paying by cash or card?

brightonman123

how come some firms charge extra if paying by credit card, though others if you use cash (the latter being utility firms, mainly..)

the same staff process the paymentsm don't they? i bet they dont get a slice of the extra charges..?

TBagpuss

Credit card companies charge businesses to process transactions - so if a business accepts credit cards there is a cost to the business in doing so.

Some chose to pass this on directly to the customers who use cards, others simply roll it in to overheads and (in effect) eveyone pays a bit.

For big organisations processing cash may be more costly as it is harder to automate - you need a real person to count and check the money.

Of course, in some cases (Budget airlines spring to mind(!)) a company may charge the customer more than it costs them, to process a card payment but in most cases the business is simply passing along the additional costs of accepting a particular type of payment.

brightonman123

but wouldnt the sme staff be doing cash / DD admin..?

[Deleted User]

Cash attracts a banking charge and even a transit charge e.g. Loomis, G4S, etc, to businesses too so I don't understand when some want to charge extra for using cards.