinsider.com.  We’ll do a followup post later this week.

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