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Hot Ones trying to sneak in the package protection (thelemmy.club)
submitted 2 days ago* by to c/mildlyinfuriating@lemmy.world
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As I'm sure most people would, I almost just hit Checkout but happened to see the text below. I am also sure I would have caught/removed it from the check-out page but maybe not. I did complete my order without 'package protection' but am sending an email and probably won't order again unless their response is acceptable.

Edit: I'll probably send the email after I get shipping confirmation :)

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[–] 41 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Essentially a bunch of retailers decided they don’t want to absorb “the costs of doing business” anymore so they now charge $1-5 fees to cover when they have to replace a package that is damaged or lost in shipping. They sell it as “package insurance” but it’s once again consumers getting shafted to offset what was typically seen as a potential liability in running a business based around shipping. As a bonus if you don’t pay their extortion and your package is lost or damaged they will tell you to go fuck yourself

See also: merchants charging a ~3% fee if you use a credit card because similarly covering the cost of a payment processor is increasingly becoming a cost that is not absorbed. Even with medical practices!

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  • [–] 11 points 1 day ago (1 child)

    In the US at least, this is why you use a credit card. If your package gets lost in transit and the merchant refuses to remedy the issue, that's a easy dispute for merchandise not received. It doesn't matter what the merchant tells you, it's their responsibility to ensure the merchandise arrives.

    That being said, every shipping protection scheme I've personally seen is billed as a convenience feature - "less hassle".

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  • [–] 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

    See also: merchants charging a ~3% fee if you use a credit card because similarly covering the cost of a payment processor is increasingly becoming a cost that is not absorbed. Even with medical practices!

    At least this is easy to understand, though. Credit card processor charges us X% so we're passing that on. We used to eat it or fold it into business costs, but with the economy doing it's slow-death we can't anymore.

    What really gets me, especially with large purchases like a medical bill or a transmission replacement for example is that 3 or more % quickly becomes advantageous for the processor. On a $10,000 that 3% becomes $300, and it did not get $297 more expensive to wiggle some bits around over a $100 payment's $3. Then, some businesses decide that the best way to offset that cost is something akin to an ACH transfer...just hand over your bank account information and don't worry about it!

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  • [–] 2 points 1 day ago (1 child)

    Yea, this is a conversation I've had with plenty of small businesses owners now. There was this mom and pop sandwich shop that was used to a bunch of blue collar workers and day laborers paying in cash. Their clientele shifted once big companies started moving in and a lot of people are paying with card. Then over the years the percent of card purchases climbs to 90%. People are coming in for a coffee and they're paying in card so they eventually come up with a card minimum and everyone gets upset because they don't carry cash so they stop going. I guess people are averse to using their debit cards due to fraud. They then just tack on a card fee instead and that's that. I appreciate that approach because then people can still make a choice and it's not raising prices across the board.

    I mostly do B2B stuff now and ACH is pretty standard, though I still have some using checks.

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  • [–] 2 points 20 hours ago

    I like the credit card for most purchases because I'm just going to pay it off later anyway. I don't buy a lot of cups of coffee or sodas, so that's not an issue. The fraud recovery is worth it for me even if I'm paying the fee.

    When food trucks became a thing locally you had to have cash, and you had to at least know enough words to specify the number on the menu and what type of meat you wanted. Now that same business has a bunch of local locations all doing card transactions, and maybe doing a cash discount. I wouldn't know since the food <-> money+card_fee transaction is worth it to me. I would wager for that type of business that they pick up more overall business than they lose, and they really should teach at least a little bit of this in school so you don't get people weirded out by a minimum fee, but then again I was in line at a gas station that had a "minimum purchase for cards" sign, and a guy was like $5 short. The cashier explained, guy goes and gets a $2 drink. Cashier explains again, guy goes back again and still doesn't come up to the limit. A tacked on "hidden" CC fee probably saves a lot of trouble in the long run.

    I'd be more amenable to ACH if I had a dedicated business account. I use it for my current broker, but balked once before when I signed up for Robinhood and one of the later steps was "now we just need your bank account and routing number." Nah guys, I'll pass. I'm assuming most checks these days get filed electronically anyway.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 day ago (1 child)

    Definitely and the processor makes sure the floor is covered; my processor has 2.7%+ 15 cents per transaction to ensure they make a minimum amount per transaction, but there is no ceiling with any processor that I’m aware of

    What’s also interesting is that with most processors the fee varies for in person and online with online being notably higher (1.5 vs 2.7% with mine). I suppose because online transactions are more likely to be fraudulent or something but ultimately the processing of the payment shouldn’t change between the settings

    I eat the fee fwiw

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  • [–] 1 point 1 day ago

    the processor makes sure the floor is covered [...] but there is no ceiling with any processor that I’m aware of

    Nobody's in business to lose money.

    I suppose because online transactions are more likely to be fraudulent or something

    I can see that. I've been lucky enough to only see two cases of stolen card numbers, and in both cases there was a small purchase (to verify the number), and then largish purchases I guess to see if merchandise can get delivered before the fraud is noticed. I wonder if they write off on their taxes the fees on those largish, fraudulent purchases they catch.

    I guess with the costs of running all the servers to look for fraud, security on the whole works, hot backups, cold backups, etc, that 3% doesn't look so bad for all that goes on behind the scenes, but it also doesn't look like their stock prices are hurting (what the heck happened to Fiserv that owns Clover that they dropped 50%?).

    Do you also take American Express? Is there any difference on your end between Visa/Mastercard/AMEX? I'm genuinely curious since I remember all the old commercials.

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