The government plans to ban surcharges on in-store card payments by May next year. Photo: 123rf
The retail sector is still hopeful it can convince the government to ease its hardline stance on banning card surcharges.
The government plans to ban surcharges on in-store card payments like Paywave by May next year, a move that has alarmed industry groups like Retail NZ, the Auckland Business Chamber, and several other chambers of commerce.
"Our members have been really unhappy about it. We've surveyed all our members and we've been talking about it for a while and they're really clear that it's not something that they support," Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young said.
Young hoped to convince the government to compromise by capping surcharges instead of banning them entirely.
"What we're trying to do is provide a solution that's a middle ground that should appease everyone," she said.
Her proposal was for surcharges on debit card transactions to be capped at 0.5 percent, and for credit cards to be capped at 1 percent.
"You could review it in a year or two years' time. You could do a full consultation with the whole sector, but at least in the interim, we'd have a solution that the minister would be able to have the certainty of what consumers would be [paying] and merchants would understand fully what they could charge," she said.
Young said the consensus among retailers was that they would raise the price of their products to offset the loss of revenue from surcharges.
"If [customers] weren't getting surcharged, they'd get a price increase. So, regardless of how they pay, our members have told us that they would increase prices."
The government has stood firm on its decision to ban surcharges outright, but Carolyn Young hoped that position could thaw.
"We're really hopeful that we can get a little bit more airtime with the minister to go through and discuss this more fully," she said.
"I know from Select Committee that a significant portion of submissions did not support the surcharge ban. So, we want to be part of the solution and we want to find a way in which we can say to the minister, 'how about we look at this as a solution?', and it's a road that could keep everybody happy from consumers to business to government."
Bridges adds support for a cap
Simon Bridges Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Auckland business chamber chief executive Simon Bridges told Morning Report a cap would be a sensible compromise, and a "sweet spot" for the government, businesses and consumers.
"That deals with the concerns that are legitimate, that are perhaps right, around excessive charges ... it reins them in," he said.
"But it also helps business ... they get to recover some of the cost they are facing."
Bridges said a surcharge cap would require a law change, with bodies like the Commerce Commission enforcing it.
He said there had been an "uproar" from businesses who were staunchly against a ban on the surcharges.
"Either they suck up the cost ... or what they do is they smear the cost increase, they up the price on your baked beans or whatever it is, on everyone," Bridges said.
That meant even those paying by cash or card - not using contactless payments - would pay more, he said.
"How is that fair?"
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