How much do card fees actually cost an LA food truck in 2026?

At published standard US rates as of July 2026, in-person card fees on the big flat-rate processors run 2.7% + 5¢ per transaction (Stripe) or 2.6% + 15¢ (Square). On an example $14 ticket that works out to roughly 3.1% to 3.7% of each card sale once the fixed fee is counted - and the smaller your ticket, the bigger the fixed fee's bite. Run your own ticket size in the fee calculator; we do not publish an LA average ticket.

By Aaron Tomlinson · Published Jul 8, 2026 · Updated Jul 9, 2026

Source review: 3 cited sources; latest source access Jul 8, 2026. Dates match the Article schema on this page.

Operator checklist

Pull your processor's current rate from its published pricing page before budgeting - rates differ by entry method and plan tier, and they change.
Split the math into percentage fee and fixed per-transaction fee. The fixed fee dominates on small tickets: 15¢ is about 1.9% of an $8 ticket but only 0.75% of a $20 ticket.
Never key in cards at the window unless you have to: Stripe adds 0.5% for manually entered cards, and Square lists manual entry at 3.5% + 15¢ versus 2.6% + 15¢ in person.
Budget for surcharges you cannot control: Stripe adds 1.5% for international cards and 1% for currency conversion.
If you use a POS-bundled provider such as Toast or Clover, get the processing rate for your specific plan in writing - we could not read a published per-transaction rate from their public pricing pages as of 2026-07-08.
Run one real month of your own volume through the fee calculator before switching processors; the winner depends on your ticket size and card share, not the headline rate.

Assumptions to verify

Rates cited are published standard US rates accessed on 2026-07-08; negotiated, plan-tier, or promotional pricing will differ.
Derived percentages are arithmetic on example tickets. We do not publish an 'LA average ticket' - use your own numbers.
Estimates exclude hardware, monthly software fees, chargebacks, refunds, disputes, and taxes.

Official sources

Sources

https://stripe.com/pricing — accessed 2026-07-08 — Standard US: online 2.9% + 30¢; in-person 2.7% + 5¢; +0.5% manually entered; +1.5% international; +1% currency conversion.
https://stripe.com/terminal — accessed 2026-07-08 — Confirms in-person 2.7% + 5¢ per successful card transaction.
https://squareup.com/us/en/payments/our-fees — accessed 2026-07-08 — Standard tier: tap/dip/swipe 2.6% + 15¢; online 3.3% + 30¢; manual entry or card on file 3.5% + 15¢.

Run your own numbers

Plug your ticket size, transaction count, event days, and card share into the fee calculator to see estimated monthly card volume and processing cost.

Run the fee calculator All operator guides How we cite sources

This guide is educational information for planning, not legal, tax, or accounting advice. Rates and rules change; confirm against your processor's current terms and your own advisor before acting. See something wrong? Submit a correction.