Posted on 09/14/2024 6:30:47 PM PDT by Red Badger
Three big retailers have found another way to make money from shoppers - charging them for something that has always been a free perk.
Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Kroger are charging customers between 50 cents and $3.50 to get cash back when they make a purchase, a study has revealed.
Competitors including Walmart, Albertsons and Target are still offering it for free.
Charging for cashback 'preys on shoppers' - especially those who rely on dollar stores, a Reddit user posted in reaction to the news.
'So many of their customers lack the car or the gas money to drive to a bank ATM in order to avoid these charges.'
Across the three chains, customers are paying $90 million a year in cash-back fees, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Americans with lower incomes or fewer local banking options are more likely to have to pay these fees, the CFPB found.
Dollar stores in particular are frequently located in small rural towns often with fewer branch locations where residents can get cash out for free, the watchdog warned.
Consumers can get cash back when they make a purchase at certain stores using a debit or prepaid card at the register.
Shoppers typically have to choose from options of pre-set withdrawal amounts presented at the payment terminal at the time they make a transaction.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I never get cash back at the grocery store any more. We go grab our cash in higher amounts now, and I will ask for change when I pay in cash. I’ll buy a candy bar or gum, or something for $1 if I can find it, and make them give me change for $100 in cash. That’s how I fight back.
I just go to my Credit Union, within walking distance of my house...........😎
Sure, but you already have cash. This is when you need/want cash and do a debit purchase.
Do these stores incur higher expenses they have to pay to the credit card company for the higher charges by a customer?
If so - then yeah. They have a right to charge a fee for cash back.
Besides, there has always been a fee for using an ATM machine if it’s not in your banks network.
Pay the $3.50 or don’t.
They’re a store, not a bank. I say charge whatever they want.
Or find out if your bank has a partnership with any stores. My bank has one with Publix where I shop often. No ATM fees. What’s good for me is my bank that once specialized in closing branches has a Publix one block away so if my bank’s ATM is out for maintenance the store’s is a good option.
Kroger stores in my town have been doing this for 3+ years. Locally owned grocery stores give cash back for free. Guess where I shop? Matter of principle.
Around Arkansas Dollar General will not even give cash back if they were so inclined to do so...
They are just going to be creating more work for themselves.
If I do not want to pay the cash fee then I just buy something and take it to the customer service desk and ask for a cash refund.
They could, of course, do what the gas stations do and have one price for cash and a higher one for charge.
But all of this is straining at gnats.
They are doing something that will send people to other stores if available and will result in unhappy customers where there is not another option. And then soon there will be another option.
In the 1970-80’s there was a outdoors writer for the Fort Worth Star Telegram ( Texas, y’all) named Bob Hood.
He wrote in one of his weekly columns how to purchase a new rifle with out the wife knowing.
Volunteer to do the grocery shopping on occasion and write a check for $5.00 over. Put the money in a coffee can and over a period of time, would have enough to buy a rifle he wanted and place it with his others.
*Oh, this rifle? I’ve had it for years, just never got it out.
I live in the ‘boonies’, so my credit union is a good 30-40 minutes away. Unless I use my USAA account, which refunds fees back to me, and they don’t have branches anyway.
Another step to get rid of the cash.
Well, yeah, that used to happen, and I used the grocery store as my ATM. I don’t fork over my 50 cents without deliberating about it.
And to be truthful, my local Kroger has become so bad, that I’m rarely shopping there any more. Their terrible customer service at the checkout lanes has sent me packing. The butcher, the dairy, and floral folks were so great, but the assistant managers and the checkout staff are so obnoxious that I’m totally done.
Yes. I agree. DG provides a good service which no one else was interested in providing. They should be able to reap a little reward. They locate themselves in communities which everyone else has passed over. Often they are the only retail establishment left in small rural towns.
?? What do they mean by, cash back? On return goods.??
None of the stores near me will give you cash refunds on something if you used a debit/credit card to purchase. They'll put it back in the card you used or give you store credit on a gift card.
Your area is bigger and more commercial than mine. In my case, the credit union is a good 20 minute drive from my house, on a good day. We do have a small account at the little local bank just over a mile from my house. That’s where we get out a couple hundred at a time, and portion it out from those times.
I’m not paying an extra 50 cents unless I’m totally desperate. I work hard to make sure I’ll never be desperate. It may happen sometime, but I’m trying my best to avoid that.
I worked with a girl who had a taste for expensive purses. She would buy one, then hide it in the closet for 6 months. When she finally started using it, she said her husband would ask if it was new and she would tell him, "No. I've had it for ages."
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