I have a pet peeve that’s been gnawing at me lately. This has come up before, but then (many years ago) there was a law that prohibited this kind of thing, and apparently that’s not a law anymore, because it’s back.

What is this horrendous affliction that causes a disruption to my peeves?

Fees on a credit card charge.

What the hell?

I’m not talking about late fees, although those are out of hand, and I’m not talking about an automatic 18-20% gratuity added on for large parties, although six is NOT a large party.

I come into your store (or restaurant), and I pay your overpriced prices. And yeah, it doesn’t cost $20 for a cheeseburger and fries. Then tax is added on. If it’s a restaurant, a tip is added on. And then if I use a credit card, I’m charged a percentage of the total. I understand the reason – the business is charged by VISA or whomever for each transaction, but that’s not my problem.

That’s the cost of doing business.

As I said, a cheeseburger and fries are not $20, but I do understand that I’m not just paying for the raw materials of the edible food, I’m also paying for the table and the linens, the waitstaff, and the utilities, and whatever other overhead the restaurant has. Same for a stationery set for $12.99 in a boutique.

The fee charged by the credit card company to the business for the convenience of using a credit card is another expense, just like the electricity, the rent, the cleaning service, delivery and shipping costs, and anything else that costs you money to keep your business in business. I’m already paying for those things. If the lightbulb blows out over my table, will you charge me to replace it? I really hope not, but chances are that no, you wouldn’t because that’s part of the business supplies that you need to buy to run your business, just like the credit card fees (which are tax deductible by the way).

Or…don’t take credit cards. If I’m in a store, and I’m already paying $79, I don’t want to pay more than that. And let’s be honest, I don’t even want to pay that much.

Now, you could say that by offering purchases through a credit card, it is a convenience for me, or that the convenience goes both ways, and that may be true in the semantics, but if you don’t take credit cards, and I have no cash, then I can go somewhere else. It’s much more of a convenience for you to accept them rather than to lose a customer. And with these fees, I’m going to think twice about frequenting your establishment.

If you want more money to cover the cost of fees for you, raise your prices. People annoyingly did it politically by “claiming” to raise prices because they were now required to pay health insurance or when the minimum wage went up even if the business was already paying more than that or when eggs and tomatoes go up in price, they go up on the menu.

If you want to give a cash discount (like they do at the gas station), then offer a 10% cash discount for people paying cash instead of punishing the folks who use their credit/debit card.

/End Rant