Public Holiday Surcharge? Is It Legal?

Lpg13 on 12/03/2015 - 12:37

Dear Ozbargainers

I was just wondering, I was in Melbourne over their labour day weekend, and realised that all the 3 restaurants that I went to did not have any kind of surcharge.

In Brisbane I called up a restaurant to book on Easter Sunday, and I asked if there was a surcharge, and they said 'Yes of course 10%'.
Technically speaking Easter Sunday isn't even a holiday because it is Sunday anyway.
But yea most restaurants in Brisbane have public holiday surcharges and I was wondering what are the rules and regulations? I heard that it is actually illegal to have surcharge.

Please give me your thoughts.

(Also hate them minimum eftpos and credit card fees!! Ugh!)

Thanks guys.

General Discussion

Comments

        • pg13 on 13/03/2015 - 13:55
          -2

          @baghern Yea, I do agree with that comment. 2 times and 2.5times pay is ridiculous. As JB1 said, at this time, they should be happy to have a job and get paid. Public holiday or not, a day is still a day. and yes closed businesses definitely not good for the economy. very good points there~

        • 2842 on 13/03/2015 - 14:02
          +1

          @vcmelo15:

          Restaurant/Retail workers aren't going to work on a public holiday at normal rate.

        • Baghern on 13/03/2015 - 14:07

          @2842:

          Need to book mark this section, in case vcmelo15 comes back in a couple years having find himself working in the service industry

        • pg13 on 13/03/2015 - 14:44

          Well not normal rate, but maybe even 1.5?

        • 2842 on 13/03/2015 - 18:42
          +1

          @vcmelo15:

          Would you work your job on Christmas morning for a 50% increase in you wage for a day?

  • kolorijo on 13/03/2015 - 10:54

    Vote with your money :)

  • Ace26 on 13/03/2015 - 13:20

    My experience on trip to great ocean drive on a boxing day was an eye opener.

    There was nothing open that offered food in this route (after we left Melbourne), we felt we were lucky to find a Chinese eatery/restaurant but to our shocking there were new menu's where prices were double their normal rates (I know this as I came across their regular menu)

    When I asked the owner why everything was double price, she said she is offering double wages on the day, only person other than her working was her husband in the kitchen. What a joke.

    My take on surcharge is that its totally acceptable when owner is paying penalty rates to their employees for a public holiday. I would say 10-15% is an acceptable extra on their regular prices. Not more.

    • Baghern on 13/03/2015 - 13:45

      hehe demand and supply… sellers market

    • pg13 on 13/03/2015 - 13:56

      rip off haha

  • eurofoti on 13/03/2015 - 14:35

    This reminds me of what happened to me on Labour Day. I turned up to Cafe 115 in Mornington, VIC and when I handed my Entertainment voucher, they said, "Sorry we don't accept this on public holidays." I told them that The Entertainment book lists the holidays where restaurant vouchers aren't accepted (e.g. Christmas Day, Mothers Day, etc) but it said nothing about Labour Day. The lady went to the back to "ask the manager", but came back with the same response. I didn't go ahead with the order (luckily I showed them the voucher while ordering), left the place, and went through the Entertainment Book. I called up Raw Sugar, also in Mornington, and was told the same thing ("We don't accept vouchers on public holidays"). I called a Thai restaurant in Dromana and they said they happily accept vouchers on Labour Day. So I was wondering, can restaurants do this? Can they impose more rules not listed in the Entertainment Book? Or should I highlight their antics to the Entertainment people?

    • momov3 on 13/03/2015 - 17:28

      Yes they can as they make the rules, it's a private business. Also, as its a festive occasion, they don't want their restaurant to run out of tables and overcrowd because of the voucher customers. They want paying customers who also get surcharged so they can make money out of the occasion. Try visiting on a quiet week night and see if they don't treat you like VIPs!

    • ronnknee on 13/03/2015 - 19:02

      Something similar happened to me at Torque (NSW) on Parramatta Road earlier last year. The voucher was 25% off the final bill. The restaurant had an additional condition that each person has to order a main. My girlfriend and I ordered a platter and upgraded it to share, and that didn't count. I took it to Entertainment Book and they sided with me. However, the best they could do was offer me a gift voucher for another restaurant. The dodgy restaurant was not listed again in the 2014-2015 edition.

  • Gifwonder on 13/03/2015 - 14:49

    its a free market :P

  • aymoski on 13/03/2015 - 19:44

    You guys complaining realise there is a perfectly good reason for holiday surcharges right? To open up, a business has to pay its staff holiday pay, its not just because they feel like charging you an extra 15% as a "stuff you tax".

    • Baghern on 13/03/2015 - 21:33

      if you actually read back, there's only a few people who don't get it… they know the reason they just can't comprehend it

  • jubified on 14/03/2015 - 01:18

    You can take your holiday on easter or christmas while some people work during those days to serve you. To compensate they get paid higher wages, usually 1.5x or 2x. On the other hand businesses need to make up that gap so they charge a surchage.

    If you dont like the surcharge then cook your own meal lol.

    • moogi27 on 14/03/2015 - 22:30

      Exactly :P OP just won't accept any logical reasoning and doesn't want to eat at home ..

  • reece86 on 28/12/2015 - 16:18

    dominos charging a surcharge and not even passing it on to employees, where is the ACCC?

    • Baysew on 29/12/2015 - 13:51

      23 Marcus Clarke Street Canberra ACT 2601.

  • BrianB3473 on 01/01/2016 - 22:46

    Although the "double time and a half" outcry on a public holiday does sound daunting, in reality it only adds about 0.4% to the total wage bill over a 12 month period.

    You don't get asked to pay a surcharge at McDonalds or Coles, or on a bus or airline, or lots of other places/activities that operate on PHs because they amortise these extra costs over a 12 month period and factor them into their their product profit margins. Wages are only part of the operating costs which are there whether the shop is open or closed, so the effect of wage loadings is maybe only 0.2 to 0.3%.

    Surcharging 10% or 15% to cover an 0.4% cost increase seems like a rip-off to me. Many places will do considerably more business on a PH than a normal weekday, giving them a better yield per seat to offset any "loss" from the loadings.

    It is not hard for a business owner to work out the average hourly cost per employee over a 12 month period to include the loadings, and price the product accordingly at a consistent level throughout the year. There might be a lower daily nett cash flow for a particular day, but it is covered by the other 364 days of the year.

    • Thatguy35 on 23/03/2016 - 21:31

      If you were to actually pass on all the costs of making a latte including the average mark up for retail products the latte would $5.50-6, minimum all year round. One way of keeping the cost of said product at a price point that the average customer will pay is to avoid public holidays or to increase the cost of said latte on public holidays. Another method widely used is to pay cash in hand. Cash in hand businesses do not pay tax correctly, generally under pay staff and operate at a profit level that honest hospitality businesses cannot.

      Given that the aim of this entire website seems to be not paying for things, or paying less than full price, I find it hard to believe, that any of the people complaining about paying more on a public holiday, would prefer to just pay more all the time.

      • BrianB3473 on 24/04/2016 - 12:34

        How do you work that out? Adding 0.4% to the cost of a $3.50 cup of coffee does not come out to $5.50. Every other business can handle holiday surcharges in their pricing, why can't a restaurant?

        And what next? Restaurants have higher cash flows on the days their rent, or insurance, or electricity bills, etc are due. Should they be entitled to charge a surcharge on these days too?

  • Geekomatic on 07/03/2016 - 22:28

    Reviving this because today is Labor Day, WA & I'm miffed at this, too. Especially coming on the heels of my "Dominos-ever-shrinking-pizzas" post!

    My idea— just round up the stupid *.95 at the end of every price to an even dollar & be done with it.

    After that, dumping the five cent piece is ready to go!

    ;)

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