Local shop charging for cashback

Pennywise

Well said Rob,

Yes, and people are more likely to use debit cards just because they want cash back, so saying the shop pays the fee anyway is just plain wrong in lots of cases as they wouldn't be using the debit card anyway for lower value cash purchases.

gregg1

timtagel wrote:

I do support my shop keeper - but charging extra for a service (cashback) that I know costs him little, if anything at all just creates bad feeling and encourages me to spend my money elsewhere. He already has huge mark-ups on products anyway and the comfort of running a post office.

You have no idea what you are talking about. A friend of mine has just had to sell off her village post office as it was (a) not paying a decent living (b) had been targeted by criminals at least twice (and it is a lovely area) and (c) incredibly long hours (they don't stop working once they close the doors you know). Where is the "comfort" in that? The local shopkeeper has a bigger mark up on prices for a reason - cos he has to pay more for the goods than a local Tesco express which can get stock a lot lot cheaper. He is also providing a local service and you always expect to pay more for convenience. Local shopkeepers these days are struggling to fend off the bigger shops from taking them over. I personally think it will be a sad day when our local shops succumb to the big boys. Last, make no mistake - it is "service" he is offering you,why on earth should he do it for nothing. Honestly, some people!

-=Mr-J=-

For me its an agree to disagree situation.

On the one-hand I agree with the plight of the small shop, appreciate their prices are higher and the reasons why.

On the other-hand, I don't agree with being charged to get at your own money, regardless of the route.

It used to be that many shops, large and small, did not used to accept DC payment unless a threshold value was surpassed - say £5 - from the points of view put across, especially Rob362's last post, you can see why this would be.

But if small retailers are accepting DC payments of such small value, are we saying that they will only survive if we also take out a cashback sum which is charged for? Any business who operates a such a plan is doomed for failure.

I suppose you could say that a business charging a single, fixed fee - equivalent to their transaction cost - could be justified.
However, charging a sliding scale fee, as per the OP, is just profiteering - and this is where the immoral perspective come into play.

Mark7799

I can't see what the issue is here - the shop is offering a service at a price, it's up to the customer if they want to avail themselves of that service - if they don't, there are other avenues available to them to get that service.

As regards the 'being charged to get at my own money' argument, a customer's money is with the Bank or building society they decide to entrust it to. If they wish to use a third party to get at that money then that is why they are paying a fee - be that third party either a shop or an ATM. The only place a customer can expect to get their money without being charged is from the organisation they've entrusted their money to in the first place.

JohalaReewi

Mark7799 wrote:

As regards the 'being charged to get at my own money' argument, a customer's money is with the Bank or building society they decide to entrust it to. If they wish to use a third party to get at that money then that is why they are paying a fee - be that third party either a shop or an ATM. The only place a customer can expect to get their money without being charged is from the organisation they've entrusted their money to in the first place.

A major problem is that the bank people entrusted their money to, closed many of their remote local branches and replaced them with a free cash machines (owned and run by the bank). The bank made savings (no branch to run) but people could still get their cash free. However, the same banks are now contracting out their remote cash machines to 3rd parties who charge for withdrawals. The banks make more savings (no ATMs to run) but the banks' customers now have to pay to get their cash. What makes it worse is that many benefits now have to be paid into a bank account.

kittiwoz

In the village I grew up in the local shop first started charging £1, then installed a Link machine which charges the same. Because I was living with my parents and din't have much in the way of expenses I normally only wanted a tenner or twenty at most. So I think the 2% charge at your shop is excellent value.

The village I'm from is large, kind of a dormitory town, and used to have branches of Barclays, Lloyds and Woolwich when I was young. The local shop does not engender sympathy since it is part of a large chain. We avoided patronising it wherever possible since it is not only expensive but has an extremely poor product range and its fruit and veg is of exceptionaly bad quality. I once saw tomatoes literally putryfiying in the trays. However despite my loathing of that shop I do not blame them for the problem of being charged for cash. It is the fault of the banks for closing branches without installing alternate ATMs to replace the esential service they have withdrawn. It is the bank's job to provide me with access to my money. Increasingly I think if your current account is in credit you'd be as well off keeping it in a shoe-box under the bed!