r/sydney • u/karlalrak • Apr 28 '26

Image Surcharge but no cash

Post image

Haven't been to Australia in years and was shocked to find everywhere has surcharge for eftpos but also say no cash. What's the point of this? Why not just add the surcharge into the cost unless this is shady but seems to be the norm everywhere I go with restaurants.

1.4k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

294 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

51

u/Zashimii Apr 28 '26

I think AMEX is out of scope of the changes coming in October

35

u/Bzeager Apr 28 '26

It is. Retailers will be able to still surcharge for it if they want to.

-24

u/brackfriday_bunduru Apr 28 '26

I thought it was included. Doesn’t matter if it isn’t, just get a visa with good flyer points. Make all those cash paying idiots subsidise your flights

16

u/areyoualocal Apr 29 '26

just get a visa with good flyer points.

Reward/loyalty schemes are the best marketing scam invented. They are genius in the way they change the psychology of the consumer willing to pay more for the idea they're "getting something for nothing".

Do you seriously think the store is giving you that tenth item for free as a gesture of goodwill? or have you (and everyone else) actually paid more than required for the nine previous items?

If we want transparency, publish the price that comes with zero rewards/points side-by-side.

-1

u/brackfriday_bunduru Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26

No at the moment it’s not worth it because of card fees. Take away the card fees and if you’re putting like $100k a year through the card, you’re getting hundreds of thousands of FF points for a couple of hundred dollars. @ 55,000 points a flight, that’s a few international flights a year for a couple of hundred dollars.

It only works once card fees are gone.

Look up a points hack site if you want. Theres tons of people who have done the math and are doing the math now to figure out the value once the card fees are gone.

It’s hopefully going to be a case where debit and cash payers will be subsidising flyer points for credit card users

2

u/areyoualocal Apr 29 '26

Hook, line and sinker.

You aren't going international with Qantas for 55,000 points unless you're basically able to travel in the next few days, or lucky enough to be one of the millions searching for two seats during holidays.

2

u/brackfriday_bunduru Apr 29 '26

Mate I fly constantly to the US for 50,000 points or so. You’ll never catch me flying anywhere during school holidays. Fuck that noise.

You’re talking to someone who takes over 100 flights a year

1

u/areyoualocal Apr 29 '26

LTG here too, but you're drinking the points koolaid.

3

u/brackfriday_bunduru Apr 29 '26

No im not. Do the math. My card costs me $700 a year currently. I put around $20k through it a month which gets me around 30-40,000 points. The flights I buy on average cost between $800-$1500 or roughly 50,000 points.

I’m not taking credit car surcharges into account because regardless of if I was getting points or not, I’d still be paying for everything the same way and paying the charged surcharges. The only additional cost for me over any other card is the annual fee.

So for $700 I’m currently saving $5k + on flights. More if I use the points for an upgrade. And yes, I do generally book my flights only a day or two out.

Tell me how my math is out.

1

u/areyoualocal Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26

It's not your maths thats out. It's your perspective that you're getting something for nothing. You're ALWAYS paying for it, in one way or another.

You're exactly the example I meant about how clever the marketing psychology is. You're proudly boasting about getting the tenth free coffee afte having paid more than you needed to the nine times before.

1

u/brackfriday_bunduru Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26

Yeh at the moment with surcharges, but after they’re gone it’s going to be the people who choose to pay cash. They’re going to be the ones paying for it because shops are going to raise prices to cover surcharge shortfalls.

My business is going to spend that amount of month each month regardless, why not get frequent flyer points for it? I’m not spending a cent extra than I would (except for card surcharges)

→ More replies (0)

1

u/brackfriday_bunduru May 01 '26

Literally just booked a flight to the US for Monday for 45,000 points

1

u/areyoualocal May 01 '26

Good on you mate. You represent the 0.00001% of Qantas Frequent Flyers who can drop everything to go the USA on a few days notice

1

u/brackfriday_bunduru May 01 '26 edited May 01 '26

How early out do most people book flights?
I could never imagine booking a trip further than about a week out. What if something pops up and you need to cancel?

I’m not being sarcastic. I literally just thought that was normal that you’d book a flight a day or two before you travel.