March 24, 2024 — Adding a surcharge for your customers has been a big topic of conversation in the past couple of years and we have implemented a model that works pretty well in many of your stores. However, legislation on and monitoring of this practice is on the upswing and in the interest of mitigating any risks for your stores I thought I’d try and lay out the rules and options as simply as I can so you can each make the best decisions for your stores. 

Additionally, retail customers are beginning to educate themselves about the various rules and pushing back or reporting stores who are not following the required guidelines. Of particular importance to consider:

***Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine and most recently New York have passed legislation which expressly forbids charging your customers a surcharge for using a credit card.

***Nowhere is it legitimate now to charge a surcharge on a debit card.

***Nowhere can you charge more than 3%, even where a surcharge is permissible.

***Where a surcharge is permissible, you must post appropriate signage stating the policy and the percentage.

***Where a surcharge is permissible, you must notify your processor that you are doing so.

So what can you do:

***Where a surcharge is permissible and we have set it up in your LiquorPOS, ask your clerks  to remove the surcharge for cash and debit transactions.

***Where a surcharge is not permissible, or if you would just prefer, you can apply a cash discount. Dual Pricing is an alternative pricing model that allows merchants to save 100% of their credit and debit card (PIN and Signature) processing fees by allowing the consumer topick either a cash or credit price at the point of sale. This pricing model has been seen
for years, most commonly at gas stations where both a Cash and Credit price is listed. You are required to post both the Credit and the Cash prices on the shelf. You must also post the policy at the point of entry and each point of sale.

***Implementing the Cash Discount in LiquorPOS is fairly straightforward — we can set one of the Quick Discount Keys for the appropriate percentage. The shelf labels can be edited to print both prices. 

None of this is easy and most of it is frustrating — I do understand — but I thought it was best to keep you informed. Most importantly, it appears warning letters are no longer being sent, there are immediate fines. First fine is $1,000, second is $5,000, third is $10,000, fourth is $25,000.