Bill to ban hidden fees in California signed into law

Post by hot_gril » Tue, Oct 10, 2023, 3:59 PM UTC

briHass wrote: post #407

hot_gril wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The card costs them money to process, so they tack on approximately that amount. And you can opt out by paying cash. Seems fair, though maybe the card price should be default.

Cash is also preferred in food service, because it's easier to cheat on taxes. When you're paid a tip in cash, with no paper trail of what that amount was, the reported earnings on the tax form is merely a suggestion to tell the truth.

Post by WalterBright » Tue, Oct 10, 2023, 5:22 PM UTC

t-writescode wrote: post #385

WalterBright wrote: post #379

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Write a letter. Before you dismiss this, too, I inherited my dad's papers. There were an awful lot of letters to businesses for various reasons, some with disputes. It worked for him.

Does this come from the same reasoning where the way you get a good paying job is by walking in the front door and giving a firm handshake to the owner? Addendum: nevermind that during this whole time of unfortunate and now very slow because "mail" correspondence, especially when the circumstance described is of a bank re-ordering transactions such as to cause the most possible overdrafts given a time range, this per…

Post by AlchemistCamp » Tue, Oct 10, 2023, 5:53 PM UTC

ramblenode wrote: post #357

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #184

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> Really don't see how any of the points above are an obstacle to putting the ~actual~ price of a product on paper The pieces of paper are in multiple places. The bill is calculated in one place. Doing things in multiple places is more costly and error prone than doing it in one. (Also, the paper being physical means a physical person must update it. The POS can be remotely managed.) Here is New York State's guide on…

> If consumers valued it, tax-inclusive pricing might be worth the effort. But in America, we don't. That's not true. I would guess the vast majority of consumers would at least slightly prefer that the tax be included in the display price. The problem is those consumers aren't an organized interest group, whereas retailers are. It's not a "cultural preference"--it's just the inability of the political system to addr…

Post by mindslight » Tue, Oct 10, 2023, 5:56 PM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #302

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #50

Comments that are bringing up taxes (which are totally exempted by this bill anyway) and tips (with one small caveat) are completely missing the point. You can have a debate about how to display those items on a price list, but everyone knows about them and they are expected. The whole point of this bill is to prevent bait-and-switch, where loads of unknown or variable fees are tacked on after the price is initially…

In Washington State, Gov Inslee imposed the equivalent of a $.50 per gallon tax on the oil companies. The oil companies raised the WA gas prices by $.50 per gallon. Inslee blamed the price rise on the greedy oil companies. The taxes should be a separate line item on all purchases, so people can see what the taxes are.

Post by prepend » Tue, Oct 10, 2023, 6:16 PM UTC

wand3r wrote: post #399

prepend wrote: post #395

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Tax rates vary based on the type of good. Give a kid $5 and send them to the grocery store and you have to anticipate if they’ll buy candy or an apple or soap or a magazine. The only advantage to not including taxes is that people spend more money. This is marginally better for stores and worse for everyone else. Theres no genuine benefit to society for not including taxes in the posted price.

I learned, from HN actually, that the reason for this is actually because taxes must be included and enumerated so that the public know the rate and thus can be cognizant of taxes levied against them. Probably goes back to the founding of America being a country that started in large part out of a rebellion against taxes. While at this point it makes more sense to come up with a new law/methodology, I understand the…