I was a bit uncomfortable today when I bought an item at red rooster online and the advertised price is $12.30 but checkout deduction was for $13.53
I checked couple other items and same occurred for advertised sale items
I can only assume the gst was excluded from the sale price and added quietly at checkout
The extra will be a 10% public holiday surcharge.
As @Glenn61 added, there is a 10% holiday surcharge, a tactic becoming more widespread every holiday.
FWIW there are reports about a particular restaurant company having weekend surcharges, public holiday surcharges, and Mon-Fri surcharges! There âoutta be a lawâ when the lowest possible price has a 5% charge added rather than the price with the 5% inclusive posted, but there isnât.
Not declared itemised or displayed any fees during checkout for decision making.
Also doesnât explain why 1 item is 10% higher and not the 2nd
They donât seem to itemize any gst on their email tax invoice either to know
I can only i assume some items dynamically increase 10% in list
And others are exclusive
Leaving a lucky dip
Iâm ok with a surcharge if applicable
It seems in this retailer instead of declaration of levy enforcement of day surcharge
they chose to apply dynamic pricing that will rise and fall to the period.
All menu items seem to be 10% up from normal and add as shown to cart. Which is genuinely quite transparent.
The developers assuming you only use that list they assumed noone needs to know this variation and noone does really.
But because the developers failed to apply this automated usability to the other non list items they had left user facing software usability issue.
Most companies checkout seem to settle on the calculation laid out of checkout after all items added. That can be quite a price shock
Well in general retailers are not allowed to by law. They can indicate if GST has been applied, or not, at an itemized level, such as businesses that sell both GST applicable and GST exempt products. Like supermarkets.
But the end price you pay is inclusive of GST.
The GST has been with us for over two decades. Weekend and public holiday surcharges probably longer than that.
Why do you seem surprised that an extra charge will be applied?
Retailers are allowed, but not required, to itemise GST amounts.
I am surprised because
1: the app nowhere from launch to navigation to checkout mention existence of fee in basic navigation view.
Nor banner message information display specify what day today is like some other app does
2: adding 2 items to cart and first having same price and second having different price is genuinely confusing considering aforementioned 1
3: checkout doesnât mention any information how the price was calculated. Not a big deal normally but in this case would have been used to understand the date implications and not need seek advice.
Check the Terms and Conditions.
The online page does, along with the T&Cs.
The online page says displayed prices include surcharges. But, online one can order in advance from a non-surcharge day for an order on a surcharge day. It appears the upfront pricing is for the day the order is made and not the day the order is fulfilled. I havenât progressed to checkout to see how it handles a surcharge day and when surcharge is loaded into the price.
It could be at or after checkout which Red Rooster will claim is covered by the T&Cs.
An interesting price differential applies to using the app or a browser (that doesnât redirect to the app). If the browser on the phone redirects to the app you get the higher app price. I did ask in store why price difference but could not receive a sensible answer. Easy to see the difference when you look at the in-store menus showing the vastly lower price compared to the price on the app.
App on phone for whole and 1/2 Chickens
Then what you pay using a browser
Both are obviously cheaper outside of a public holiday when the 1/2 chicken is $8.90 or close to that and a whole chicken is $14.85 (or close to that). If you want 2 halves it is better to buy a whole chicken and request it be halved (which they offer as part of the choices for a whole chicken for free).
Why would anyone use the app at those markups. Just in case anyway is wondering if it is pickup or delivery, these prices are all pickup prices. Delivery prices are different, I havenât bothered to check those for differences in markups.
I wonder if other fast food apps offered by other providers eg Hungry Jacks or Maccas do a similar job of inflating prices on their apps.
I can assure you no such T&C exist on the app anywhere practical so I will send to them as feedback of user interface issue
I would also ask them for the additional 10% paid back as well. If the App isnât clear in relation to surcharge pricing, then I would be asking for it back as you can argue that you agreed to the prices shown, not the charges made through the payment.
In what state is Jan 2nd a public holiday?
As New Years Day fell on a Sunday, the Monday (2nd Jan) was a declared public holiday.
Regarding surcharges for weekends/public holidays, I refer readers to the link Penalty Rates and Employment: One Year Later | The Australia Institute's Centre for Future Work.
The idea as I understood the plan was to lower penalty rates for weekend/public holiday work so that business owners could minimise surcharges. Or is this an example of some business owners pocketing the wages savings and continuing their surcharges - perhaps I need an anti-cynicism pill!
That sounds a lot like that practice around petrol price inclusive exclusive of the 4c voucher discount baiting that was outlawed in some states
The fast food Industry award, which might or might not apply to this situation, specifies that some employees are to be be double their standard rate and others 2.25 times their standard rate on public holidays.
Isnât the most important point that a business clearly indicates the surcharge applicable before taking a booking or providing their service? The surcharge amount should also be clearly shown in the bill/receipt.
Consider,
There will be variations in how individual businesses assess their costs and determine pricing.
Sometimes what is provided as commentary by news and other organisations lacks context or balance. In addition to @Glenn61 feedback, the Hospitality Award, mentioned specifically in your link also retains provisions for weekend and PH penalty rates.
There are also provisions in awards (not all) for offsetting items (specified procedures and agreement) at employer level. This may have been the basis for some alternate commentary. Itâs employer specific.
Re my post I think the most important point is that the absolute minimum and apparently unavoidable surcharge (my final reference) is 5% so that should be included in the basic price.
Since it is posted does that make it acceptable? A drink posted at $5 cannot be purchased for $5, it would be $5.25 (or more after other surcharges).
