Yeah. I doubt anyone is truly up in arms.
Meantime where I live… to quote Big Kev… ‘I’m excited’. In one of the most scenic parts of the world, looks like we are set to get a McDonalds.
Did Chris Lorax from Mad as Hell write that?
LOTF has been around a fair while. It’s not even a pun on LOTR but rather William Golding’s seminal Lord Of The Flies.
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Yes. I think everyone would have made the connection to Lord of the Flies and probably never made the connection to Lord of the Rings until now.
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Sydney’s Engie Stadium has imposed a “compulsory” card surcharge for all transactions at the cashless venue.
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If there is no cash option, then businesses should be forced to advertise their prices including surcharge.
Same goes for restaurants who are now charging 10% extra on weekends. Reflect that in your menus. Don’t say an item is a certain price then add 10% for weekends and 1.5%/2% for credit cards. Some are also adding a further 10% for groups bigger than 10.
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McDonald’s launched its Surprize Fries promotion this week.
I think there should still be a fee free method that must be provided ie use a EFTPOS card which would be free. Select SAV instead of CR for example.
Better to launch one location in each city rather than 2-3 in one city and it fails. Least if open in each city can suss out if it’s popular or not if to launch further locations.
This is something that really annoys me. I can get over the surcharge on public holidays, maybe even Sunday’s but the Saturday surcharge is ridiculous when it’s probably their busiest day.
We went to a restaurant recently on a Saturday where a 15% surcharge was applied to our bill that we didn’t see anything on the menu. So I jumped online afterwards to look at their menu and it was in tiny writing at the bottom (barely visible and in font much smaller than every other menu item). According to ACCC guidelines they are not meant to do this as a surcharge is meant to be in the same size font as other menu items. I complained on google reviews of course. We were there just for a quick lunch and it was already expensive - had we known about this we may have reconsidered or not purchased drinks.
Listing pricing in general in many food places is done in many dodgy ways too. I find those frozen yoghurt places where you pay by weight, some of them it’s almost impossible to see visible pricing listed in the store. They always end up so expensive and it feels like a bit of pot luck what you end up paying.
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When Bill Shorten was Labor leader he used to often bang on about penalty rates being part of Australian culture and how ‘fair dinkum’ it was for staff to get paid double time and a half for working Sundays and stuff. Coming from Aotearoa where we got rid of penalty rates back in the 80s this seemed rather odd. But this was often seen as the reason for the additional surcharge.
I doubt there are any surcharges in Aotearoa on any day of the week because the public would baulk at it. It makes no sense. But I think in Australia, because you guys have still kept penalty rates, there is a greater acceptance for it. Oh the King is having a birthday today so let’s pay more for our meal.
Oh! Tell me about it. Every time I used to get fro-yo and then get hit with the price I am like ‘are you kidding me?’ Always a huge shock. And you could see it on the faces of everyone else there as well. All in broad daylight.
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The laws have changed in Australia too and not many of them are getting paid more to work on weekends. I hear it from a lot of young staff that they actually get paid the same as working on weekdays these days. The businesses are the ones who are getting richer.
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No penalty rates have been scrapped in Australia. Not in in a single industry. Penalty rates were reduced from 200% to 150% in five Modern Awards, including fast food and pharmacy.
Penalty rates can be removed if an Enterprise Agreement is signed that boosts the hourly wage at other times (ie Monday to Friday) to make up for not having penalty rates. This wage is checked by the Fair Work Commission to ensure it passes the Better Off Overall Test. It must be signed by a union and an employer.
Mind you, I agree that many small businesses simply don’t pay penalty rates. Save your pay slips and complain to the Fair Work Ombudsman. They will take action for you for free.
The energy, Fair Work, telecommunication and insurance ombudsman level the playing field for consumers against businesses that don’t obey federal and state laws.
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Exactly. Hence why cafes in Australia still charge extra on weekends.
Aotearoa scrapped all penalty rates in 1985.
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A shame for workers in NZ then
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Not at all. Penalty rates were incorporated in a rise in the hourly rate.
By the 80s Aotearoa had already embraced the idea of 24/7 hospitality.
When Bill Shorten campaigned for penalty rates he banged on about how Sundays are more ‘special’ to Australians. Really? What? In what way? That we’re prepared to pay 25% more for a coffee? Really? Just because it’s a Sunday.
It’s 2025. Seriously. If people want to work on King Charles’s birthday should we really have to pay them 2½ times more because we’ve deprived them of the ability to stay home and celebrate his birthday?
I just want the price to be the same at my local restaurant regardless of what day it is.
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