The “S” Is For Surcharge
One of the first things I worried about when I came to the States was the apparent lack of debit card use. In Canada, it’s almost pointless to carry cash – why would you bother? Every store, from the lowest corner store to the largest department store, handles Interac. Not only is it convenient, but it’s free. In the unlikely event that a merchant didn’t accept Interac, I could always use a credit card before reducing myself to <shudder> cash.
Since then, I’ve discovered the “check card” – the American equivalent. Basically, it’s the same thing as a debit card with one important distinction: it also doubles as a credit card linked to a bank account that is accepted anywhere that accepts Visa. Sweet! Now I had absolutely zero motivation to use either cash or a credit card! Or so I thought…
It wasn’t until I was in an In-N-Out Burger that I noticed an interesting new trick on the part of retailers. Instead of widely adopting acceptance of these hybrid cards, the exact opposite appears to have happened. For example: In-N-Out Burger doesn’t accept credit cards. Therefore, it doesn’t accept check cards. And on a completely unrelated topic, they have an ATM machine in the corner.
And there’s the rub.
Now, instead of just charging something to my credit card, or using a debit card, I either need to have cash on me or pay $3.50 to get money from the white-label ATM machines that grow like mold in these establishments (i.e.: in the corners). That’s right, $3.50: $1.50 charged by the ATM itself, and then another $2.00 charged by my bank for using a non-Bank-of-America ATM.
While I agree it might make sense for smaller businesses specializing in small ticket items to attempt to pass along card processing costs to improve their margins, there are some places where this seems downright inappropriate. Take the gas station for example: If I fill up using the “serve myself” pump and use a check card as payment, I’m doing the station a favor: I’m serving myself, and the station is avoiding the need to handle cash or hire staff to process payments. Everybody wins, right?
Bzzzt! Wrong! Welcome to Surcharge Country!
While visiting in NZ I have noticed that they are very much like Canada in this regard, lots and lots of places take EFTPOS, with the usual exceptions for cheap eateries/takeaways.
As for your service charges I would suggest finding:
a) a better bank in general or
b) an online bank that offers free debit/check/interac services (much like Citizens Bank does for me. “What a withdrawal from Hong Kong or New Zealand? Its FREE!”)
c) you seem to forget that even in Canada the white label ATM’s charge ~2$ per transaction and I am not going to even get into the fact that they are much more likely to be tampered with and a lot of retailers(pubs) do seem to be drifting in this direction.