Donna Genie watched a pizza restaurant charge her $0.84 and her mother $0.54 as credit card surcharges on $20 bills. She argues restaurants should raise menu prices instead of hitting customers with surprise fees at checkout, calling the practice petty and unprofessional.
You may have heard me talk before about the importance of accepting credit cards for payments in businesses when a customer wants to give you money, it's been proven that they have less anxiety and less regret about spending money if they spend it on a credit card rather than pulling out their hard earned cash. Well, there's a new trend in the marketplace dealing with credit cards right now that I find pretty troubling. And a lot of this is perpetuated by the credit card merchant processing companies. And that is passing along the charge for the credit card to the customer and in essence giving a cash price and a credit price kind of like they used to do at the gasoline fuelers and retailers. And some still do that. But I hate it. Honestly. I never go to a station that has a higher price for credit than for cash. In looking at how this trend is working, this is mostly happening with restaurants where I'm seeing the pass through of the credit card fees. I went to a restaurant the other night with my mom, it was a pizza place here, local, in town, and I spent probably $20. I'm rounding off the number for effect. I received my bill to sign off after I got my credit card and so did my mom and I was charged an additional 84 cents for a credit card fee. She had an additional 54 cents added to her ticket for her credit card fee. I was completely turned off by this and I'll tell you why. I'd happily have given them $3 more for my meal if they just raised their price to accommodate adding in the fee all in their price. People are not as price sensitive as a lot of people make out to be. And if I'm going to pay that price, whether it's separated out or all combined in the price, my price sensitivity is on paying the whole thing. Don't do the bait and switch and bring me in at a lower price and charge me a higher price because I'm using a credit card. They were very upfront about this. There were signs on the door on each and every table that they were charging me 3.5% or 4%, I can't remember which frankly doesn't matter if I paid with a credit card instead of cash. So what else are we going to do? Are we going to add in a fee because I come in at lunch versus at dinner? Are they going to add in a fee because the electricity rate went up? How about adding a surcharge to my bill for your electric or your water price is higher or the air conditioning was cut down lower in the restaurant. Should I charge a surcharge for having the air cooler in the restaurant? Come on folks, step back and remember why you're in business. You're in business to bring in people and sell to them and provide them an experience. Is this the last taste you want to leave in their mouth as they're paying their bill? When they leave? Take a little bit of note as to my video. I am recording this video because I was charged $0.84. I would have gladly paid $5 more for my food if that would have been the bill. I didn't go to this restaurant because of the price on their menu. I went for convenience. I went because I knew the food was good. I did not go because the price tag went up a dollar or two from the last time I'd been there. Inflation has kicked in everywhere. Don't kick your customers to the curb. They understand that. They're not dumb. Just raise your prices. Please don't pass along credit card fees. You look petty and you look unprofessional in my world because you're not building it into your prices and being upfront with your customers. Please follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Please make sure to check out our blog and our website linked below. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell to be notified when we post@donnaalculatedmoves.com.
