F'ing BP credit card surcharge

[Badjelly]

My daughter (bless her mercenary heart) has acted as a lawyer for the credit card companies (or banks) in a dispute with retailers over credit card fees, but even she was surprised to hear that the National Bank can afford to refund me 1% of what I spend on the credit card. So they've got to be raking it in!

I buy everything on the card these days, because I get free credit for 1-2 months and 1% back as well. (I always pay the balance in full at the end of the month--I'm not stupid.) However if a merchant wants to charge a fee I have no objection whatsoever, provided they tell me in advance. I'll pay by EFTPOS or I'll go somewhere else.

My daughter tells me that some of the Pak & Saves in Wellington tried charging a credit card fee a few years ago, but they only lasted a day till they caved.

[Naki Rat]

People don't seem to have a problem paying to have a credit card, or paying 20%+ to use its credit facility,....

Both credit cards here are zeroed every month, and have 1% cashback facilities that more than offset any 'annual fees'.
Chances are if you are silly enough to pay credit card interest rates then a relatively minor surcharge isn't going to make fak all difference.

[Ixion]

I heard only Wellington mentioned in the news article re the surcharge on credit card use, but betcha it'll soon blanket the country. Petrol stations were blaming banks for it, banks were saying "no, we've not put up our fees, but legislation has made it possible now for retailers to recoup some of their costs via this so some are now going to do so".

We've generally paid for gas with credit card due to the immediate cost - e.g. $80 on the credit card which can be repaid at your convenience means $80 still in your cheque account for other things, but from now on we might just suck in our belts and buy petrol only when money is sitting there in our bank account. Probably a good way to go with most of life's monetary transactions wherever possible.

Just out of curiosity how many of us can remember life prior to credit cards? How did we cope back then! lol

It was called money. Foldy bits of paper. or, even earlier, little metal discs. But, back then, most garages ran charge accounts for regular customers. So did the grocery store, the butchers, the newsagent....

[crazyhorse]

Big story on the news last night. Sounds like its started at the major service stations in the big centres, but admittedly, the smaller ones will be the loyal ones .

Will be interested to see what happens down the track, as alot of people pay by CC these days, and they make alot of revenue from these cards.

I reckon it won't last................... So I will keep watching this space

[sunhuntin]

It was called money. Foldy bits of paper. or, even earlier, little metal discs. But, back then, most garages ran charge accounts for regular customers. So did the grocery store, the butchers, the newsagent....

the local BPs still run charge accounts.

[The Stranger:Me]

easy fix...dont' use your credit card for petrol. I did once and they charged an extra amount until my purchase cleared and then reversed the funds back.

Nooooooooo then you can't winge like a bitch. WTF were you thinking?

[PrincessBandit]

It was called money. Foldy bits of paper. or, even earlier, little metal discs. But, back then, most garages ran charge accounts for regular customers. So did the grocery store, the butchers, the newsagent....

Ah yes, the good old days, when businesses could be assured that their customers were honest and could be counted on to pay up at the arranged time...
The only place I still see that is the staffroom of only one of the three high schools I teach at - the good ole notebook on the counter for morning tea money. (Which I never use as I hate owing people money! If I ain't got jingly stuff in my wallet, I go hungry!)

[sefer]

^^ you have to pay for morning tea!! Should be in primary then, it's part of our contact




(we just work longer, teach every subject, get nearly zero release time, and get paid less....great trade off, really )

[robboh]

People pay by CC coz they dont (didnt) get charged bank fees. Thats the main reason. Oh, and of course XX days free credit, as long as you pay the bill fully. If you dont, then they rape you. As a vendor, you need to take into account that a purchase, especially a larger one, is going to get raped by the CC company to the tune of 2-4%. That can add up to some serious $$$ off your bottom line.

As for the petrol. Everyone grizzles about BP (and I dont like 'em either) but my vehicles always seem to run better, and get better mileage, on BP 95 than anything else. Shell's and Caltex, I'll typically get noticeably less milage on a tank; cage or bike.

[The Stranger:Me]

As for the petrol. Everyone grizzles about BP (and I dont like 'em either) but my vehicles always seem to run better, and get better mileage, on BP 95 than anything else. Shell's and Caltex, I'll typically get noticeably less milage on a tank; cage or bike.

Yes BP's refineries are the best.

[MarkH]

That said the onsite McDonalds and BKs manage to keep their prices the same as the rest of the country.

I think that the margins are a tad higher on burgers than petrol! As in the burger that you pay $6 for would have a cost to McDonalds of $1.20 or less. Obviously you are paying for the staff costs and rent and everything else.
My understanding is that the margin on petrol is much less for the petrol stations.

[Jantar]

It was called money. Foldy bits of paper. or, even earlier, little metal discs. But, back then, most garages ran charge accounts for regular customers. So did the grocery store, the butchers, the newsagent....

But if you pay by folding stuff today, the business has to pay a cash handling fee when they deposit it into the bank. This fee varies but can be as high as 2%. I guess the next step will be for a surcharge to be applied when you pay by cash.

[scracha]

I'll pay by EFTPOS or I'll go somewhere else.

EFTPOS fees are criminal. I have an even bigger surcharge for EFTPOS.

1% cashback sounds good though. Better than the 0.1% or whatever the hell Westpac's hotpoints add to.

EDIT. Bah, first 50K only. So after their annual fee you'll only make $400 bucks. Still....if I get the girlfriend one too that's $800. Beats a kick in the teeth.

[swbarnett]

But if you pay by folding stuff today, the business has to pay a cash handling fee when they deposit it into the bank. This fee varies but can be as high as 2%. I guess the next step will be for a surcharge to be applied when you pay by cash.

Which is exactly why the charges should be absorbed as a standard business expense. It seems that no matter how you pay there are bank charges involved.

I'd rather see a minor price increase across the board than specific charges depending on how you pay.

[sefer]

^^ and since those costs are already built in to the product (didn't see any price drops to account for the customer now footing the fees, did you?), there should be no change at all.