Your telling me La Cumbra Plaza is a large enough space for 682 small apartment for what $4000.00 a month for what 500 sq ft. If that.
Lynn, times evolve.
I had a small business for 20 years I would never ever consider adding the credit card fee to the customers bill. It feels tacky and cheap. It’s all a part in my opinion of doing business and maybe I make a little less but I have happy customers . I went to a local feed store weekly for 25 years and a year ago I was charged the credit card fee without being told beforehand (I usually pay cash) but that day I used my card and I’ve never been back. I always carry cash so I can pay with cash and save the business the credit card fee because I know how it adds up but I still can’t support adding it on. It’s part of doing business. In my opinion I make a little less but that’s OK.
Moving the Fiesta parade to Cabrillo full time s a no brainer. But that's why it took 40 years and a global pandemic. Our local officials have always had a hard time with implementing the best solutions... Did they hire 7 consultants over 3 years and pay them $250k each for this decision? Not sure, but its highly likely based on how they approach every other decision they're paid to make...
Viva La Taxes!
The zoning of the Miramar site already allows for housing. It does not need to be rezoned to allow housing. However, building in the parking lot could impact the required parking for the hotel. To avoid impacts to required hotel parking they would instead need to convert guestrooms or other portions of the site to housing.
#7 Chapala Market
Exactly.
"Gas stations have had separate cash and credit card prices for ages."
Those types of stations make this pricing available to people who are pinching every penny or who are unable to get a credit card due to poor credit. Bossie's is not the same type of business. It's for people with some level of disposable income.
"Do you only go to the ones that don’t?"
Absolutely, because the cash-or-credit brands serve trash gas. I don't drive a high-end or expensive car by any means, but trash gas has always been a bad idea, in my opinion. I'd rather pay $0.05 more per gallon today than worry about the costs of poor fuel economy or repairs over the lifetime of my vehicle.
Michael, I cannot agree with you more that CC processing fees are a part of doing business.
What's next? Will we start seeing a list of "fees" attached to ordering at a restaurant? "3% rent fee, 4% dishwasher fee, 2% accounting app fee, 1.5% housekeeping fee..."
No, because all of those costs are a part of doing business. CC processing (and related fees) has been around for how many decades now? And how many people are really carrying cash around today? It's a misguided decision.
Bossie's is an absolute gem of a restaurant - it's always on my short list when people ask me where to eat in SB. Truly, some of the best food in town, to say nothing of their donuts, which are unbelievably good. The economics of running a restaurant - especially one as small as Bossie's - are absolutely brutal. Tacking on a 3% upcharge for a cc transaction is something that businesses only do if they HAVE to. To the folks who are outraged, I'd suggest you take a deep breath and realize that you are presented with this very same choice every time you fill up your gas tank. You can either call it a "cash discount" or a "credit card fee" - the end result is the same, it's all semantics. Heck, yesterday I was at an upholstery shop and was presented with the very same option - 3% more for cc. This article made me realize it's been too long since I've been to Bossie's, we'll for sure be rectifying that this weekend.
#4 White 's pet hospital - 532 E Haley St?
Hi Tom,
Thank you for breaking it down like this. The other options we have are:
4-Keep the menu prices the same, but discontinue purchasing organic produce from the local farmer's markets, and purchase frozen meat and fish. For us this is a hard no.
5-Keep the menu prices the same, but cut the portion size by 30-40%. Who wants to pay for lunch or dinner and leave hungry? Also, no.
6-Keep the menu prices the same, but discontinue many of our home-made items for pre-made and frozen cookies and pastries, bread, salad dressings, mayo and aioli etc. in order to save on our labor costs. Again, no.
My mom lives out of state and over the course of visiting her 3-4 times in the past two years, 90% of their family-owned restaurants have closed. Is this what we want for Santa Barbara?
Hi J, thanks for jumping in on this. Imagine if restaurants actually charged for the items or services that they haven't had to, or if workers were paid a living wage and we did away with the tipping system? We've done the math, and I don't think anyone would come to our restaurant for a $50 burger. You're right, the industry will continue to shift... because what else can we do?
Thank you, Jen, for your support and understanding!
I totally understand why restaurants need to charge credit card fee. I think there just needs to be good transparency about it. We are always big tippers. We appreciate restaurant workers. Might cause me to tip a bit less ,although still tip customary amount.
Pretty sure #5 is what's now Pascucci, on the 500 block of State.
Note that merchant processing sales reps are strongly pushing passing the fee on to the consumer. It’s another profit center for them and they are selling it to the merchant as a free processing system less a small monthly fee. I think it will become standard in restaurants & hospitality where tipping is already excessive. Until Amazon and the giant box retailers start this practice it won’t fly in soft goods retail.
Why is someone not stopping the UPS, Federal Express, and Prime trucks from destroying the median in front of local restaurant on Coast Village Road. They have parked on the median to deliver their product and destroyed the irrigation system, and any little bit of landscape that was present.
Hi Jenny S., Not a poor attitude at all on my part. I frequently visit locally owned restaurants. I'm always patient, tip very well and compliment folks - even during times when service is lacking because we're all human, mistakes happen and sometimes half of the staff is out sick. However, restaurants not being up front about added fees until the bill arrives does not build a trusting relationship with the community. It's dishonest.
Kudos to Bossie's and Scarlett Begonia - they are demonstrating up front that they are adding these fees, so it's highly likely I will frequent them even more because of that transparency (and delicious food).
Carrying cash is not a hardship, come on people!
Have you noticed how expensive food is at the grocery store?? I can’t imagine how high the costs are to run a restaurant!
I could never give up your chocolate cruller, btw!
THE BEST EVER!
They are missing out
Once I realized that the cruisery was sneaking in that credit card processing fee I stopped going. At least some restaurants let you know up front.
Carp. Local
If a business wants to avoid talking about merchant fees, it looks better to raise prices by 1.309% but offer a 3% discount for cash.
Guess Industrial was not pleased with their success? Why invite in a business in then jack their rent? Hope they get a new location quick!
Everyone read this……
As a business owner this is a no brainer. Here’s why:
Effective several years ago the state made this legal to bake in credit card processing fees to the overall final bill. This practice is becoming widely common places, especially in the restaurant space.
What’s happening is the customer uses a credit card to take on debt, to pay with debt the business has to pay a 3% on average processing charge to the credit card companies. So you can say it’s the cost of business, but I disagree. Let’s say the business makes 1 million a year, that’s 30k in fees they have to pay because the customers decide to take on debt. Why should the businesses have to pay that. It’s an underlying expense the business is paying because the customer is paying with debt, so it’s a penalty to the business.
Due to the increase in inflation, increase in employee wages and the increase in overall operating costs all is costing more for businesses keep the doors open.
The business has 3 options.
Option 1 - Eat the fee (30k less in profit)
Option 2 - Raise the menu prices across the board, thus everyone pays more to offset the inflationary rise in expenses.
Option 3 - Keep the menu prices the same to keep customers and charge a fee to the customers who want to use debt as a form of payment at the expense of the business. Reducing the businesses overall operating cost allowing them to keep the doors open.
Notice all the places closed on state street, we’re going to be having a lot more in the future. A lot of people in this town are hanging on by a string. So you can complain all you want about the 3% or accept it so the places you enjoy can stay open. Most restaurants on average have very small margins in profit, so this 3% fee is a big deal to them.
Thank you for understanding, we hope you do pay us a visit!
