Oyster Ticket Shops Cred/Debit card fee

dacouch

fiddyp wrote: »

Nope, because I can go and topup using my debit/credit card with no fee at any station or online. This is about price discrimination when topping up ones Oyster card at different "official" locations.

How much commission do you think TFL are paying the newsagent for topping up an oyster. It has got to be around 10%. So on your £5 top up they make about 50p, if you use a debit card for which they pay the bank circa 50p. So in effect they make nil profit.

When you use the TFL website or station you are using them direct so they are avoiding paying the newsagents commission and potentially saving staffing costs.

fiddyp

brian_723 wrote: »

This is a non issue ,if there was no choice but to pay by card then it would be wrong, but their are so many ways to avoid paying this .if the 50p is that important and it would be for me i would simply have the cash .I see tis as a non issue ,why she the retailer take the hit ,they are in this for the money and not to provide a public service .

Not a public service? No, you don't get it - it IS a public service. Public transport is a public service. I'm astonished that people here have such a feeble understanding of how things work.

Transport for London, in an effort to save money providing Oyster topup facilities on every street corner, has passed this task onto local retailers. TfL controls the Oyster pricing, not the newsagents. TfL can alter its model to make Oyster topups the same price everywhere, but currently it does not. Instead it allows retailers to add on their own little extra cut. Trust me, the retailers are already making money from Oyster or they wouldn't agree to have terminals in their shop. The same goes for Paypoint, mobile phone topups, etc.

fiddyp

dacouch wrote: »

How much commission do you think TFL are paying the newsagent for topping up an oyster. It has got to be around 10%. So on your £5 top up they make about 50p, if you use a debit card for which they pay the bank circa 50p. So in effect they make nil profit.

When you use the TFL website or station you are using them direct so they are avoiding paying the newsagents commission and potentially saving staffing costs.

Regarding your first point, that it totally !!!!!!. Retailers would never agree to provide Oyster if they made zero cash from it.

Regarding your second point, retailers have staff, stations have staff, in fact I am willing to bet the station staff get paid a damn sight more than newsagent staff.

dzug1

fiddyp wrote: »

Not a public service? No, you don't get it - it IS a public service. Public transport is a public service. I'm astonished that people here have such a feeble understanding of how things work.

.

You seem to have a feeble understanding of how markets work - every government since 1979 (at least) has professed allegiance to a market economy. OK they've tried to tinker with it to some degree, sometimes making things worse, but none has seriously tried to get away from it.

So public transport is NOT a public service in the sense you want it to be. Maybe it should be, but that's a separate issue.

giraffe69

Wow, you call £5 derisory? Many people have to work an hour to earn that. For some people, the 50p charge is a lot of money. I don't really know why you're trawling the money saving forums if you don't give a toss about saving money, which is clearly no object for you.

I think the minimum wage is somewhat above the £5 quoted. My advice was automate the process and you won't ever have to pay a card charge or search for a machine or worry about the newagent again. If you can manage to get from that "don't give a toss about moneysaving" then you are a bit challenged in the understanding department. Three ways to avoid charges:
1. Go to a station
2. Use cash
3. Automate online

Got it now?

Saturnalia

Most small shops charge a fee for debit card use if you spend under £10. Easy answer, if you usually top up with £5 every day, start putting on £10 every other day.

fiddyp

dzug1 wrote: »

You seem to have a feeble understanding of how markets work - every government since 1979 (at least) has professed allegiance to a market economy. OK they've tried to tinker with it to some degree, sometimes making things worse, but none has seriously tried to get away from it.

So public transport is NOT a public service in the sense you want it to be. Maybe it should be, but that's a separate issue.

Yes, TfL is a government body, not out to make profits per-se but to provide a public service. I hope your brain can take this on board.

fiddyp

giraffe69 wrote: »

I think the minimum wage is somewhat above the £5 quoted. My advice was automate the process and you won't ever have to pay a card charge or search for a machine or worry about the newagent again. If you can manage to get from that "don't give a toss about moneysaving" then you are a bit challenged in the understanding department. Three ways to avoid charges:
1. Go to a station
2. Use cash
3. Automate online

Got it now?

Wow - yet more stupidity. There is a little thing called income tax. There's another thing called National Insurance. Take into account those deducations from minimum wage pay and what do you get? About £5 an hour.

As for your other suggestions, let me explain:

1. Not everyone lives close to a station.
2. Not everyone lives near an ATM (or at least one that doesn't also charge).
3. Not everyone wishes to have Oyster automatically help itself to their bank accounts, as it is more difficult to keep track of spending this way.

The initial problem I outlined when I started this thread is genuine. Unfortunately I had not anticipated the number of idiots and trolls patrolling these forums. Clearly it is pointless trying to enter into a proper discussion about what is obviously an unfair charge being levied on some Oyster users.

fiddyp

Saturnalia wrote: »

Most small shops charge a fee for debit card use if you spend under £10. Easy answer, if you usually top up with £5 every day, start putting on £10 every other day.

Yes this would effectively halve the 50p levy for credit/debit card users. Still, it is an uncessary charge when Oyster can be topped up in various other ways without incurring any charges. People seem to think that this is the same as airline companies charging booking fees, but these are private companies out to make profits, not publicly owned services providing a vital service to the community. The point is, the service should be equally accessible for all, as is the ethos with other public services such as education and healthcare.

dzug1

fiddyp wrote: »

Yes . The point is, the service should be equally accessible for all, as is the ethos with other public services such as education and healthcare.

You may not have noticed but that ethos has started to disappear and it is government policy and/or a side effect of its policies that that that disappearance shall accelerate.