I bet most of us aren’t actually making anything on cash back or rewards no matter what we do. %2 cash back isn’t free. Everything I’ve learned about the store side of things says the fees merchants pay is higher than the cash back + rewards. You think the store just eats the cost? Most of it is being passed to the consumers.
However, I don’t think removing the fees now would lower prices. Might prevent them from going up a bit longer though.