Card Payment Surcharges Banned in Australia from 2026

[HMcM]

I don't drink coffee so couldn't care less but you shouldn't go and use such places in other countries then where the cost is the same regardless of the day.

It's a hypothetical situation, I don't drink coffee either. But if you want to have weekend penalty rate to stay then socialising the cost over the whole week does make the Tuesday coffee drinker pay for part of the Sunday coffee drinker's coffee. As for other countries most have nowhere near the penalty rate structure that we do. Where are you talking about that has to pay massive weekend penalty rates but doesn't surcharge?

You are still confusing a surcharge with the cost of doing business. Penalty rates are known in advance, before a business even commences operation, so they don't need to appear as a surcharge. They should be baked into the business model from day one. In such places, you would have no idea whether your Tuesday coffee is subsidising your Sunday coffee.

I mean this is just where we disagree, I would know because I understand how penalty rates work. Hiding the cost by socialising it doesn't make the cost go away, it just forces cheaper customers to pay more for the benefit of more expensive customers. I don't think that's a moral thing to do. But tell me, if the Tuesday customer can afford to and is willing to pay more to subsidise the Sunday customer, why does the business not simply charge them more in the first place and pocket the profit? Better yet charge the Tuesday customer more and then close on a weekend to avoid paying penalty rates.

 

[Pushka]

South Australia has quite significant and wide covering penalty rates. Consequently many small or family businesses close on those days or operate under restricted hours.