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Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

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Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#291

Post by smileysteve »

alistairSH wrote: post #67
mortenjorck wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If an establishment adds a 20% surcharge to a dining check, that's a tip, and generally considered to be on the higher end in the US. I would simply consider them to have chosen my tip amount for me and leave it at that.

The restaurant in the article claimed the 20% surcharge was NOT a tip. :shrug:

They can claim it, you can not pay it, express why, and sooner than later the restaurant will be unable to hire.

It's harsh to the worker, but in a recent market of high employment and many companies unable to find staff, should you feel bad? (Today, there may be a restaurant literally across the street hiring)

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#292

Post by password11 »

carlosjobim wrote: post #216
password11 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would assume all POS systems have to take a percent cut, given that they clear credit card transactions. They have to at least take 2-3% to cover the cc transaction fee.

The CC transaction fee is generally about half of that. A normal sized restaurant will have their own merchant accounts for CC transactions and not pay the POS provider any percentage.

According to https://www.clover.com/pricing/quick-service-restaurant

Clover's fees are:

Card-present transactions 2.3% + 10¢

Keyed‑in transactions 3.5% + 10¢

So if you have a merchant acct, you'd have to negotiate rates with Clover et al. directly?

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#293

Post by dudul »

SergeAx wrote: post #243

US is the only place on Earth where I found out that a sale tax is added to price tags in grocery store at the moment of check-out. I remember my astonishment the first time I faced that abomination. How's that even possible, what is the reason behind it?

Transparency, so you know what the government is taxing.

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#294

Post by selimthegrim »

flandish wrote: post #266
TuringNYC wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My favorite is when wireless carriers can charge a "Regulatory Recovery Fee", which is basically part of the price, but can magically change and magically appear on your bill. The fact that the FTC is fussed about free chat apps rather than wireless carrier practices in the US is obscene.

It should be law that “recovery” fees, for a service as critical to infrastructure, be tax deductible as charity/donation. If Eversource fucked up and didnt have enough resource to deal with a storm, and the state paid with our taxes to bail out, how is that different than them charging us a line item for that same end goal?

Please someone tell this to Entergy.

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#296

Post by selimthegrim »

myself248 wrote: post #48
pjsg wrote: post #43

I always object to US retail adding Tax to the price of the items. In the UK (and I expect Europe) the price on the shelf is the price that you pay. VAT is included. In the US, you walk into a store and have to become an expert at understanding local taxes in order to figure out how much anything costs. Hotels often have four of five extra fees tacked on. I'd like "The price you see is the price you pay" to be the ru…

Most places in the US, the local tax is the same statewide. Not in Ohio, where it can vary by township, sometimes across invisible boundaries. I once attended a large flea-market where such a boundary cut through the fairgrounds. Taxes were different on one side of the line than the other. It's so bad that Ohio actually has a mobile app that uses your phone's GPS to figure out which jurisdiction you're in and show th…

In Louisiana it also varies by parish and locality.

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#297

Post by bruce511 »

HelixEndeavor wrote: post #192
crazygringo wrote: post #84

Note that drip pricing for restaurants (e.g. 10-20% non-tip surcharge) is illegal in many jurisdictions (if not "conspicuously advertised" before eating), but some restaurants try to do it anyways (claiming the policy is "conspicuously advertised" on the last page of the menu, or a tiny sign behind the bar). Sometimes you can just refuse to pay it and they'll back down because they want a repeat customer more. Someti…

Every day it seems more and more like restaurants in general are a completely unsustainable business unless you want to pay $20 for a cheeseburger.

If you think about it, this is not surprising. Ultimately you are paying for a lot more than the food.

Let's assume you can make the meal yourself at home. You'd pay for the ingredients, but probably ignore all the other costs.

A) labor is the obvious first candidate. Purchaser, chef, server, host, barman, dishwasher, table cleaner- there are lots of people involved. The price of your meal should include labor at fair rates, including benefits etc. (in the US it doesn't hence the need for tipping.)

By contrast your home-cooked meal uses your (free?) time so already has a head start.

B) location. Your living room is free. Your plates are free. Restaurants pay a lot for space (rent etc). They also pay for equipping the space, and for breakages.

C) wastage. When something goes bad in your fridge you throw it out. Restaurants take this straight off yhd bottom line.

I could go on - marketing, regulation, health standards, parking and so on. It all adds up.

Most restaurants fail because margins are tight - and if there isn't sustained volume small things will drive you under fast. And frankly the food offering at most places is inferior to home-made with only the smallest amount of kitchen skills.

So yeah, small establishments with very low overhead (think food trucks) can be both good and good value. But most places either have to skimp on quality (think most fast food) or try and externalise the cost (via tipping etc)

Put another way. Teach your children to cook. It's not hard. And it's a LOT cheaper than eating out.

And yeah, your cheeseburger at $20 is a bargain.

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#298

Post by nocoiner »

illumin8 wrote: post #281
jasode wrote: post #28

A reddit thread made the front page with a similar example of surprise "Economic Recovery Fee" added onto the restaurant bill: https://old.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/10gowkx/... If a government watchdog like FTC doesn't stop this or a new explicit law that only allows "total final price" clearly displayed before purchase, it means every type of business will want to play the "Ticketmaster-convenience-fee…

One small township near us does this. They passed a law that states restaurants must put an additional 2% charge on every bill that is used to pay "kitchen staff." When we asked our server about this surprise charge they said "the law requires that we charge it now." We decided to simply reduce our normal 20% tip by 2% and pay that. We don't like the fact that the city has stepped in to mandate additional fees like t…

Outstanding, just outstanding. Way to stick it to your server to throw a fit about a duly-enacted law you don’t like.

I would have thought the price of surrendering one’s decency and regard for fellow humans would be somewhat more than two cents per dollar, but I suppose I was wrong.

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#299

Post by dawnerd »

MDWolinski wrote: post #22

The concept of tipping is for "tipped" positions in restaurants. Someone in a Tipped position earns far less then minimum wage, which is made up by customer Tips. So this leads into my frustration with the proliferation of tipping, which seems to have started at Starbucks (edit: at least that's where I first saw it occurring for counter services), is someone working at Starbucks making tipped wages or at/above minimu…

> Someone in a Tipped position earns far less then minimum wage, which is made up by customer Tips.

Couple states in the US don’t allow tipped staff to make less than minimum wage and tips can’t be counted towards the wage to meet the minimum.

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#300

Post by post_break »

Alupis wrote: post #180
post_break wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Visible is $30 all in.

Not anymore. It's $45 for the actually-usable plan if you have a modern flagship smartphone. Gone is all the "party" pricing stuff that made them so popular in the first place.

How does the $30 plan not work with a modern phone? I'm curious because it looks the same as the $45 plan only it has prioritized data?
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