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My favorite coffee shop just started a 4% surcharge for cc

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longtimelurker
Epic Contributor

Re: My favorite coffee shop just started a 4% surcharge for cc


@GatorCowboyLion wrote:

"Ten states prohibit credit card surcharges and convenience fees: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma and Texas. It is illegal for merchants to add any surcharges to credit card transactions or charge convenience fees to nontraditional payment methods in these states."

However, when you pay Seminole County Florida property tax:

 

"A convenience fee will apply for all credit and debit card payments. This is a fee assessed by a third -party secure processor. 
Online: Credit Card* and E-check*
In person: Cash, Check, Credit Card*, Money Order
Mail: Check**, Money Order
* Credit Card has a service fee of 2.35%; e-check a $1.00 service fee
** Allow two weeks for processing and up to ten days to clear your bank"

 

So hard copy check, cash, and money order are free, e-check is practically free, but credit cards have a "convenience fee". Interestingly, that is the exact language quoted from Value Penguin. I'll file that under, rules for thee, but not for me.

Edit: Still worth it with the AOD unicorn!

 

Incidentally, gas stations around here do charge extra for card pricing over cash in some locations that I mentally mark and avoid.


I hadn't really thought about that but property tax and many utils in exempt MA also do that.   I guess the "trick" is that it isn't a convenience fee for the merchant, it's a service fee for the third pary provider.   So I assume the third party keeps all the fee, and maybe some small portion of the charge, so the merchant might still lose a little but much less than paying the whole swipe fee.

Message 21 of 49
Taurus22
Valued Contributor

Re: My favorite coffee shop just started a 4% surcharge for cc


@longtimelurker wrote:

@Taurus22 wrote:


But, do you think you're really getting a 5% discount?  5% cashback on a $40 shirt, you know you're getting $2 cashback, and that shirt effectively cost you $38.  But the 5% in-store discount just means they increase the cost of the shirt to $42 to offset the $2.10 loss, and they still get their $40 asking price. So again, it benefits the merchant because the merchant can adjust their prices to offset losses....which isn't necessarily a bad thing.....just saying the consumer really doesn't benefit.


Yes (well, this is an upmarket clothing store, so $40 wouldn't buy even a sylish  used kleenex) but they are not adjusting the price upwards for cash purchases, they have a (perhaps inflated) price and the choice is to use a credit card for that amount (and get whatever rewards) or pay 5% less with cash and forgo any cc benefits/rewards/protections.  


Lol!  Smiley LOL  Well, that was my point....not so much adjusting prices for cash purchases separately, but inflated prices to offset surcharges.

My Wallet
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Message 22 of 49
W261w261
Frequent Contributor

Re: My favorite coffee shop just started a 4% surcharge for cc

My original question was not meant as a springboard for a discussion of the merits, but just as an inquiry whether the practice might be accelerating or not. I eat out a lot, and haven't seen the surcharge trend (if there is one) in better restaurants. I use Amex, which gets me 4% in MR pts. I can leverage those to around 1.5x, so that's 6%. I would hate to see that disappear or be reduced to say 2% net. 

Message 23 of 49
Taurus22
Valued Contributor

Re: My favorite coffee shop just started a 4% surcharge for cc

@W261w261   Well I'm in SC, and I have not seen any gratuitous surcharges here. It could be a regional issue. The only thing I have experienced (and it's not often, and I avoid these places afterward) is the once-in-a-blue-moon convenience store that has a $2 minimum for CC, or a $1 flat surcharge for CC.

 

And sometimes springboards produce interesting information, but sorry we interrupted your thread...

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Message 24 of 49
Yankee2
Regular Contributor

Re: My favorite coffee shop just started a 4% surcharge for cc

I guess it depends on the business, but in my senerios, it was easiest just to increase the price across the board by the cost of the credit card fee.

 

The hoops going thru just to reduce the cost by that few percentage points for those that would pay cash wasn't worth the customer's aggrevation. Most people use cards or want to use cards.

 

It's just an addition to the cost of the product. (I'm saying this from the seller's perspective)

 

Kinda like those that provide free shipping.... they aren't just eating that cost, they add that cost to the product.  Adding that cost but provide free shipping is an easier sell that trying to explain to customers why shipping is "x" cost... You can add "free installation" senerio to that also...Smiley Happy

Message 25 of 49
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: My favorite coffee shop just started a 4% surcharge for cc


@JR_TX wrote:

Starbucks is probably the most expensive coffee out there but just for the sake of mileage/point discussion...

I use my Discover on restaurant rotation months with 5% CB to reload my Starbucks app. I then use the app to pay which in turn earns rewards/stars for free drink/food.

Dollar for dollar that nets me close to 7%. 

Also with the CSP a $100 Starbucks reload for only $80 via their "Pay Yourself back" feature.

But I guess all these only make sense if the price of Starbucks isn't a deal breaker. 


jealous of your credit scores <3

Message 26 of 49
NRB525
Super Contributor

Re: My favorite coffee shop just started a 4% surcharge for cc


@W261w261 wrote:

My original question was not meant as a springboard for a discussion of the merits, but just as an inquiry whether the practice might be accelerating or not. I eat out a lot, and haven't seen the surcharge trend (if there is one) in better restaurants. I use Amex, which gets me 4% in MR pts. I can leverage those to around 1.5x, so that's 6%. I would hate to see that disappear or be reduced to say 2% net. 


Ok, but if one wants to speculate whether CC surcharges will be increasing, it is helpful to understand what the logic is that pushes merchants, utilities and municipalities, or large regional chains with a high volume of transactions, what might lead them to add or forgo a CC surcharge?  Are there contractual reasons? Are there legal rulings that are relevant? Why are some businesses like gas stations putting big signs out in the street with that CC surcharge in 2 foot high letters but others are after the fact?  

 

And really, who pays for our beloved CC rewards? Well, it's often the merchants who don't show us a clear Surcharge, who simply raise prices for all customers, including those who pay the same price as CC in cash or debit.  As noted above, cash handling and properly transacting the cash discount may be its own headache for the merchant, but it still translates to a CC reward for us.  Unless that surcharge is obvious and deflates our sense of "winning".  


Smiley Wink

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Message 27 of 49
zerofire
Valued Contributor

Re: My favorite coffee shop just started a 4% surcharge for cc

Around here the only merchants that have a surcharge are either government affiliated(Tax Office, DMV, Courts), Utilities with workaround avalable, gas stations doing cash discounts, or are idiot merchants doing it wrong. The last group gets roasted very quickly once they goof. One time I went into an ice cream shop which was in the rural part of town for a DoorDash order. I looked at the counter and they were trying to surcharge 4% for all cards aka credit and debit. I warned them and when I returned to my office filed a complaint with a network, do not remember which. Have not been back yet but they should have a rep roast them by now. I also had inspection stations try to refuse cards because the state limits the cost to $20. Naturally they want the full amount without fees removed. I file complaints every time and one time I returned to one after a complaint and their sign was gone, clearly they got chewed out.

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Message 28 of 49
longtimelurker
Epic Contributor

Re: My favorite coffee shop just started a 4% surcharge for cc


@zerofire wrote:

Around here the only merchants that have a surcharge are either government affiliated(Tax Office, DMV, Courts), Utilities with workaround avalable, gas stations doing cash discounts, or are idiot merchants doing it wrong. The last group gets roasted very quickly once they goof. One time I went into an ice cream shop which was in the rural part of town for a DoorDash order. I looked at the counter and they were trying to surcharge 4% for all cards aka credit and debit. I warned them and when I returned to my office filed a complaint with a network, do not remember which. Have not been back yet but they should have a rep roast them by now. I also had inspection stations try to refuse cards because the state limits the cost to $20. Naturally they want the full amount without fees removed. I file complaints every time and one time I returned to one after a complaint and their sign was gone, clearly they got chewed out.


So you are in one of the exempt states?

Message 29 of 49
SouthJamaica
Mega Contributor

Re: My favorite coffee shop just started a 4% surcharge for cc


@Aim_High wrote:

I don't know but I think I would complain and find a new coffee shop.  I used to never pay for small purchases like coffee with a credit card, but the minimum purchase requirements to use cards have slowly disappeared over the years.  I refuse to use debit cards except as an ATM card so that leaves me with paying a surcharge or paying cash.

 

There was a restaurant we used to go to that started charging a credit card surcharge last year.  Smiley Mad  I paid in cash, complained to the manager and haven't been back since.   I travel a lot and cringe when I see gas stations charging a higher fee for credit.  I try to avoid them.  Businesses need to realize there can be a cost for singling-out credit customers for surcharges, and that's the most effective way to confront them as a consumer, IMO.   And the problem for them is, when a customer walks away due to such policies, they won't be back regardless of whether you change that policy later.  They are permanently lost

 

Yes, I realize there is a cost associated with card processing.  Yes, I realize it may seem 'fair' to pass that along to the people who use it.  But in today's economy when electronic payments are all in-vogue, that needs to just be a part of doing business.  Tacking on fees is annoying and especially when they aren't disclosed until you check out. 

 

Surcharges have been going on for years and I don't see this as a new trend.  I hope I'm right, but I think it's just a coincidence that you ran into a couple of examples that closely together. 


I would never drop my favorite coffee shop over something like that. You're a tough customer Smiley Happy


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Message 30 of 49
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