I may have missed a giant announcement while I was out bush, but I was taken back to find that my bank charges for December increased 10-fold. A trip to the bank revealed that some businesses, including Coles and United petrol, are apparently now diverting any debit card transaction (pay wave, insert/swipe and select 'credit') via the EFTPOS system. We now pay the extra charge instead of the business.
As far as I can tell, Woollies hasn't followed suit yet, though they may soon.
While I accept that user pays is generally a fair system, I think we should have a way of knowing what charges we will be up for before we choose how to pay. This has significant implications for how I manage my money.
Has anyone worked out how to know whether a business has changed their policy on this, before looking at your bank statement? I imagine plenty of cashier staff may not be aware of the situation.
Ta for your thoughts.