1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,360 Speaker 1: Right, Well, the news of the day politically is their 2 00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:05,160 Speaker 1: surcharges are gone. The government's just banned them. And you 3 00:00:05,240 --> 00:00:07,680 Speaker 1: know what I'm talking about here, right They are that 4 00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:10,160 Speaker 1: little extra amount that you get pinged when you turn 5 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:12,039 Speaker 1: up at the dairy and you use your credit card 6 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:15,520 Speaker 1: or you use your payWave. Gone from May next year. 7 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:19,600 Speaker 1: And the big cell behind this basically is that it's 8 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:21,560 Speaker 1: to help you with the cost of living crisis. Now, 9 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:24,560 Speaker 1: I hate to do this because i know you're thinking, 10 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:26,840 Speaker 1: oh yay, yeah, and I'm totally going to rain on 11 00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:29,000 Speaker 1: that parade for you. Don't get excited. This is going 12 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:31,040 Speaker 1: to fix nothing. You are still going to end up 13 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:34,040 Speaker 1: paying that cost somehow, probably just through the cost of 14 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:35,960 Speaker 1: the bottle of milk that you're buying. It'll be in 15 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:39,600 Speaker 1: there now, or your haircut or your sushi or whatever 16 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:41,360 Speaker 1: it is. It's going to be built into the price 17 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:44,720 Speaker 1: because the business still has the cost. Nothing is changing there. 18 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:46,839 Speaker 1: They've still got to pay that merchant fee. Now, a 19 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:49,800 Speaker 1: merchant fee is a very complicated set of charges which 20 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 1: the business gets lumped with and most businesses actually have 21 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:55,440 Speaker 1: bloody no idea what makes up that merchant fee. There's 22 00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:57,800 Speaker 1: a fee from the credit card companies, there's a feed 23 00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:01,240 Speaker 1: fee for moving money from the banks the f poss providers. 24 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 1: The whole thing gets lumped into the merchant fee. That 25 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 1: has not gone away. What's only gone away is the 26 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:09,319 Speaker 1: business's ability to be able to recover the cost of 27 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:11,880 Speaker 1: some of that through the surcharge. And by the way, 28 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 1: the cost of that thing is actually quite big. I mean, 29 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:18,319 Speaker 1: I've read about one business, just one shop, that pays 30 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 1: about fourteen thousand dollars in a year just for that, 31 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:24,200 Speaker 1: just for the merchant fee, just to be able to 32 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:27,440 Speaker 1: do business electronically. Now that what's gonna happen if you 33 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:29,640 Speaker 1: go to that shop is because that guy can't now 34 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:31,479 Speaker 1: pass it on to you with a two percent, zero 35 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:34,399 Speaker 1: point seven percent, one percent surcharge or whatever. He's simply 36 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:35,880 Speaker 1: going to add it to the cost of his product, 37 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:38,480 Speaker 1: so that across the year he makes that fourteen thousand 38 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:42,440 Speaker 1: dollars back. Also, why you shouldn't get excited about it 39 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:44,840 Speaker 1: is that this ban does not include anything that you 40 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:47,319 Speaker 1: buy online. You're buying your Air New Zealand tickets, Yep, 41 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: you're still gonna be paying that little six dollar handling fee. 42 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:52,600 Speaker 1: You're buying some tickets for a concert from ticket Master. 43 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:54,680 Speaker 1: Maybe you want to head along to Banksy go check 44 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:56,400 Speaker 1: that out. Yep, you're still gonna be paying yourself a little, 45 00:01:56,560 --> 00:01:58,919 Speaker 1: a nice little eight dollar handling fee. And the problem 46 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 1: with that is that these are some of the most 47 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:03,320 Speaker 1: egregious examples I would have thought of surcharges just bearing 48 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 1: no resemblance to reality. But they still slip through this. 49 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 1: So instead of actually sorting out the back room problems 50 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:12,320 Speaker 1: and the real gnarly issues and what has been charged 51 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:13,960 Speaker 1: by the banks and the f pos companies and the 52 00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:17,600 Speaker 1: credit card companies and really excessive surcharges, the government's just 53 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:19,840 Speaker 1: taken the easy option and brought in a ban on 54 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:23,320 Speaker 1: the little stuff you buy from the dairy good headline. Unfortunately, though, 55 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 1: just a charade. For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, 56 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:30,799 Speaker 1: listen live to news talks that'd be from four pm weekdays, 57 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:33,160 Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.