A stupid post about why I don’t want to pay a 50 cent surcharge

Thomas Pavitte
Jul 30, 2017 · 3 min read

I had a delicious breakfast today at one of my favourite local cafes. The food was fantastic, my batch brew coffee was perfect and the service was great.

It is crazy how many cafes there are in Melbourne and I see more and more popping up each month. Going out for breakfast is one of my favourite things to do. Some would say that it’s a big waste of money when you can make your own quick and easy breakfast for a fraction of the price, but I feel like every now and then it’s a nice treat.

After finishing my meal and going to the counter to pay, I saw a sign that I’ve never seen before in a cafe. I’m used to seeing signs about minimum $10 purchases for eftpos and also surcharges for using American Express, but this was a first.

A payment processing fee of 1.69% on all cards? Seriously?

The sign that greeted me at the checkout. Note the half price takeaway coffee deal too.

I understand that without this surcharge, the business would have to be the one that covers the electronic charge transaction, but I can’t help but thinking that there’s no reason why they shouldn’t.

Yes, we are talking relatively menial amounts of additional money per transaction. For my meal + coffee of around $30, the 1.69% surcharge would only increase that by 50 cents. But multiplied by thousands of transactions per year, that can easily be tens of thousands of dollars of additional revenue for an establishment.

It’s hard not to think of it as just a simple revenue collecting exercise. I have been to many cafes in Melbourne and have never seen a sign like this. Luckily, I had cash on me so I could avoid the surcharge. I know it’s only 50 cents extra, and I know that it is petty, but I can’t help feeling so disappointed about this.

Unfortunately, I feel like I am likely going to avoid going back to this cafe in the future. It’s such a great place too and the food is fantastic. I can’t help but feel duped when something is advertised at a certain price, but there is an asterisk or fine print that contradicts that. I know how silly it is to feel that way over half a dollar, maybe it’s just a sign that I’m getting older?

Why cant they just add 20 cents on to the price of all food? Yes, there’s something shady about that too, but it just feels less icky. I wouldn’t think twice about seeing smashed avocado for $17.20 instead of $17.

I’m well aware that this is just a stupid post about paying a 50 cent surcharge. It doesn’t really matter at all. There is certainly much more to be upset about in the world.

It’s just one of those first world problems that I can’t help feel is so avoidable. Especially when you also see that this same cafe is offering half price coffee for the month of July if you bring your own takeaway cup. That’s a fantastic initiative! I can’t help but think that if they can afford to do that, surely there’s a better way of dropping that 1.69% surcharge.

Here’s my delicious hot cakes that helped to incur a 50 cent surcharge.

Thanks for reading! Please feel free to connect and get in touch with me about anything and everything: thomas@thomasmakesstuff.com | www.thomasmakesstuff.com | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

Thomas Pavitte

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Author of the 1000-Dot-to-Dot book series and Querkles Colouring in book www.thomasmakesstuff.com

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