Surcharge Leaves the Table
By Jack Kirkwood Back at the beginning of the 21st century, cash was still king and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) wanted to keep it this way. Cash was – and still technically is – the most efficient way for a consumer to complete a payment. Unlike cash sales, merchants must pay a small transaction fee to complete the purchase made every time you tap a card. This fee was the initial issue when card payments first entered the mainstream because retailers simply increased the price of...
