Pretty sure the surcharge was on cash transactions last season too.
Busch Gardens Williamsburg Adds 5% Surcharge to In-Park Sales
- Thread starter horsesboy
- Start date
Pretty sure the surcharge was on cash transactions last season too.
Nice theory, however it was on cash transactions too. I don't use a card and was hit with it every time.
Yep. All transactions no matter the payment method.
Also, I don't care if someone charges them 5%–that's a cost of doing business, it isn't my problem as the consumer. Build it into the cost like everyone else.
Also, I don't care if someone charges them 5%–that's a cost of doing business, it isn't my problem as the consumer. Build it into the cost like everyone else.
All I was making was an observation that the surcharge and the cost of card transactions were the same.
If SEAS is paying 5% for CCs then they need to fire their CFO. 2.5% and less is the current going rate.
There are also ways to get financing / credit card fees tax-deductible for businesses.
The surcharge just comes off to me like somebody high up was like “hey let’s get 5% extra revenue with fine print they’re too dumb to notice lol”
If a company is charging 5% cc fee, they are dishonest and gouging customers. CC fees run from 1.5 to 3.5% appx. The greed smells like a dumpster.
You hit it exactly. Instead of more honestly raising prices they are trying to trick the customers. I don’t do business with these kinds of companies
But it isn't. Not by a long shot. That sounds more like very small volume fees such as using Square at a flea market business. I would be very surprised if BGW was paying more than 2.5 to 3%.
Unless there is someone with direct knowledge of SEAS/BGW's credit card transaction fees, this seems like a pointless argument.
This is still BS. They should just update their prices everywhere. They have had a couple years to do it? It's not like that surcharge is going to go away...
Between the sleazy surcharge, the high prices before the surcharge, and the short park hours I have found that I do not need to eat at all, except one pretzel during a whole day of Busch gardens. There are plenty of restaurants open before and after park closing.
I'm wondering what makes this 5% surcharge different from required tips. Would it be better if BGW said everywhere at checkout, "What tip would you like to give? 5%? 10%? 15%?" Come to think of it, that's the way to go nowadays. With the option of no tip and everyone being pressured into leaving a tip, it's effectively the same idea.
I mean, required tips, by definition, aren't tips, they're junk fees—just like the surcharge.
The thing that always bothered me about those tipping options, especially at a place like BGW, is this: why are some employees deserving of tips and others not? Why should F&B employees get tipped while rider operators don’t? Should we be expected to start tipping the Area Hosts every time we see them sweep up a piece of trash?
In the 5 years I worked in the theme park industry, I worked in a number of roles from the front lines of F&B to operations to behind-the-scenes roles. I can say with confidence that no department is more or less worthy of tips than another.
The 5% surcharge is BS, but required tips aren’t the answer. If BGW really needs that money, the correct approach is to just transparently raise their prices (or, better yet, don’t).
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Speaking from experience working within Seaworld in a position that was tipped (for private reasons, said position will not be named), the tipped positions are often not usually by choice. Bartenders are the only position where it’s by choice, and that’s due to their unique qualifications. Said position I worked used portable card readers, and the system is programmed to ask for a tip. You can skip it, select one of 4 presets, or do a custom tip. The upside to those portable readers, though, is that they do NOT have the bogus 5% surcharge on them.
We are so freaking tired of the surcharges in the park
Are you tired enough to the point you have stopped paying it?