Supermarket Tantrums

[cinnamaniac]

I just came home from grocery shopping with my mother and sister at our local supermarket. As we were checking out, there was a man in front of us who was paying with his debit card....

C-Cashier
M-Man

M: I'm paying with debit.
C: I'm sorry, sir, but we have a $10 minimum on debit cards.
M: What? Are you SERIOUS?!
C: I do apologize that there are no signs up at the moment, but there is a $10 minimum for debit card purchases.
M: UTTERLY RI-DI-CU-LOUS!

The man then reaches over hastily to grab one of those expensive chocolate bars, knocking over some of our groceries in the process. Then, he SLAMS the bar down in front of the cashier, with a sour look on his face. The cashier kept her cool the entire time, while the man decided to mumble under his breath during the rest of the transaction. After he left, the cashier along with my mom, sister and myself all laughed really hard about it.

If you get that angry over a debit minimum, you need to get a grip. It's not uncommon. The extent of my knowledge on it is that debit/credit companies take a percentage of the sale and for low amounts they end up giving a lot to the companies, so that is why they started enforcing a minimum on cards. I'm unsure if that's what it really is, but I remember something along those lines being explained to me at my old supermarket job. Regardless, this isn't the cashier's fault, so there is no need to yell and practically throw a candy bar at her when she is just doing her job.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

20-something through 80-something and going on 3. Wonderful.

[Broomjockey]

It's not uncommon. The extent of my knowledge on it is that debit/credit companies take a percentage of the sale and for low amounts they end up giving a lot to the companies, so that is why they started enforcing a minimum on cards.

Guy's a certified fruitcake. Yes, flip out because you're a little off the minimum. The irony would have been him using coupons, and those put him below the minimum.

Shows the difference between Canada and the US though. Minimums aren't common here, and it's a tier fee with most systems, I believe. If that happened to me though, I'd have probably skipped the whining and gone straight to the grabbing of the candy. "How much am I short? How much is this? Sold. Good day." *leave* Simple!

[greensinestro]

Then, he SLAMS the bar down in front of the cashier, with a sour look on his face..

I hope this guy later on finds out he's a diabetic.

[wagegoth]

Actually, I believe the bank/merchant agreements do not allow minimum purchases for debit and credit cards.

[VicSilver]

Agreed. The guy was absolutely a total butt-monkey about the situation, but credit card companies (not sure about all of them, actually, but I know it's true for Visa) specifically state that vendors can't set minimum purchase requirements...

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

So given that merchant agreements between credit/debit card issuers and merchants forbid things like requiring customers to show IDs or having minimum purchase requirements, why do businesses do it anyway?

I figure the merchant expects that the customer isn't going to know that is the case, which will get them in trouble if they actually do try to pull this with a customer who knows what the agreements say--and can back it up and know who to contact about it.

[Ironclad Alibi]

Agreed. The guy was absolutely a total butt-monkey about the situation, but credit card companies (not sure about all of them, actually, but I know it's true for Visa) specifically state that vendors can't set minimum purchase requirements...

I know its true for Visa. I recently had 1 cent charged to my Visa account.

[Andara Bledin]

So given that merchant agreements between credit/debit card issuers and merchants forbid things like requiring customers to show IDs or having minimum purchase requirements, why do businesses do it anyway?

They do it because a lot of businesses don't actually know the rules of the merchant agreement. It shocks me how many people don't read stuff like that when it's a business, but there you go.

Also, the vast majority of people don't know. And of those that do, very, very few will ever report the stores to the providers.

Also, the only thing that is outright illegal (at least in the US) is the charging of a surcharge on credit card purchases. And that is worth a decent amount to the customer if the shop refuses to take care of it.

^-.-^

[marasbaras]

Merchants get charged a small fee PLUS a percentage for taking credit cards. So, at the low end, percentages can be very high.

For a $1 purchase ... if the merchant is getting hit for 25 cents + 3% ... that's 28 cents or 28% of the purchase price.

And yet, Visa/MC in their merchant-fucking glory say you can't have a minimum amount or charge extra for using their cards.

[Broomjockey]

Okay, for those of us not in the US, can we get a clarification here, because people are throwing the terms credit card and debit card around like they're interchangable. The OP stated it was a *debit card.* Do the same rules apply to those (Visa/MC issued or otherwise) as credit cards? Because if the rules aren't the same, then a lot of what's been said gets pretty confusing.

[Boochan]

$10 Seems rather steep for a debit card, but how ridiculously immature was that.
He should have gone and had his whinge somewhere else.

My store as a minimum of $5 on debit and $10 on Credit. We can still do it below that, and we generally do if its below a dollar or less (i.e of they buy a battery thats $4.20, I'll generally allow them to use a debit card). All to do with processing fees I presume, though if they want cash out at the same time it qualifies as putting you over the minimum.

[Evil Queen]

Broomjockey:

In the US, if you have a debit card you can run it as either debit or credit. This is also why debit cards in the US have expiration dates but the ones in Canada, for example, do not.

"Debit" generally posts in the bank the same day whereas "Credit" will post the next business day.

[Broomjockey]

Broomjockey:

In the US, if you have a debit card you can run it as either debit or credit. This is also why debit cards in the US have expiration dates but the ones in Canada, for example, do not.

"Debit" generally posts in the bank the same day whereas "Credit" will post the next business day.

This part I know, but as the debit cards are different in that they pull from your account, rather than being, well, credit cards, I wanted to know if the rules of the Visa/Mastercard merchant agreements were the same for them.

[TruthHurts]

C: I'm sorry, sir, but we have a $10 minimum on debit cards.
M: What? Are you SERIOUS?!

Our store has a 50 cent charge on purchases under 5$ and we have people throw these huge tantrums and storm out. We have signs up but they never read them. It's 50 cents for gosh sake either pay it, leave, or buy enough items to put it over 5 dollars.