Second, passing on the credit card fee to customers also pis*ses me off. They need to absorb that, it's a convenience and a service to customers, pretty soon the service industry will be providing ZERO service, and they are already getting cose to that.
Passing on a unique credit card fee to customers used to be legally considered as discrimination. You could give discounts for cash, but you could not charge extra to take cards. CC companies put this through the courts years ago. Might still be...
You run a business?
I get a severe discount on merchant fees, almost at cost, and it’s still close to 1500 bucks to process about 55k in plastic transactions monthly.
that’s 18k a year. While I absorb the cost, most other shops don’t get the rates I get, and it adds up really fast.
Don’t like paying the fees, Pay cash, check or go elsewhere. Lot of places are allowing Zelle and Paypal/Venmo now to try to cheapen out the rates.
It’s a cost to the business owner just like any other cost. Costs aren’t just “absorbed” if the business is to remain viable. Many small businesses operate on very small margins. Sure, make it illegal to charge an extra CC fee. The business owner will just raise prices on everything. I would rather have the option to pay cash to get a lower price.
Good points, but there’s a lot of varied sentiment on this subject.
Some retail businesses feel as if they are being ripped off by the credit card companies charging 3-4 percent processing fees. The smaller the business, the more, it seems, that most people can sympathize. So these businesses encourage payment in cash. Some go so far as to ban digital payment. Young people especially think the people who run these businesses may as well be from Mars.
Other retail businesses consider cash transactions more trouble than they’re worth in terms of avoiding the credit card processing fee. They don’t like the bother of handling actual cash and would just as soon ban the use of cash at their retail locations, choosing to allow only digital transactions. Some actually do ban the use of cash, choosing to forego the business of people who prefer to use cash, or who refuse to pay digitally.
It’s kind of getting to be a culture clash.
When sales taxes came some wanted to hide it in the cost of business, so we wouldn’t think about it.
Others said it had to be listed so that we would know why it cost more and not hidden. That we would KNOW how much our govt costs.
We’ve gotten to the point that not even Freepers understand capitalism.
Lol, businesses don’t exist to “serve the customer.” They exist to make a profit.
A few weeks ago, I ate at a TGI Friday at Dallas Ft. Worth Airport. After waiting for my bill, the waitress pointed to a QR code on the table and told me to do it myself. I had to scan the code, manually enter my card info and not get a printed receipt.
Then they had the stupidity to include a link for a survey.
I completed the survey and told them that I would not be returning to their restaurants. And the waitresses tip was reduced because I as the customer was being required to do her job.
They replied that they were sorry that I chose to not tip the waitress so much money.
Hey. do dumb things get dumb results. I hope others do the same and put a stop to that kind of nonsense.
I recently paid over $1000 for a service. I did have the option of using my credit card and pay the 3% additional fee, but I wrote a check instead and saved over 30 bucks. I like having that option, rather than just having that business raise their prices for ALL transactions. I think it is more fair and honest.
If there is a credit card fee, I generally reduce the tip I leave on the card by that amount.
The only way to “absorb the cost” is to pass on the cost. Now you’ve got a couple of options there:
They can just increase their prices, thus charging everybody more
They can decrease quality (ie cheaper supplies), thus giving less for the same money
Or they can figure out which customers cost them more, and just charge them what they’re costing you
The fact of the matter is taking credit cards is expensive. You have to pay to be on the network, and they charge you for every transaction. Margins are thin in the restaurant business, there’s a reason 80% of them go out of business in the first year. The only thing these fees are is showing you the math. They could take option 1, increase prices across the board, and then you’re STILL paying the fee, just not seeing it.