01/10/2026
Clearing the air: OUR PERSPECTIVE ON THE NEW CARD SURCHARGE LAWS
With the new laws banning card surcharges officially taking effect, we wanted to jump on the bandwagon and share exactly what this means for our business and our community.
There’s a lot of talk out there, so we want to start with some honest facts about how things used to work versus how they work now:
The Past:
The previous surcharge you saw on your receipt was always charged directly to you by the bank. We never set that fee, we never charged it ourselves, and we never received a single cent of it. It went straight to the bank.
The Present:
The new law removes that fee from your view, but it doesn't remove it from existence. Now, for every single card transaction, the bank adds a processing fee that we are forced to pay.
What does this actually cost a small business?
We estimate these new bank fees will cost us around $4,000 per month. To put that into perspective, that is the equivalent of a full-time staff member's wage gone every single month, straight into the bank’s pockets.
Why we still love cash:
We’ve heard people say cash is too slow or hidden, but that’s not the case for us:
No hidden pocketing:
Every cent of cash goes straight into our software system so that our stock count remains accurate, completely transparently.
Zero bank fees:
The bank charges us absolutely nothing when you pay cash even though it takes a physical person to process it.
Quick & easy:
Our software handles all the heavy lifting and counting. Each day, it takes our around 15 minutes to do a quick match.
No extra time:
We drop the cash at the bank during our regular lunch runs, so it costs us next to nothing in time.
As you can see, processing cash takes just minutes of our day—nowhere near as costly or devastating as the thousands of dollars in new card fees we are now copping from the banks. Also contrary to popular belief, our shop is not a little Gold Mine, it is in fact just surviving thanks to our loyal customers.
To add another layer of difficulty, some of our suppliers AND the ATO, have now banned us from paying using our credit card leaving us with no extra time to manage our cash flow.
We love our community and want to keep our doors open for a long time to come.
Thank you for listening, understanding the reality for small businesses, and for continuing to support us!
Call now to connect with business.
