Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

nyccarguy · September 23

@Michaell said:
Our corporate owners of the cooking studio changed the vendor for CC transactions, and our total fees went up.

In addition, they are now subtracted from the transaction amount before the money is moved into our bank account. Not cool. But, nothing we can do about it.

Sounds like corporate is getting a kickback?

The company I use is Card Pointe. I know they are good because I have shopped them a few times and have gotten the answer; “we could save you a little bit, but not much.”

oldfarmer50 · September 24

You’re right. You can fit $100k in a coffee can….or so I’ve been told. 😅

oldfarmer50 · September 24

I only took cash or checks in my business. The cost of offering credit wasn’t worth it. Like a dummy I kept accurate records and paid all taxes. Maybe that’s why I was never rich.

graphicguy · September 24

roadburner said:

graphicguy said:

jmonroe1 said:

graphicguy said:

suydam said:
The Sportage is our first Kia. I have to say they’ve been pretty great so far with both sales and service.
In all frankness, I found my Stinger and current EV6 to be exemplary. No problems. Built well. Nice inside and out with up to date tech.

As @roadburner points out, their dealership sales personnel reflect what Kia was 15-20 years ago....a low end new car franchise catering to first time buyers and credit challenged customers (excluding @oldfarmer50 ). They ain't that now.

Go sit in a new EV, SUV or a K4. They're impressive. I think this is more a dealership thing than a car brand thing, though.
————————————————
That sounds like something the Kia regional rep should be made aware of.

jmonroe
Funny you should mention that. But the Regional Kia Rep was there when I took delivery of my Stinger (bought late one night and took a couple of days for PDI). Didn't know who he was until he approached me about buying the Stinger....mostly small talk about the car. But, when he asked about the sales process, I was frank with him about the less than stellar experience (mostly about being hounded by sales reps).

From the looks of it, I guess it fell on deaf ears. That said, this dealership group is notorious for those sorts of high pressure tactics. I have no problem in telling them "no" over and over. A "newbie"? Might get them in the chair and clubbed.

Same dealership group also owns one of the 2 Mercedes dealers locally. Wonder how that sales process looks? And, the same dealer family bought my Acura dealership about a year ago. Not wanting to walk into that show room these days.
I bought my C43 from Mercedes-Benz of Fort Mitchell in December 2022 and the sales process was fine; I had a great salesman and no issues with F&I. Wyler also owns the Louisville dealer and so far service has been exemplary and I've never had to deal with a pushy salesperson when I'm checking out cars in the showroom or on the lot.
I think Mercedes makes their dealers toe the line -even more so than BMW does- so the bottom feeder sales/service tactics would cost the dealership greatly.

That's good to hear.

I've only dealt with Wyler's Honda and Kia store. This was years ago, but the Honda sales guy stunk to high heaven of BO and cigarettes, to the point I didn't want to deal with him. I've already outlined the Kia store interactions.

I have been to that Ft Mitchell Mercedes store when the Bernie Moreno family owned it. I actually dealt with Paparella (sp?) who is now the GM under Wyler. All good. As big as that dealership is, I was looking for a specific C300 (6cyl, dark grey metallic, red leather). They said they'd order it for me. And then, never followed up. But, looking back it was about when they were being purchased by Wyler, although I didn't know that at the time. So, it may have fallen through the cracks. Nice folks to work with then. Beautiful store.

Wyler went on a huge buying spree at the time. He bought more Kia stores, a Honda store, 2 Acura stores (mine and one in Dayton, OH), the Merceds Store, and some other I can't recall, all at just about the same time.

ab348 · September 24

explorerx4 said:
@ab348,
Sales were more like 75% cash but reported sales were 50/50.

For employees, it offered a temptation that for some was too strong. There were several staff during my time there who were caught skimming cash transactions. Our audit/loss prevention group would go into a store in the wee small hours where that was suspected of happening and rig hidden cameras in the ceiling and elsewhere to record those working who were believed to be skimming. It didn't seem to be difficult for them to do. One of the more surprising/sad cases was involving a young lady who was managing a small store who got promoted to manage a larger outlet. She was very smart, quite pleasant, and seen as a rising star in the organization. Then it was revealed via surveillance that she was involved in not only skimming but also misreporting stock receipts/short shipping to benefit herself and a co-conspirator who worked for her. Hated to discover that. At least she left quietly when all was revealed and a deal was cut to avoid criminal charges.

nyccarguy · September 24

oldfarmer50 said:
I only took cash or checks in my business. The cost of offering credit wasn’t worth it. Like a dummy I kept accurate records and paid all taxes. Maybe that’s why I was never rich.

A small price to pay for being able to sleep at night.

tjc78 · September 24

Michaell said:

nyccarguy said:
As a small business owner, paying out credit card fees as a convenience is just a cost of doing business. I’ve mentioned before that my business is in a bad neighborhood. The money from credit card sales is in my business bank account the next day.

Our corporate owners of the cooking studio changed the vendor for CC transactions, and our total fees went up.

In addition, they are now subtracted from the transaction amount before the money is moved into our bank account. Not cool. But, nothing we can do about it.

What was it prior? Invoiced monthly and N30? If so, that's a pretty big difference

Michaell · September 24

tjc78 said:

Michaell said:

nyccarguy said:
As a small business owner, paying out credit card fees as a convenience is just a cost of doing business. I’ve mentioned before that my business is in a bad neighborhood. The money from credit card sales is in my business bank account the next day.

Our corporate owners of the cooking studio changed the vendor for CC transactions, and our total fees went up.

In addition, they are now subtracted from the transaction amount before the money is moved into our bank account. Not cool. But, nothing we can do about it.
What was it prior? Invoiced monthly and N30? If so, that's a pretty big difference

Previously, we’d get the entire transaction amount deposited into our account, then the fees were withdrawn either once or twice a month.

nyccarguy · September 24

Michaell said:

tjc78 said:

Michaell said:

nyccarguy said:
As a small business owner, paying out credit card fees as a convenience is just a cost of doing business. I’ve mentioned before that my business is in a bad neighborhood. The money from credit card sales is in my business bank account the next day.

Our corporate owners of the cooking studio changed the vendor for CC transactions, and our total fees went up.

In addition, they are now subtracted from the transaction amount before the money is moved into our bank account. Not cool. But, nothing we can do about it.
What was it prior? Invoiced monthly and N30? If so, that's a pretty big difference
Previously, we’d get the entire transaction amount deposited into our account, then the fees were withdrawn either once or twice a month.

The fees get taken out automatically, every day.

tjc78 · September 24

Can you imagine the revenue these processing companies get from Walmart, Home Depot, etc? I'm sure the percentage is a fraction of what small businesses pay, but even at 1% it is a huge number.

corvette · September 24

AT&T has declared war on those fees... I have my home internet through them, and first they started with a surcharge (I think $5) for credit cards, wanted everyone to use a debit card. Now, they have a surcharge for debit cards, and I think an even larger surcharge for credit cards. They want your bank ACH information like most other utility providers--only that version of autopay is free, anymore.

jmonroe1 · September 24

corvette said:
AT&T has declared war on those fees... I have my home internet through them, and first they started with a surcharge (I think $5) for credit cards, wanted everyone to use a debit card. Now, they have a surcharge for debit cards, and I think an even larger surcharge for credit cards. They want your bank ACH information like most other utility providers--only that version of autopay is free, anymore.

————————————————
Banks will screw you every chance the get. Like I’ve said before, they steal more money than guys with guns.

Just for the fun of it, years ago I called the bank to protest about them holding back money for a few days when you deposit checks from large institutions, I knew nothing would be done about it but I was in one of those moods, I guess. I loved the pat response from the gal I spoke with telling me it wasn’t them it’s the banking laws. And when I told her it’s a law because of the banking industry lobby not because our politicians woke up one day and decided to screw everybody, she sounded very surprised, almost to the point of not believing me. Just wanted to have some fun.

jmonroe

laurasdada · September 24

Back from a week in coastal DE, nice place. My wife spent many summers there with her ex and kids, they had relatives there. No sales tax, even on meals, loved that!

Some observations from 1000 miles of driving:

Saw a few wrapped Cybertrucks; in any guise they are atrocious
A lot of Big Altima Energy, generally aggressive and thoughtless. A lot of no signal weaving
For those who drive Mitsubishi Mirages on major, truck-filled highways, we salute you. I think the wife's rings are bigger than the tires on those
I so hate the miles approaching and past the GW Bridge in NJ/NY
The X3 was a good companion, (over)stuffed to the gills and gave a nice ride. A bit of road and wind noise, but great MPG and good acceleration when I needed it. The A7 is probably a better road tripper, but wouldn't have held all the stuff
@nyccarguy Nice job on the paved stretch of the Merritt through Greenwich. I always enjoy the Merritt; my childhood home abutted (not immediately) the parkway and in the winter months, unfortunately, it can be seen. We had the occasional late night knock on the door from stranded motorists, usually driving a GM product (just kidding...?)
They've renumbered the access points, Exit 41 is now exit 20. A piece of my childhood has been renumbered, not to mention Tom Seaver insulted
Gas in DE is less expensive than in MA and CT. Didn't stop/observe in NY/NJ
MIL, as always, mentioned every truck on the road and how they "always tip over!" Coincidentally, on the way home, there was a traffic jam in DE due to a tipped over 18 wheeler. She wasn't with us, she went to NJ with her son. A respite for my wife
DE is flat, so very flat. And, so much residential development going on!

sda · September 24

Ferrari Club of America had a club event at the Ballantyne Resort in Charlotte last weekend. I saw several on I-485 headed north. Perhaps a track event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway? Curiously, the Ferraris that I saw were not red, black or yellow, but light metallic blue. Nice to see.

laurasdada · September 24

Oh, yeah. Wife's daughter stayed with us, flew in from SF and rented a Chevy Trax.

I only briefly sat in the driver's seat and made vroom-vroom noises, but attractive inside and out. Everything I touched was hard plastic, some "textured" and the sea of black broken up by some faux aluminum. Cloth seat seemed a bit hard, little lateral support that I noticed.

But, as I understand it, low priced and nothing really offended. Of course, I didn't start or drive it.

andres3 · September 24

Anyone here watch Beverly Hills 90210? I was in middle school when it came out. For some reason I saw it on Paramount+ and decided to give the pilot starting 2 episodes a go. When I was in school, it was one of the first shows I remember liking about High School. First impressions:

1. It's like a car show documentary for the start of the 1990's. Many memorable cars and the pilot episodes seem to emphasize this.
2. Anyone remember Ian Ziering's character having a Corvette with the license plate "I 8 A 4RE" Took me about 15 seconds to figure it out. You just have to sound out the letters/numbers. Hilarious.
3. The show isn't very entertaining 35 years later and is cheesy beyond cheesy.
4. I must have had a lot of hormones pumping back in the day because the girls/women on the show aren't as cute or hot as I remembered them.

andres3 · September 24

jmonroe1 said:

corvette said:
AT&T has declared war on those fees... I have my home internet through them, and first they started with a surcharge (I think $5) for credit cards, wanted everyone to use a debit card. Now, they have a surcharge for debit cards, and I think an even larger surcharge for credit cards. They want your bank ACH information like most other utility providers--only that version of autopay is free, anymore.
————————————————
Banks will screw you every chance the get. Like I’ve said before, they steal more money than guys with guns.

Just for the fun of it, years ago I called the bank to protest about them holding back money for a few days when you deposit checks from large institutions, I knew nothing would be done about it but I was in one of those moods, I guess. I loved the pat response from the gal I spoke with telling me it wasn’t them it’s the banking laws. And when I told her it’s a law because of the banking industry lobby not because our politicians woke up one day and decided to screw everybody, she sounded very surprised, almost to the point of not believing me. Just wanted to have some fun.

jmonroe

I lodged a complaint to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency against a bank I considered fraudulent a couple years ago. Apparently, this Office from the Federal Gov't is in charge of retail bank branches across the US. You probably never heard of them. I know I didn't until I was looking up who I could complain to besides the BBB.

nyccarguy · September 24

@corvette said:
AT&T has declared war on those fees... I have my home internet through them, and first they started with a surcharge (I think $5) for credit cards, wanted everyone to use a debit card. Now, they have a surcharge for debit cards, and I think an even larger surcharge for credit cards. They want your bank ACH information like most other utility providers--only that version of autopay is free, anymore.

I don’t like having anything on autodraft, especially when it comes out of my bank account. The only thing I have on autodraft from a bank account is my son’s college loan and my SBA loan from when my house flooded 3 years ago.

At work too, I always pay from my Chase online bank account. I have 1 or 2 vendors that I pay with ACH. The place I buy repair parts from in CO gives you a 3% discount for paying with ACH if you pay in 20 days. That’s a score for sure. There’s another vendor that I constantly have to argue with that they didn’t receive my check (from the online bank) in their lockbox in time so they charge me back the 2% discount I took. It’s just not worth the frustration, so I started to pay them with ACH this month.

corvette · September 24

I understand the hesitancy... I've lived with the convenience for 15+ years now and have never had a significant issue. Occasionally, the autopay doesn't work for the first billing cycle after you set it up, but they usually disclose that (although sometimes it's not easy to tell). When in doubt, I just push through a manual payment for the current bill after I've set it up.

I would hope that the water company has safeguards in place (and incentives to have those safeguards) to make sure they don't pull $5,000 out of my account to pay my $42 water bill, but you never know. If, for some reason, they did, I can transfer money instantly from my HELOC to checking.

driver100 · September 24

nyccarguy said:
As a small business owner, paying out credit card fees as a convenience is just a cost of doing business. I’ve mentioned before that my business is in a bad neighborhood. The money from credit card sales is in my business bank account the next day.

We had sales to the public once a month. I was happy to pay the extra 2.5% charge for accepting credit cards because: it was easier to prevent theft of cash, 2) people would spend a lot more if they could use a credit card, 3) adding up the money at the end of the day was faster 4) cuts down on the attractiveness of a robbery, ....I was happy to pay 2.5%, it more than paid for itself.

corvette · September 24

driver100 said:
...people would spend a lot more if they could use a credit card,

Probably true... Despite the recent trend for businesses to go cashless, I do occasionally try to trip up people by asking whether they accept cash.

xwesx · September 24

I think an increasing trend is for popular businesses in small towns to accept cash only.... but, convenient enough, they have an ATM right there in the lobby! You get your cash to pay them, pay a $4 fee for the ATM, and they get paid by the ATM company to have the machine there. Quite the racket.

tjc78 · September 25

xwesx said:
I think an increasing trend is for popular businesses in small towns to accept cash only.... but, convenient enough, they have an ATM right there in the lobby! You get your cash to pay them, pay a $4 fee for the ATM, and they get paid by the ATM company to have the machine there. Quite the racket.

My bank refunds me those ATM fees.

tjc78 · September 25

I have everything on AutoPay via ACH except for the utilities for both houses and the credit cards.

I would have the utilities too, but a good friend of mine had a billing error on his gas bill and they took $8000 out of his checking .... that wouldn't be a good day.

graphicguy · September 25

Filed a Police Report on the gravel truck who was throwing rocks that cracked my windshield. Guess it hit the trucking company's desk. Got a call yesterday from the trucking company's insurance company. They want to inspect the windshield.

I told the agent I was fine with that.

"Sir, where are you located?"

"Ummmm.....Cincinnati, OH...not far from where the accident took place...as outlined in the police report"!

"We're in Delaware".

"That's about a 2 hour drive from me"

"Two hours? You sure?"

"I may be off 10 or 15 minutes depending on traffic, but pretty sure"

"We're further than that"

Then it hit me.

"You mean Delaware the State? Not Delaware the city in OH?"

"Yes sir""

"Yeah...well...that's a LOT farther away"

"Sir, let me get back to you"

LOL!

kyfdx · September 25

xwesx said:
I think an increasing trend is for popular businesses in small towns to accept cash only.... but, convenient enough, they have an ATM right there in the lobby! You get your cash to pay them, pay a $4 fee for the ATM, and they get paid by the ATM company to have the machine there. Quite the racket.

Where we live, it's almost every restaurant, now..

stickguy · September 25

I’m afraid to use one of those sleazy stand alone ATMs. Only at the bank to get cash.

The easier way is on discover. For some reason you can use that like an atm with no fees. So I use it at the supermarket and it always asks if I want cash back so if I need a little just get $40 back when I am paying.

Being an old geezer that always carries cash means I don’t really worry about cash only places.

corvette · September 25

kyfdx said:
Where we live, it's almost every restaurant, now..

That hasn't spread to Louisville, yet. My local Cuban place experimented with a credit card surcharge and very quickly dropped it. I could tell the servers really struggled with whether or not to explicitly mention it to customers--I know they told the regulars, but if it's a stranger who might not notice, why put yourself in an awkward situation by bringing it up? I overheard multiple patrons make nasty comments about it, to the point that I'm sure it affected their tips. Anyhow, they dropped the surcharge and printed new menus with higher prices, which I guess is more transparent.

driver100 · September 25

xwesx said:
I think an increasing trend is for popular businesses in small towns to accept cash only.... but, convenient enough, they have an ATM right there in the lobby! You get your cash to pay them, pay a $4 fee for the ATM, and they get paid by the ATM company to have the machine there. Quite the racket.

I have never used an ATM and I hope I never have to.

kyfdx · September 25

corvette said:

kyfdx said:
Where we live, it's almost every restaurant, now..
That hasn't spread to Louisville, yet. My local Cuban place experimented with a credit card surcharge and very quickly dropped it. I could tell the servers really struggled with whether or not to explicitly mention it to customers--I know they told the regulars, but if it's a stranger who might not notice, why put yourself in an awkward situation by bringing it up? I overheard multiple patrons make nasty comments about it, to the point that I'm sure it affected their tips. Anyhow, they dropped the surcharge and printed new menus with higher prices, which I guess is more transparent.

I always think it's a mistake for a restaurant to do anything that makes you think about the price of dining out... But, they didn't ask me.

cdnpinhead · September 25

driver100 said:
I have never used an ATM and I hope I never have to.

At least they don't have fuses that might need to be replaced.

suydam · September 25

Local businesses here often will also use either a check (how quaint!) or Zelle.

ab348 · September 25

kyfdx said:

xwesx said:
I think an increasing trend is for popular businesses in small towns to accept cash only.... but, convenient enough, they have an ATM right there in the lobby! You get your cash to pay them, pay a $4 fee for the ATM, and they get paid by the ATM company to have the machine there. Quite the racket.
Where we live, it's almost every restaurant, now..

That wouldn’t fly here. The ritzy downtown restos are almost all expense account places for corporate dinners and those are always CCs. Even if I go to a place to get takeout, I never use cash. I might go to an ATM every few months to get some small bills and that’s it.

nyccarguy · September 25

driver100 said:

nyccarguy said:
As a small business owner, paying out credit card fees as a convenience is just a cost of doing business. I’ve mentioned before that my business is in a bad neighborhood. The money from credit card sales is in my business bank account the next day.

We had sales to the public once a month. I was happy to pay the extra 2.5% charge for accepting credit cards because: it was easier to prevent theft of cash, 2) people would spend a lot more if they could use a credit card, 3) adding up the money at the end of the day was faster 4) cuts down on the attractiveness of a robbery, ....I was happy to pay 2.5%, it more than paid for itself.

cuts down on the attractiveness of a robbery,

I thought Canadians were civilized and didn't have to deal with this kind of nonsense and rubbish

nyccarguy · September 25

tjc78 said:
I have everything on AutoPay via ACH except for the utilities for both houses and the credit cards.

I would have the utilities too, but a good friend of mine had a billing error on his gas bill and they took $8000 out of his checking .... that wouldn't be a good day.

This is what I am terrified of. They take the $8,000 out instantaneously, but it takes them 2 weeks to refund your money.

suydam · September 25

Never heard of anything like that. Most businesses might charge a small fee, but it would likely be refunded if you have a history of paying your bills on time.

tjc78 · September 25

Our place down the shore has a good amount of cash only places and an even more amount of 3% added for using a card. I've gone back to having cash on me while down there. The credit card points aren't worth the 3% surcharge.

It's my opinion ... that instead of charging the added 3% for CC processing, it would be a better business model to build the 3% into your pricing and then offer a 3% discount for using cash. That would make the cash customer feel good about getting a discount and the CC customer knows they are just paying the menu price.

Same outcome, but better optics.

jmonroe1 · September 25

nyccarguy said:

tjc78 said:
I have everything on AutoPay via ACH except for the utilities for both houses and the credit cards.

I would have the utilities too, but a good friend of mine had a billing error on his gas bill and they took $8000 out of his checking .... that wouldn't be a good day.
This is what I am terrified of. They take the $8,000 out instantaneously, but it takes them 2 weeks to refund your money.

————————————————
Sounds like that’s part of the ‘Banking Laws’. Just more proof that banks are thieves without guns.

jmonroe

suydam · September 25

tjc78 said:
Our place down the shore has a good amount of cash only places and an even more amount of 3% added for using a card. I've gone back to having cash on me while down there. The credit card points aren't worth the 3% surcharge.

It's my opinion ... that instead of charging the added 3% for CC processing, it would be a better business model to build the 3% into your pricing and then offer a 3% discount for using cash. That would make the cash customer feel good about getting a discount and the CC customer knows they are just paying the menu price.

Same outcome, but better optics.

My little produce store does that. There’s a sign to let you know too.

explorerx4 · September 25

I would rather pay the percentage than have the price rounded up to a higher number, effectively higher than the percentage charge.

corvette · September 25

I think a lot of people would. I had a coworker who threw a fit when Jimmy John's stopped charging higher prices for delivered sandwiches and just tacked on a "delivery fee" instead.

tjc78 · September 25

You are never going to satisfy everyone... at the end of the day the businesses pass the fees along in some way, shape or form.

My opinion will always be its better to just show all in prices than to lure you in cheap and then tack on everything.

Doordash/Uber Eats, etc are some of the worst offenders.

Just today... I didn't bring something for lunch. There is a Halal Hot chicken spot that is always a good comfort meal that is 1.5 miles from the office. I decided to run out and grab it. $14.99 + tax = $15.89

I figured I'd see what it would cost on Uber Eats -
The meal was marked up to $16.99, $1.49 Delivery, $4.65 taxes and "fees", discount $(.50). That's $22.63, I'd tip $5.00 so that's $27.63 or 74% higher!

Obviously with those services you get crushed ordering for one. If you place larger orders the fees/tip get amortized across a much larger order and it isn't as bad.

kyfdx · September 25

tjc78 said:
Our place down the shore has a good amount of cash only places and an even more amount of 3% added for using a card. I've gone back to having cash on me while down there. The credit card points aren't worth the 3% surcharge.

It's my opinion ... that instead of charging the added 3% for CC processing, it would be a better business model to build the 3% into your pricing and then offer a 3% discount for using cash. That would make the cash customer feel good about getting a discount and the CC customer knows they are just paying the menu price.

Same outcome, but better optics.

Exactly

xwesx · September 25

graphicguy said:

"You mean Delaware the State? Not Delaware the city in OH?"

Haha! You know, that's extra hilarious to me because I tell my wife that we can travel the entire world (in terms of place names) and never leave Ohio. She just rolls her eyes at me, but I swear it is practically true.

xwesx · September 25

tjc78 said:
Same outcome, but better optics.

Either way, it is poor optics (though I guess *technically* better w/ the discounting) because it lets all of your customers know that you aren't very good at this whole business math thing: You'd rather cut off your nose to spite your face than just build the fee into your cost of doing business. Regardless of the fact that the business is paying a CC fee, the savings associated with not handling the cash far outweighs the fee cost. Perhaps if you're a business that mostly handles large transactions in small volume, those metrics *might* change, but it would have to be a lot. Like thousands of dollars per transaction.

jmonroe1 · September 25

tjc78 said:
You are never going to satisfy everyone... at the end of the day the businesses pass the fees along in some way, shape or form.

My opinion will always be its better to just show all in prices than to lure you in cheap and then tack on everything.

Doordash/Uber Eats, etc are some of the worst offenders.

Just today... I didn't bring something for lunch. There is a Halal Hot chicken spot that is always a good comfort meal that is 1.5 miles from the office. I decided to run out and grab it. $14.99 + tax = $15.89

I figured I'd see what it would cost on Uber Eats -
The meal was marked up to $16.99, $1.49 Delivery, $4.65 taxes and "fees", discount $(.50). That's $22.63, I'd tip $5.00 so that's $27.63 or 74% higher!

Obviously with those services you get crushed ordering for one. If you place larger orders the fees/tip get amortized across a much larger order and it isn't as bad.

————————————————
So true. Since I’m a veteran (served 3 years in the Navy), there are a handful of restaurants that I go to that give me a 10% Veteran’s Discount.

You can be sure the restaurants are not giving me that discount just to be nice to me and other veterans. Rather, they promote that service to look like they are being patriotic but also raise their menu price to everyone to pay for giving a discount to veterans. Same thing applies to senior citizen discounts. All I can say is, this is one time where I win. BTW guys, thanks for subsidizing my meals.

jmonroe

andres3 · September 25

tjc78 said:
Our place down the shore has a good amount of cash only places and an even more amount of 3% added for using a card. I've gone back to having cash on me while down there. The credit card points aren't worth the 3% surcharge.

It's my opinion ... that instead of charging the added 3% for CC processing, it would be a better business model to build the 3% into your pricing and then offer a 3% discount for using cash. That would make the cash customer feel good about getting a discount and the CC customer knows they are just paying the menu price.

Same outcome, but better optics.

i agree... the good grocery stores in CA used to give a discount if you brought your own reusable/recycled bags. Then some idiots in CA government decided it would be a good idea to force grocery stores to charge you .10 extra for every bag if you forgot to bring your bags with you. In effect, they forced the stores to go from giving a discount to charging extra.
Bad optics. I hate this ten cent fee more than any other.

nyccarguy · September 25

I will tell you, when I go to a restaurant that has the credit card fee it doesn’t bother me to pay it when I use my card. However, I only tip the server on the cash price of the total bill (including tax), not the credit card price.

jmonroe1 · September 25

tjc78 said:
You are never going to satisfy everyone... at the end of the day the businesses pass the fees along in some way, shape or form.

My opinion will always be its better to just show all in prices than to lure you in cheap and then tack on everything.

Doordash/Uber Eats, etc are some of the worst offenders.

Just today... I didn't bring something for lunch. There is a Halal Hot chicken spot that is always a good comfort meal that is 1.5 miles from the office. I decided to run out and grab it. $14.99 + tax = $15.89

I figured I'd see what it would cost on Uber Eats -
The meal was marked up to $16.99, $1.49 Delivery, $4.65 taxes and "fees", discount $(.50). That's $22.63, I'd tip $5.00 so that's $27.63 or 74% higher!

Obviously with those services you get crushed ordering for one. If you place larger orders the fees/tip get amortized across a much larger order and it isn't as bad.

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I could never convince myself that paying those prices to have cold food delivered was worth it. Therefore, I’ve never done it. I’m a pizza snob and only like pizza from 2 places in my hood and they don’t deliver, it’s pickup only which suits me fine. I’ll never eat pizza from a bar. Just doesn’t work for me around here. I’d rather eat a frozen one from the grocery store, which I haven’t done for 40 years and I’m not exaggerating.

The way I look at it is, if I’m going to open my mouth to eat, it has to be something worthwhile, otherwise why bother?

jmonroe

jmonroe1 · September 25

andres3 said:

tjc78 said:
Our place down the shore has a good amount of cash only places and an even more amount of 3% added for using a card. I've gone back to having cash on me while down there. The credit card points aren't worth the 3% surcharge.

It's my opinion ... that instead of charging the added 3% for CC processing, it would be a better business model to build the 3% into your pricing and then offer a 3% discount for using cash. That would make the cash customer feel good about getting a discount and the CC customer knows they are just paying the menu price.

Same outcome, but better optics.
i agree... the good grocery stores in CA used to give a discount if you brought your own reusable/recycled bags. Then some idiots in CA government decided it would be a good idea to force grocery stores to charge you .10 extra for every bag if you forgot to bring your bags with you. In effect, they forced the stores to go from giving a discount to charging extra.
Bad optics. I hate this ten cent fee more than any other.

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That almost sounds like there is a grocery store owners lobby in CA. I wonder where they got that idea?

jmonroe

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