Proper pasty company, minimum spend £3 on cards

[lewpot 10]

I work in the card acquiring industry and this is fairly common but will change.

 

Essentially, retailers are charged a pence per item cost (for a business like The Pasty Co, probably about 15p) by their provider to handle those debit card payments, so understandably they don't want to absorb that cost as it eats into margins (ha ha, no pun intended).

 

Those costs are levied to their providers by the card issuers, set by Visa/Mastercard, what is called interchange.

 

The way interchange is set on debit cards changed from March this year to a percentage cost. What this means is that providers will be charging retailers a small percentage cost to process debit card payments, so once passed on to them it's likely that it will only cost The Pasty Co a pence or so to handle that payment. This means that, in theory, they are unlikely to pass on that cost and charge a surcharge.

 

This has the effect of driving low value payment by debit card and pushing cash out further, which is where Visa/Mastercard want to be. When you think of Contactless growth and then changing payment trends like Applepay (which will be a game changer, when people touch and go with their phone), then it makes sense and shows where the retail space is moving.

 

All very interesting. Well to me at least.

[charmer 10]

Didn't know there was one there but then going to the cash machine, queuing then going back to the pasty shop and queuing again would have taken too much time. Only had 15 minutes and had already wasted some of it in the shop.

 

You didn't know there was a cash machine at a large city centre bank? Isn't it obvious?

 

Why add a surcharge just for the card costs though, couldn't the expenses be calculated as being part of your business costs?

 

They could, but then you would have to raise the price for everyone instead of just those who cause the cost.

[Deak 10]

You should have made the short trip to the 'Pound Bakery' at Moorfoot.

The tastiest 'Cornish' pasties around IMO, and, though only small, great value at 2-for-£1.

 

I am with the 'Carry a small amount of CASH on you' brigade.

 

CASH IS (STILL) KING.

[Vegas1 10]

You should have made the short trip to the 'Pound Bakery' at Moorfoot.

The tastiest 'Cornish' pasties around IMO, and, though only small, great value at 2-for-£1.

 

I am with the 'Carry a small amount of CASH on you' brigade.

 

CASH IS (STILL) KING.

 

But they dont take cards though, so the OP would have had to draw some out. And its hardly round the corner, the OP states he was pushed for time.

[karl101 10]

The Proper Pasty Company not really a small business, they have nine shops plus six franchises. Although, curiously, none in Cornwall.

 

http://www.properpasty.co.uk/pasty-shops/

 

Why not pop into the co-op next door and get the ingredients to make your own?

http://www.properpasty.co.uk/pasty-recipe-proper-pasty-ingredients/

 

K.

[smithy266 21]

£2.95 for a pasty?

 

Are they really 3 times better or bigger that the £1 pasties offered elsewhere?

 

.... ok, I'm tight ...

 

And probably thin!!!!

[Vegas1 10]

 

Why not pop into the co-op next door and get the ingredients to make your own?

http://www.properpasty.co.uk/pasty-recipe-proper-pasty-ingredients/

 

.

 

How would that work during a lunch break?

[karl101 10]

How would that work during a lunch break?

 

I suppose you could get one of those mini-ovens (like they have in 80's bedsits) from Currys, wire it into the mains from a lamp post in the Peace Gardens, while its warming up get the kitchen tools from John Lewis. Back in the Peace Gardens, assemble your pasty as per the recipe, wait until cooked. Eat. You'll probably need to extend your lunch break slightly.

 

K.

[Deak 10]

I suppose you could get one of those mini-ovens (like they have in 80's bedsits) from Currys, wire it into the mains from a lamp post in the Peace Gardens, while its warming up get the kitchen tools from John Lewis. Back in the Peace Gardens, assemble your pasty as per the recipe, wait until cooked. Eat. You'll probably need to extend your lunch break slightly.

 

K.

 

TEE-HEE-HEE!!

[Plain Talker 11]

Don't be daft.

 

---------- Post added 10-05-2015 at 23:53 ----------

 

 

No, theres an important point underlying all this as already just mentioned. As we move away from cash to digital payments are you going to want to pay an extra charge every time you use a card under a certain amount?

 

The other point is why are the charges so high that a retailer cannot absorb them into their business model? 20p per transaction seems a lot. How can it cost 20p to process a transaction? Say there are 50 million transactions a day in the UK. Are we really accepting that £10m is being creamed off every day just for processing charges.

 

Most places don't charge extra for transactions under £5, if it's a contactless card. and more to the point, wafting the card over the machine (rather than inputting your PIN) doesn't actually take any longer than paying for the item(s) by cash.

[truman 10]

Most places don't charge extra for transactions under £5, if it's a contactless card. and more to the point, wafting the card over the machine (rather than inputting your PIN) doesn't actually take any longer than paying for the item(s) by cash.

 

The pasty company isn't charging for time they're passing on the charge levied on them by the card company... there isn't enough profit on low value transactions for them to be able to absorb this cost.. that's how I understand it anyway..

[Plain Talker 11]

The pasty company isn't charging for time they're passing on the charge levied on them by the card company... there isn't enough profit on low value transactions for them to be able to absorb this cost.. that's how I understand it anyway..

 

I beg your puddin, I apologise, someone else had mentioned, earlier, the time factor in using a card and faffing about putting your number in the machine etc at the point of purchase.