Is it me, or are restaurants adding more "fees" than in the past?
- Thread starter 97prizm
- Start date
Yes it appears we are!
PPP was one.
Employee retention credit was another. Only ended in April of this year. Lots of small businesses put every family member "on the payroll" and collected the money. There was so much fraud the inspector General is looking into it and they offered a moratorium - any business that returned the money up front would not be investigated or punished. A bunch did. Should tell you all you need to know.
https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/to-pro...of-questionable-claims-concerns-from-tax-pros
Reminds me of our recent vacation that included 2 of our kid's boyfriend / girlfriend. The total of us put us over one restaurant's # where they automatically add the tip to the bill. My wife and I both missed it.... I always try to tip in cash (whoever cuts my hair, waiter/waitress, etc) and I gave her a $70 cash tip. Before she ran the card, she actually came back and asked if I meant to pay $70 cash and the remainder on my card and it didn't occur to me to do that (ever), so I told her, "no, that's your tip". She runs the check and their POS probably automatically adds an 18% tip because it was 6+ people. She ended up with a $120+ tip from us
Certainly wasn't my intention but life goes on....We were at a contractor's office (allegedly one of the best in the area). Got the invoice for the work which was a few thousand dollars. When we went for the credit card was told there was a 3% fee for cards. We went back home and delivered a check instead to save the fee. They did do outstanding work when all was said and done.
SeaTac has it's OWN min wage. $19.71/hr so yeah, food gonna cost you at the airport before they tack on fees.
That's the new normal here. (the 3% CC fee at restaurants)
I get the credit card fee because my business is charged 3% to accept cards and I am not going to eat that fee for the customer's convenience. (It really adds up as my average C/C processing fees are about $450/mo - real money!)
With that, however, I am not going to lose business over that because most people pay by card so what I do is invoice a job with the 3% already factored in and offer a discount for cash and it is transparent to the customer. Everyone seems to be ok with it.
Hermann
Site Donor 2023
Was charged a dime yesterday at Taco John's for a cup for water. At least it was tasty filtered water as it was from a Coke dispenser. That's OK. They do cost that much. Taco's on Taco Tuesday were only a $1.29 . So they were probably close to cost on those. We only went for a snack. It's Taco Bell with a different name.
Hermann
Site Donor 2023
People keep eating out and paying the fee's and high prices. When we quit they will quit or be out of business.
That's simply a a business cost or part of overhead though. We accept credit cards for the customer's convenience just as much as the seller wants the convenience of getting those customers. More and more people don't carry (much) cash and given the choice between a restaurant that only accepts cash vs one that takes cards, I'll bet the credit card option wins the vast majority of the time.
Hermann
Site Donor 2023
It happened to me last Friday at a Mom and Pop comfort food place in a tourist trap, Weston MO. When I saw it I reduced the tip by that amount. If you have never eaten at Red Door on Monday for the $5 burger special, I tip based on the price when not on special. My bill the other night was $8.85...I tipped $4.15 on a bill of $8 before tax. I don't tip on tax and be taxed again.
There are still restaurants in my area that won’t accept a card at all but they have an ATM not far away.
Possibly they have dealt with CC mandates before?
Ours have a 3-4% CC and some additionally charge a buck or 2 (sometimes per plate) service fee that I can’t figure out the purpose of.
At one place I subtract the buck service fee from the tip when I pay cash. The owner operator can figure it out as they don’t have paid employees just direct family members .
Charging a fee for debit is a bridge passed a decade ago, one of the cash only grocery stores wouldn’t take credit but would allow debit via atm that charged fees, actual paper checks were free up until 4 years ago. Sort of sad nobody takes checks except.gov and utilities because I bought a big box of them then the rent, the restaurants and the cash only grocery stores quit taking them while adding big fees for cards making me carry cash like it’s 1999.
Considering checks are instantly cashed and approved electronically it’s somewhat unfortunate since I never had to pay big fees on them and didn’t have to carry cash.
I feel for anyone with conservatorship, guardianship or a financially inept relative that otherwise isn’t allowed to handle their own money and accounts because pretty much in this state it’s impossible to pay for anything beyond small amounts of petty cash but by check due to government edict.
We would end up paying for My uncle and grandmothers meals out of our own pocket even though they were supposed to use their own money when the final check only restaurant closed. To use a card or excessive amounts of cash on their behalf was functionally illegal due to the extreme bs, paperwork and scrutiny that would occur. We ended up convincing the center to allow them both a larger than normal cash “allowance “ so we didn’t have to basically be tied at the hip to them 7 days a week.
Now days that even rent has made normal checks impossible it would likely become ridiculous the amount of work required.
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JHZR2
Staff member
She probably appreciated it. I’m sure she didn’t get the bulk of the mandatory 18% tip.Reminds me of our recent vacation that included 2 of our kid's boyfriend / girlfriend. The total of us put us over one restaurant's # where they automatically add the tip to the bill. My wife and I both missed it.... I always try to tip in cash (whoever cuts my hair, waiter/waitress, etc) and I gave her a $70 cash tip. Before she ran the card, she actually came back and asked if I meant to pay $70 cash and the remainder on my card and it didn't occur to me to do that (ever), so I told her, "no, that's your tip". She runs the check and their POS probably automatically adds an 18% tip because it was 6+ people. She ended up with a $120+ tip from us
I get done cheapskates walking out and leaving nothing for servers. But it is getting kind of ridiculous.
I sent my 11yo to the bar to get four drinks the other day. I provided my credit card. A little later I walked up. The server added a 20% service charge. I know for a fact that a few days before when we were at the same restaurant, there was none.
While benefit of the doubt made me think that the server figured they were either helping or just ensuring that they would get anything… part of me felt it a little dirty to put that on an 11yo. My child knew I was heading over to close the sale, but I provided the cc so they could start it.
What kind of places impose these junk fees?
We eat out only as an occasion and only at someplace actually nice and I expect a three figure tab after wine, a meal and dessert, but I've never seen any additional charges tacked on.
We often have a drink at a nice little pub before a show at the venue they're located across the street from and never any hidden fees there either.
This may be a chain or lower priced restaurant thing.
I wouldn't be happy about it either and would feel taken advantage of. I would not penalize the server in his/her tip, though, especially since they often have to share tips with the kitchen and the bar as well as the bussers.
We eat out only as an occasion and only at someplace actually nice and I expect a three figure tab after wine, a meal and dessert, but I've never seen any additional charges tacked on.
We often have a drink at a nice little pub before a show at the venue they're located across the street from and never any hidden fees there either.
This may be a chain or lower priced restaurant thing.
I wouldn't be happy about it either and would feel taken advantage of. I would not penalize the server in his/her tip, though, especially since they often have to share tips with the kitchen and the bar as well as the bussers.
Our teenage daughter has a debit card linked to a sub-account of our checking account. We keep a small balance in there, a) so she doesn't buy something outrageously priced, not that she would and b) in case she loses the card and someone tries to use it, at most they can charge $50 or something. She's at the age where her and friends go shopping, bowling, etc and of course, to food places. She's comfortable buying a shirt and swiping the card (and scribbling Mom's name) but she panics at restaurants when it comes to tipping. She's said more than once she just writes "$5.00" and hopes it's okay. We figure an order of wings and a soda won't be more than $20 so that's more than good tip and she's fine ! Her older sister tried to explain the right way but not sure she'll remember when she gets nervous. She told her look at the total, move the decimal 1-place to the left, then double that number.
I don't know. I don't see that here or anywhere. A gratuity charge is often added on to the bill but that's always clear before the fact and doesn't come as a surprise. I've never had to pay for a wedge of lemon, a pickle, a pack of hot sauce or whatnot. Never had to pay for using the restroom at a restaurant or coffeeshop either.
JHZR2
Staff member
My 11yo loves math but it’s just not something we’ve discussed yet. We do similar with an Apple Cash account. So easy to track spending, and most laces take tap to pay.
Party of Six and a big tab typically mean automatic gratuity.Reminds me of our recent vacation that included 2 of our kid's boyfriend / girlfriend. The total of us put us over one restaurant's # where they automatically add the tip to the bill. My wife and I both missed it.... I always try to tip in cash (whoever cuts my hair, waiter/waitress, etc) and I gave her a $70 cash tip. Before she ran the card, she actually came back and asked if I meant to pay $70 cash and the remainder on my card and it didn't occur to me to do that (ever), so I told her, "no, that's your tip". She runs the check and their POS probably automatically adds an 18% tip because it was 6+ people. She ended up with a $120+ tip from us
I scale back the tip when the bill goes north of 200 for two, or 300 for four. But it hinges on the work the server is doing and the number of buss persons, also considered is if kitchen help brings the food out, and proper wine service, etc. the tip might be ~10 percent for an "easy" service.
Last job I worked near manufacturing techs were working their hands and brains off for $14 an hour 6 days a week with no health insurance - as they were contracted for eternity. Some new terrible (for employees) business model.
So, taking an order for food and bringing a tray of drinks to a table isn't work valued at 50 bucks an hour in my eyes.
Before you think I am cheap, Two Hispanic guys who schlepped a new large refrigerator into my house (up a good flight of front stairs) got 30 buck cash to split, and I said have a good lunch.
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