There are stores trialling exactly your preferred method. One of my local supermarket chains has portable barcode scanners on a wall. You pick one up, scan your groceries as you collect them, then take the scanner to a self checkout that links to the scanner. At that point you pay for your items and leave.

I don’t know the history of the photo, but I know some Kopi Luwak ‘producers’ force feed the civets coffee cherries to maximise production. So I can’t say this is a natural shit for a civet, because it could be human induced.

Leave the tinfoil hat on. There is a precedent for exactly what you are describing. When radios went from valve to transistor, radio manufacturers kept the number of transistors low and only slowly increased radio quality over the years. They were able to make higher quality radios from day 1 but didn’t so they could sell more radios.

Card and also New Zealand. I tend to find the cc or EFTPOS fees only get directly added by small businesses like local dairys or restaurants. Otherwise, it’s generally considered an operating cost and as such is accounted for in the price, so you pay for it regardless of how you pay.