Where I work we accept card payments from as low as 10 cents and have not been collecting a surcharge.
It is actually much better for us if people don’t pay with cash as we need two people to check the cash, write it all up and get it banked. Card payments go straight into the bank. It actually costs us more dealing with the cash than the 1% we could have charged for card payments, so why penalise people who are doing us a favour?
It may make sense for some businesses, but not others.
One of our local shops now adds a surcharge. It’s a small family business with just the two full time and two part time. They suggested card payment charges were costing them $8k per annum. Now there is an added surcharge on every type of card transaction.
I doubt they spent much time balancing the cash transactions and daily float. Whether the step of making the surcharge a seperate cost was a wise move, it would have been simpler to just add a few cents per kilo to the product.
I know some smaller businesses don’t mind cash payments as they can avoid paying tax. Some restaurants are the same, their profits are small and overheads are high, so every bit extra helps. I don’t usually carry cash around anymore, but will take some when I go to certain restaurants where I know they are struggling.
Australian money is clean compared to some countries. I was responsible for counting foreign currency in some ports when in the Navy. The cash in the Solomon Islands was FILTHY. My hands would look like they had gloves on my finger tips from counting. Dried mud and blood was just delightful. However, better than when one of my colleagues did that cash 3 months before. The blood was fresh and human.
Whether they are struggling or the owners have a personal objection to paying any taxes, neither seems a good reason to not pay ones fair share.
Note:
Many businesses may struggle. Whether the owners are the losers depends.
The tax arrangements available to a small family business, EG partnerships, family trusts, income splitting, super concessions, etc all need to be taken into consideration.
Even tips are taxable, for those who were wondering.
P.S.
If this seems harsh, for some consumers who can afford to pay a little more for the convenience, shopping local or small as often as you can may be the best form of support. Assuming the business meets your expectations and needs?
For those on a budget (many of us) strategies to minimise living expenses tend to favour shopping around and cooking at home.
Just pay cash or savings accounts card entered from the bottom of the machine. Works for me.
There are no recorded cases of COVID-19 having been transmitted via any form of currency anywhere in the world. So why the fear here over cash payments?
I believe there hasn’t been any confirmed reports of surface to surface contact transmission, unlike some of the scaremongering by the media for a significant part of last year. While it is technically possible with poor hygiene practices, it appears in Australia to date all transmission has been through direct contact - in person by sharing the same air (either face to face or indirectly through aerosols moving in air especially in closed-in/confined spaces).
I have found the best way to get around this is to insert my card rather than tapping. They only charge if it is linked to a credit card or is processed like a credit card. Still cashless, just have to push a couple of buttons to access a savings account to avoid the fee.
In these COVID days the operative word implied by the OP in the topic is ‘contactless’ rather than ‘cashless’. Inserting an EFTPOS card, selecting the account, and entering a PIN is not contactless while it is cashless.
