Card Payment Surcharges Banned in Australia from 2026

[MELso]

So just looked at the WA restaurant awards.
Saturday 25% for permanent 50% casuals.
Sunday 100% for all
Public Holiday 150% .

Why do you think that particularly on Sunday and Public Holidays a hospitality business should not have a surcharge?

It's not the higher prices on the weekend that are the problem, it's how they're displayed.

Just like credit cards, it can be awfully hard to work out if a surcharge applies as it's often not displayed prominently, and it means that the price you see in the menu isn't the price you pay. It's not expensive for restaurants to print other menus for weekends showing the correct prices and they should do so.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Such a complicated equation isn’t it?

Businesses by nature are designed and built to make money and hence product pricing is at their very whim.

Customers by nature can and will decide where and when to spend their hard earned readies at their discretion based most times on perceived product quality and price.

Where and when the twain shall meet is one of life’s great mysteries - do I or don’t I - your money spend is as you choose - but is the rest of world interested in your spending patterns?

 

[Berlin]

Yes as I posted previously I avoid eating out on Sundays and Public Holidays...Im sure Im not the only one...making a small dent in demand

Same here. I just plan carefully to avoid those charges. Beer tastes the same no matter the day

 

[SeaWolf]

Why do you think that particularly on Sunday and Public Holidays a hospitality business should not have a surcharge?

Similar penalty rates also apply to retail businesses as well, but supermarkets, department stores, clothing stores, petrol stations, hardware stores etc. don't charge an increased price on those days.
So of course people are going to question why it is that hospitality businesses hike their prices on these days when other types of businesses do not, even though they're paying penalty rates as well.

 

[Mr_Orange]

they're a cost of doing business

This is the crux of all these surcharges.