Latest / Best of Business / Kerre Woodham: Yesterday was a day to forget for the Government

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Kerre Woodham: Yesterday was a day to forget for the Government · Best of Business

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  Speaker 2: There is much that this coalition government is dealing with
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  Speaker 2: that is not of their own making. They're mopping up,
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  Speaker 2: cleaning up the mess. Then there are the own goals
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  Speaker 2: that should not be happening eighteen months into office, and
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  Speaker 2: I would argue that the announcement trumpeted yesterday afternoon is
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  Speaker 2: an example of an own goal. The government is planning
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  Speaker 2: to ban merchants from adding surcharges to instore card payments,
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  Speaker 2: a change they say that will save shoppers from the
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  Speaker 2: unwelcome surprise they get at the till go the government
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  Speaker 2: for protecting the consumer. Well, no, hang on a minute.
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  Speaker 2: My first thought was, well, surely the retailers will simply
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  Speaker 2: pass on the cost that they have to pay to
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  Speaker 2: the banks for the privilege of having debit cards, contactless
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  Speaker 2: payments and credit cards. The bank charges them, because the
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  Speaker 2: credit card companies charge them. The banks certainly aren't going
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  Speaker 2: to absorb it. The retailers say, well, if you want
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  Speaker 2: the privilege of contactless payment, if you want the convenience
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  Speaker 2: of that, then you can pay the charge. But now
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  Speaker 2: they're going to have to absorb it. My second thought was,
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  Speaker 2: now I'm going to be paying more. I don't tap
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  Speaker 2: and go. I very seldom tap and go. I've got
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  Speaker 2: a business account and a personal account, and when I
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  Speaker 2: pay for something, I'll insert my cards, select the account.
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  Speaker 2: Does the payment need to come from business or personal?
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  Speaker 2: And pay that way supposed to make things easier for
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  Speaker 2: the accountant, and that I avoid the surcharge. But that's
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  Speaker 2: not the main reason. I just that's the way I
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  Speaker 2: do it. So when the retailers pass on the cost
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  Speaker 2: of the surcharge, anyone else who inserts and pins or
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  Speaker 2: swipes and pins will be paying too. Had the duplicyl
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  Speaker 2: and covered off most of my objections. When I was
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  Speaker 2: listening to her interview with Scott Simpson that she had
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  Speaker 2: last night on the Drive Show, I'm like, yeah, what
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  Speaker 2: she was saying, how can this possibly be trumpeted as
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  Speaker 2: a boon to consumers when all that happens is the
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  Speaker 2: price of goods will go up to cover the surcharge.
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  Speaker 2: Why not go after the credit card companies and the banks.
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  Speaker 2: I could certainly understand charging a surcharge in the olden days,
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  Speaker 2: when we had the dupe credit card machines. You know,
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  Speaker 2: I don't know how else you described them, lining the
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  Speaker 2: triplicate form up on the Wii heavy unbalanced credit card
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  Speaker 2: swipe machine that you put on your desk, and you'd
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  Speaker 2: line up the paper and you'd ensure that your doot
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  Speaker 2: doot was smooth and clean, so the details didn't come
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  Speaker 2: up with mudgie. There would doubtedly have been a cost
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  Speaker 2: involved in processing all that paper, But now come on,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, sure there are costs in terms of fraud protection,
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  Speaker 2: and there'd be other costs involved. And that's the protection
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  Speaker 2: you get with a credit card. So if you want
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  Speaker 2: to use your credit card and have that added protection,
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  Speaker 2: then you pay the surcharge. I don't see why the
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  Speaker 2: retailer should pay it, and I don't see why I
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  Speaker 2: should pay it when I'm not using that facility. Why
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  Speaker 2: didn't the government go after the ticketmasters and the year
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  Speaker 2: in New Zealand's and the hotels of this world that
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  Speaker 2: charge processing fees and service fees. And you've looked at
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  Speaker 2: our website, so now we're going to charge you fees.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, there's them to charge from the time you
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  Speaker 2: start looking on the websites. Come on, Coalition Government did
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  Speaker 2: not cover themselves in glory yesterday with this announcement. And
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  Speaker 2: then there was the announcement of the announcement from Brook
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  Speaker 2: van Walden around scaffolding safety requirements. That was another unwelcome
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  Speaker 2: reminder of Labour's modus operandidote. No, she was a day
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  Speaker 2: to forget for the government yesterday.
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