Simple way to save money on supermarket shopping - how stupid am I!

jo_b_2

Contains_Mild_Peril wrote:

I seldom use my credit card in the supermarket, partly because Morrisons, where I do my main shop, charge for using a card (it's in the small print).

All supermarkets add a note about a percentage of the costs being paid to a different company, but they don't actually pass this charge on to the customer (certainly not directly). It is no more expensive to pay by credit or debit card than it is by cash, and credit cards can offer extra incentives like cashback,which add up if you pay your balance off each month.

Smiley_Mum

I noticed a headline a few weeks ago about the 2.5% charge for payment by credit card, The Office of Fair Trading said it was illegal. Apparently it's not just credit card users that get charged, it's everybody. The retailer recovers the cost of the charges by bumping everything up in price so everyone pays, not just credit card users. The above is what was stated in the newspaper article. It's like a hidden tax, and OFT state it's unfair and anti-competitive.

Put "interchange credit card charges" into Google and it will come up with a lot of info on this.

Contains_Mild_Peril

My apologies to Morrisons if I have misunderstood. I did not have the opportunity to read all the small print on the credit card machine as I passed it. The part I read said that a charge was made, which I took to mean the customer would be charged. They might want to change the wording to start with something like "Although Morrisons do not charge for credit card transactions..." to minimise recurrences of this misunderstanding, since customers who are not paying buy card can't and/or don't want to read all the small print, which may influence future decisons on how to pay. Another solution would be to put the information on the notice board as well, so that customers can take their time reading it.