SeaWorld Entertainment converts Florida parks to cashless operation

It will be interesting to see whether surcharges start to change behavior, or if we've all gotten so used to using cards that we put up with them.

A lot of people carry balances on credit card and as a result incur interest charges. Not sure I would expect them to object to a surcharge. But some of them may well.

There has been a lot of upward pressure on prices (particularly for labor and materials). Some additional costs can be passed on to customers but that varies by industry and product/service. If you can't pass on cost increases to customers, your margins suffer. Depending on your margins, absorbing 2-3% as a cost of doing business can be significant. Not surprising to see some small businesses passing credit card surcharges to customers or refusing to accept credit cards.

I paid 3% credit card fee yesterday at BMV. They wouldn't accept a personal check and I didn't have enough cash to cover. First time I can recall BMV not taking a check. Paid licensing fees at BMV yesterday as well with a personal check. But that is essentially privatized at this point so its not the state. Don't know if they would have charged a fee for paying with a credit card for licensing fees. Had I known, I would have brought cash. Likely I won't remember next time I go there (infrequent customer).

Local pizza shop when I was a kid had a sign that read "We made a deal with the bank. They don't make pizzas and we don't accept checks." Not sure what they did with credit cards but at least initially, I could see them saying something similar about accepting them rather than cash.

There's something I had not considered. For the folks carrying a balance, they're always in a losing proposition. What's a few more bucks if you can have the thing right now?

I feel completely foolish for incurring interest in my twenties. Such a waste.

ApolloAndy:

Oh, I always assumed it was for avoiding taxes.

That's what churches are for.

In my own little side-gig private business, I accept cash, check (even though I can't remember the last time that happened), or Zelle. It's literally the only reason we end up with some cash lying around that we mainly use at our kids' athletic activities (think high school concession stands, buying t-shirts repping the xc/track meet, etc.). I'm also not collecting any amount beyond 3 figures at a time.

The way the sign was worded at our local pizza shop made it sound like they would prefer if we used cash. I guess I'll ask next time. My post above was just pointing out the irony of our schools raising cash prices as a result of people complaining about getting nailed with processing fees for purchasing tickets online, which they were forced to do. Now people are complaining about that.

I suspect a lot of mom-and-pops do avoid taxes by underreporting cash sales. I usually try to tip in cash, too, since the staff don’t have to report all their cash tips but the credit card tips show up on their W2s.