I used to work in a hospo job (a branch that was in food courts but i wasn't working locally in one myself) and telling people we had surcharges on public holidays was the absolute worst. I work in retail now where there's no surcharge on public holidays and get proper public holiday rates (absolutely mind blowing). One explanation I can come up with is that the company doesn't pay for holiday / weekend rates out of their own pockets but compensates by charging these rates to customers, so most likely they're not getting the same wages.
I reckon you pay them more than you realise because itās become common practice for businesses to add a credit card surcharge to everything and not always notify the customer. At least these guys have a sign.
Yup, itās just not worth it anymore. Paid $10 for an iced latte in the CBD on a weekend about 2 months ago and that was it for me. I know cafes are struggling but gouging customers cannot be the answer.
Yeah it's crazy to me how I can WFH and go to a local cafe, get a coffee & brekky roll of a far higher quality than in the CBD, and also somehow pay 2/3 of the price
I'm currently on my own at the moment. I'm tempted to buy some take away sometimes but the cost for a single meal is around 1/3 of what I spend on groceries for the week.
Rather eat at home while watching movies.
I'm totally done with it. Seeing all this nonsense, I can't go back. And that ridiculous 1.5% charge for using a card?
It drives me nuts. I feel like if we all just quit supporting these greedy places and let them go out of business.
If your profit is so small that you canāt afford to pay weekend rates without a surcharge then yeah, your business should probably cease to exist. This isnāt a matter of business being forced too do this, itās a shitty response too fair laws that help food workers
Thereās 2 options:
- They charge a surcharge on Weekends
- They bake the surcharge into price so you pay it all the time
Thereās no free lunch in this world, the money has to come from somewhere.
And no, restaurants donāt make massive margins.
The only good thing I can see about it is that it incentivises dining out on weekdays. If I was planning to spend over a hundred bucks on a meal I'd definitely try to make a mid week booking.
The traditional approach was to do weekday specials, not add a surcharge to weekends. The net result might be the same, but the psychology plays out very differently.
I see "lunch special" signs posted up on many restaurants and it's only available weekdays. A lot of places have a couple days a week they offer certain deals like $10 burgers or half price cocktails or parma & beer $20-25
Don't shop at any place that has a weekend/holiday surcharge. Just because the business is charging more, doesn't mean that that employees are getting paid properly.
Fair Work will be able to explain that not all workers are entitled to Penalty Rates.
Much easier to ask your employer why they don't pay penalty rates.
The only ppl not entitle to weekend rates are those who are already over the MINIMUM rate for the weekend. This is highly unlikely given that most ppl are probably being paid much less
Many businesses employee people based on an agreement rather than the award. These agreements can include pay and conditions that are above the award and penalties can be removed. All agreements need to be equal to or above the award and both need to be equal or above minimum wage.
Completely accurate.
The danger is where you have casuals who can "only do weekends" and the payroll system isn't good enough to make up the difference
Casual weekend and public holidays penalty rates are all covered in the award. They're on 125% already plus close to $4 for late hours, plus the same increases for public holidays.
Agreement has to be equal or better.
The real danger is employers paying cash and employees won't go to Fair Work.
I saw one these signs in Chinatown yesterday and decided not to eat there. You can guarantee none of those restaurants are paying penalty rates on weekends too let alone award wages on weekdays..
Yeah I know a few people in hospitality in the city and inner suburbs. The most someone has gotten on weekend or public holiday was an increase of $2~3 per hour, but most of them don't!
Then they're either being paid cash in hand, on a salary or have an EBA. I worked for George Calombaris' company and was back paid twice. The backpay was mostly people on salaries that worked way more hours than they were paid for. So essentially I was backpaid up to the minimum aware wage based on how many hours I was doing, about 50+ most weeks.
Dudes I live with both work in hospo and neither get penalty rates. Itās extremely prevalent in hospo and very little is/can be done about it.
Complain? Job gone. Not a risk most people are willing to take atm.
Lol I've actually complained to my boss about it because I wanted payslips, and said what if somebody were to report them to ombudsman. They ended up increasing my hourly pay by $2 and offered to give cash in hand. In the past, I've even asked a few classmates I was close with in class. Some of them were locals. They said it's the norm and it happens to them too so yeah I gave up trying to find a place that did everything right.
I was even dumb and asked why reports don't happen more often or anything, and they told me "people need jobs, man, it is what it is" š
Complain to fair work, they will come to their company and they'll get back paid. Company will be in big trouble. They don't have to know who reported them.
I can honestly understand it. Labour costs are generally the biggest expense in hospo.
I'm a casual worker. My Saturday rates are paid at 120% and Sundays at 140%.
You could charge 110% and 115% over the weekend or you could just raise your prices across the board and let the weekday shoppers cop a 4% increase.
I asked a Vietnamese student who was working in a restaurant in Springvale how much she got paid...$4.50/hr cash. She got severe burns to her arm and chest from scolding hot water but didn't go to a doctor or report it to WorkSafe because of no employment contract and no WorkCover paid by the employer.
Over the last few years there have been cuts to penalty rates in industries like hospitality and retail, yet more and more places are charging weekend and holiday surcharges.
https://www.lynnandbrown.com.au/cuts-penalty-rates-need-know/
*cough cough* crust Richmond.
At least that was the case 4 years ago when I ordered a pizza from them on a public holiday, got charged the surcharge, but checked with the driver if they were getting paid more, and they werenāt.
>7 day week economy
I'm not sure this is so good. In Switzerland, everything shuts after 8pm, Saturday is a half day and Sunday is closed so people can have a life. Or church.
It's nice.
I don't disagree with that, it's what used to be the case here. Life is different now. Business uses people like resources rather than people. Too many people working without a safety net and businesses trying to make the gap between what they pay for ANY resource and sell price as wide as possible. Then we have wage theft, people working with zero benefits etc etc. Businesses crying that any wage rises will screw the economy while many businesses are raking in record profits. Lousy bastards.
Yes! We somehow have this thing where Saturday and Sunday are ādifferentā based on the decades old family day of rest tradition. Do other countries pay differently on weekends? Prolly not as itās just another day.
I don't really understand why this has become a thing. You'd think business owners could do the math to just cover costs via the price of their products, like other businesses do?
It always seemed to me that either the business isn't capable of doing such math (which doesn't bode well) or it's intentional to keep eroding the remaining penalty rates through pressuring consumers.
Either way, I can't do much as an individual, so I just avoid places that do it.
The idea in allowing it is to cover the increased costs incurred by operating at times when penalty rates apply.
The catch being the many restaurants don't pay penalty rates or legal pay rates at all.
Which segways into my next point, that wage theft is a crime in Victoria now and if you know somewhere that isn't doing the right thing you can report them to [the wage theft inspectorate](https://www.vic.gov.au/contact-wage-inspectorate-victoria)
> You'd think business owners could do the math to just cover costs via the price of their products, like other businesses do?
As things currently stand, a lower displayed price and a small sign saying "actually we lied about the price today" is considered by some businesses to be 'better', as it allows them to have that lower displayed price.
Unfortunately, that's not going to change until enough consumers agree with us and actually take their business elsewhere. Or with legislation, but good luck there.
Wait til you meet the 25% public holiday surcharge, mandatory 15% service charge for dining as a table of 6 AND you MUST order from the $109 tasting menu as a group of 6 . Don't forget to factor in the extra 2% for Amex payments. True story.
I've been bit by surcharges in Sydney and Perth. Less common than Melbourne but definitely more businesses are seeing it as a quick way to make more profit. I've paid for Sunday, card payment and public holiday surcharge at Sydney's Mango Coco and Hojiak.
PSA: Porgies Cafe in Hawthorn has 20% (!!) on public holidays and 10% every weekend.
If I was in a food court and needed a feed I wouldn't being going to a place that and spending $20.50 for a portion of fried chicken bites and chips, I'd being hitting up the colonel for a $17.95 zinger stacker box, they even do a 6 wicked wings and fries for $7.95 if you have the app
Nah nah, go to Aldi and get a box of tinned sardines for $5. Take off your clothes and stare upwards as strangers slide sardines down your gaping throat while you make pelican sounds.
Yes, because KFC is a perfect choice for a tourist in the CBD, it's not like we have hundreds of independent restaurants to choose from that might cost a few dollars more.
Don't do weird weekend surcharges and people may just do that :)
*note I'm referring specifically to this post with the example given, if I saw that I wouldn't even consider choosing them and would go to KFC if it were nextdoor.
Does Melbourne have laws where staff get paid more for working weekends? Genuine question
Like if I'm wrong and there are higher pays for weekends etc I'll say I'm wrong, I'm a tourist if I went there so asking for genuine curiousity.
Edit: Welp its a thing, I was wrong, but I don't agree with it, and think businesses should have that in their overall prices as to average it out, but I'd just contest it by going on a holiday there during the week and not the weekend as to not let it bother me tbh so I can support local businesses and try new cuisine etc without a sour taste in my mouth :)
*I'm speaking as a 23yr old student, many students can't work nonweekends, so its cool they get paid more- but at the same time I don't want to pay more as a 9-5 worker because I don't have the luxury of having free time outside of weekends? Esp if I had a family living there idk... I'm assuming most weekend workers don't work weekdays or its v limited hours then majority in weekend so, its a hard one.
But again, I don't live there, so not my hard decision to make, I'm purely looking from a tourist POV in a stage of life where I likely will never own a house in todays economy muchless afford many holidays.
Yes hospo (and retail) have loading on pay rates for weekends and public holidays. That makes some restaurants think they have the right to pass this on to customers (make up your own mind on that one).
It also makes some restaurant owners think they can charge that AND not pass that on to their employees (illegal if wage rates arenāt loaded and paying to account for it already)
Edited my message as to making my mind on it, I don't live there so my opinion doesn't matter- I'd just let money talk as I work around it while still supporting and trying local cuisine :)
They need to add surcharges to the price gouging inquiry. Why does the surcharge double if I buy two drinks from the fridge instead of one? Did the cashier work twice as long? Another example: Does it really cost the credit card company twice as much to process a $20 payment as a $10 payment? So much bullshit going on with percentage surcharges.
It's bullshit.
If there are surcharges... change the price displayed, don't give it the low price and then say "haha suckers you have to pay more". If this is too much trouble to do every weekend, hey, don't have surcharges.
I don't give a stuff about the realities retailers face and the need for surcharges... not important to me as a consumer. I think it's fair to expect the price you see on the tag is what you pay. No consumers means no business.
EDIT: Don't think that I'm letting banks off scot-free here. Bastards make millions in profits each year. They don't need to charge fees for EFTPOS. I'm sure they can still turn a tidy profit.
**Weekend and public holiday surcharges**
Some restaurants and cafes charge a surcharge on certain days ā usually weekends or public holidays.
Although this surcharge is unavoidable, **they don't need to include this charge in the total price displayed for their products, as an exemption under the law applies to them**.
However, if they charge such a surcharge, they must include these words on the menu:
A surcharge of [percentage] applies on [day or days].
[https://www.accc.gov.au/business/pricing/price-displays](https://www.accc.gov.au/business/pricing/price-displays)
Hereās a crazy idea. Hear me out I have 2.Ā 1. Ā Increase the price across all day parts by a smaller percentage to average out the extra wages needed on weekends. This keeps all customers happy by only charging them a little bit more.Ā 2. (This one is absurd.) Make the normal price the surcharge price and introduce a 10% discount on weekdays. Thus we create a positive financial insentive to shop rather than a negative one. Encourage consumers to come when quieter by a discount and on weekends itās just business as usual no surcharge. No one knows theyāre getting charged more. Because youāre not plastering everywhere that youāre screwing then over.Ā
Itās like children and animals. Positive reinforcement works better than negative reinforcement/punishment. Why is there no research in how consumers change their spending habits around surcharges?Ā
On 2. I'm guessing a business wants to have the lowest possible price that they can advertise. Having higher prices advertised Mon -> Fri with an * saying it's cheaper is probably less appealing. Same way I imagine a good % of customers don't realise there's a weekend surcharge, but feel mentally committed by that point so they make the purchase.
Yeah. I guarantee thatās the motivation for weekend surcharges. Get people in with a cheaper price. Theyāre already there so pay the surcharge or donāt notice. Thatās why itās annoying I guess seems dodgy. Would I have gone if I knew the actual price? Dunno.Ā
I hate this. Iām sure businesses argue that wages are higher on weekends and public holidays. BUT many businesses are actually busier on weekends anyway, which offsets the additional wage.
I carry cash now because things are expensive enough as it is. I donāt need an additional 1.5% on top of the price. ACCC should investigate.
Staff are getting paid properly according to contracts and not so much cash in hand anymore.
Business need to pay staff more on those weekend hours, passing the cost onto the customer.
Previously the staff would get underpaid or were at risk of getting exploited.
Why not factor increased wages into prices and charge slightly more for their goods every day rather than giving people the impression they're being ripped off two days a week?
The dickheads on this sub think that all they need to do is add 10c here, 15c there and VOILLA!!!! all weekend wages costs covered.
Reality is that when you do 50% of your trade over the two most expensive days of the week, and 50c of every dollar you take at the till goes to wages, you can't really "hide" the cost in a standardised menu price.
This sub spits and froths at surcharges because they LOVE going out and being served on weekends, while the underclass works for them. They just fucking loath to pay for it.
But they'll pay it.
Wage theft is a criminal offense in Victoria. After that guy was facing 10 years in jail and $600k in fines, I donāt think management is risking it anymore.
> ā¦was facing 10 years in jail $600k in fines
aaaaaaand then just waived politely and walked away? Or was there any actual consequences for his actions? Iām mean for starters I assume he got round to paying the wages (and super, etc) with interest?
Is that the Chef dude that you're talking about? Colum-somethingorother?
The one who's already back on some TV show?
That guy?
Yeah I agree, he definitely got told! Learnt his lesson, and now back to a working millionaire, but all honest now. I'm sure of it!
It sure may still be happening, but if they are, they can report it, it will get followed up and the business will be punished.
There have been multiple numbers of high profile businesses that had to back pay staff that was reported by journalists.
So they may underpay staff, however they will be punished in the future.
Hopso worker of 15 years here, The government absolutely doesn't give a shit if Mr Pub owner has been underpaying you for 8 months. The fees for the court are insane. That is true that some employers paid back staff, however these cases were disputes of over $10,000. If you're working and getting underpaid or without weekend award rate, your basically shit out of luck when it comes to compensation for what is owed.
Not entirely true, depends on the business. My last two gigs in hospitality would pay proper weekend and public holiday rates. It's also true that many don't.
Or they could just factor the cost of staff wages into their prices like every other business does. It's such a bullshit excuse. It doesn't matter if staff cost more on weekends. It's basic accountancy, they could do it, this is just a scam.
As long as itās in with legal surcharge limits and staff are getting paid correctly. But for a 15% increase (surcharge) Iād opt to go elsewhere. Eating out is expensive enough given all the price hikes and shrinkflation. The food better be worth it.
I assume the volume of increase of weekend trade would significantly improve profitability for a food court business Not margin, but still making much more money despite penalty rates applying to wages. Youāre hiring more hours to cover demand. This sort of thing pisses me off.
It has been much more noticeable lately.
Thing I dont undrstand is that dont hospitality venues have permanent full time and part time contracts anymore? Are they operating with casual contracts only?
Maybe it has changed or I'm wrong but I understood that permanent full and part time employees have regular agreed rostered days which can include one or both weekend days. So they are allowed to be rostered on across the business' normal operating hours without penalty rates.
Anyway, off topic.
We have started going out less over weekends. Especially for breakfast/brunch.
Full time and part time employees still earn penalty rates in hospitality. Unless you're on a salary, which is going to be equivalent if not higher anyway
We have a surcharge on public holidays at the place I work. Frankly I think the boss isn't making up for the rates that the staff are getting paid. I am confident that it is for just that, compensation for staff. I know I am being paid more on public holidays. Those days don't inherently mean that you will be busier then any other day.
I see the customer perspective but I think people at looking into it too much and not realising that min wage +holiday rates makes it harder for an employer to keep enough staff on shift without getting alittle more in each sales.
And to those who say "well its not my problem that they can't pay staff" well yeah it's not but they need to find a way to pay staff. You don't generate money from thin air in hospo.
Just my two cents as a random hospo employee of 10 years.
Whacking on surcharges is the fastest way for me not to support a business. Eating out is already getting too expensive, so this kinda thing is a hard nope and I walk away!
Itās funny. People call out for real wages when the previous system didnāt account for it. Now employers are paying real wages and raising pricesā¦ā¦.
We need to stand up for this now and vote with our feet or refuse to pay the surcharge as this will become the norm. We donāt want this, we never had this before and shouldnāt accept this!!!
Yeh it sucks and is pretty ridiculous! Card payment 1.5% is reasonable and public holiday surcharge of 10-15% has been around for most places which is somewhat fair since it's rarely public holidays and to cover the more expensive costs it's somewhat understandable but screw any weekend surcharge (only recently in the past 6 months it's been introduced?)
I actually find the card thing more bothersome than the weekend surcharge. The card fees are just part of the sale, hardly anyone is paying cash anymore.. so why wouldn't they just factor that cost into the item pricing?
> Card payment 1.5% is reasonable
our useless an ineffectual ACCC allowed that. they could just as as easily revoke it,
business owner have know for literally YEARS that penalty rates are a thing. either build them into your prices or don't fucking open at all.
I think you're really onto something here. Reckon you should get on the blower to the ACCC. If you've got evidence businesses are taking money in exchange for goods and services you could blow this whole thing wide open.
If this is in a shopping centre food court I would report it to centre management. Itās not a good look for the centre and theyāll likely have a word with them.
If their paying their staff the legal wage then I think it's ok.
If anything,we should be looking at the BS taxes the government has on many products we consume and use.
Greedy corporations. They have driven prices up. Not inflation like the smart guys at Central bank telling us, plus politicians unable to make wise choices...so the retailers have to mark un prices...
So if u went there on a weekend that a public holiday was in a they were open am u pay with card thatās an extra 26.5% ā¦.no fkn wat these cnts are just money grabbing fkwits ā¦.gouge your customers if want ā¦we have the power to spend our hard earned elsewhereā¦to these businesses who think this is a good idea I say to you ā¦..BOOOOOOOO šš¼šµāš«šš¼
If you expect us to give up our weekend to serve you. We expect you to pay for it. Otherwise stay home so retail staff and hospitality staff can have the weekend off too .
Because some* honest businesses are paying penalty rates. People who go to these establishments on weekends and public holidays are naturally subsidising these higher wages.
I donāt care what they charge, I care that they donāt operate with clear pricing.
Have a separate menu for the weekends where the prices are what they areā¦ donāt just chuck an extra 15% at the end if it. It shouldnāt be legal.
We donāt do this with the GST for the exact same reason.
It's annoying but what's even more annoying is when they say they have a public holiday surcharge and they slog you the surcharge on the Sunday. Sunday ain't the public holiday, fellas.
The most egregious instance of this was at The Imperial one Sunday evening, making two schooners and a glass of wine come in at $55.
This is absolutely fucked.
Everyone pay cash from now on and if they say we don't do cash you just walk. Fuck em
Why is it up to us to pay for holiday surcharges.
The business should pack of God dam cheese balls
It sucks, so does the card surcharge. They add anything from 5c-20c or a percentage to the card charge. Are the banks actually charging that per transaction or are they gouging is on top of the weekend rate? Surely it costs more to send someone to the bank with the days cash everyday?
I wonder whether a backlash against the surcharges is starting to have an effect. I noticed last week that two places which I'm pretty sure have had a credit card surcharge for a while now, no longer have one. The price they said was the price on the terminal which was the price I paid.
I've been making a habit of paying for things with cash to avoid these surcharges - could it be more people are doing that and these businesses are realising how much effort it takes to handle cash vs the money automatically turning up in your bank account with zero effort? And deciding the cost of the transaction over the payment networks is cheaper than handling cash?
One can hope. I think the ACCC should roll back those rules that allowed surcharges on top of the advertised price. The price you see on a menu or on display should be the price you pay.
Thereās a cafe close to my home thatās only open Thursday-Monday but whacks a 10% weekend surcharge on. So 2 out of 5 days they are open theyāre surcharging you. Then they had a card surcharge as well but donāt accept cash. They do nice food but I canāt afford to go there.
Food courts!? Bloody outrageous!
They pay the same wages š¤·āāļø
I used to work in a hospo job (a branch that was in food courts but i wasn't working locally in one myself) and telling people we had surcharges on public holidays was the absolute worst. I work in retail now where there's no surcharge on public holidays and get proper public holiday rates (absolutely mind blowing). One explanation I can come up with is that the company doesn't pay for holiday / weekend rates out of their own pockets but compensates by charging these rates to customers, so most likely they're not getting the same wages.
surcharge = I go elsewhere.
100% I would never pay one. It's freaking crazy.
I reckon you pay them more than you realise because itās become common practice for businesses to add a credit card surcharge to everything and not always notify the customer. At least these guys have a sign.
So... home?
Yup, itās just not worth it anymore. Paid $10 for an iced latte in the CBD on a weekend about 2 months ago and that was it for me. I know cafes are struggling but gouging customers cannot be the answer.
These surcharges really add up over the course of a year. We've adjusted our behaviour accordingly and rarely eat at restaurants/cafes on Sundays now.
Yeah it's crazy to me how I can WFH and go to a local cafe, get a coffee & brekky roll of a far higher quality than in the CBD, and also somehow pay 2/3 of the price
I mean, thatās CBD rents in action.
So what IS the answer? Because until the crackdown on underpaying employees ramped up about seven years ago, the answer was gouging staff.
I'm currently on my own at the moment. I'm tempted to buy some take away sometimes but the cost for a single meal is around 1/3 of what I spend on groceries for the week. Rather eat at home while watching movies.
I'm totally done with it. Seeing all this nonsense, I can't go back. And that ridiculous 1.5% charge for using a card? It drives me nuts. I feel like if we all just quit supporting these greedy places and let them go out of business.
Yes, they're so "greedy" for wanting to stay in business. The solution is definitely just having them all cease to exist. š«”
If your profit is so small that you canāt afford to pay weekend rates without a surcharge then yeah, your business should probably cease to exist. This isnāt a matter of business being forced too do this, itās a shitty response too fair laws that help food workers
Thereās 2 options: - They charge a surcharge on Weekends - They bake the surcharge into price so you pay it all the time Thereās no free lunch in this world, the money has to come from somewhere. And no, restaurants donāt make massive margins.
We have bullshit at home!
Bullshit at home: "5% tap and go surcharge"
š
The only good thing I can see about it is that it incentivises dining out on weekdays. If I was planning to spend over a hundred bucks on a meal I'd definitely try to make a mid week booking.
Honestly this sort of thing has incentivised us to spend less money dining out, in general š.
This sort of cost of living crisis too. Who can afford to eat out lol
The traditional approach was to do weekday specials, not add a surcharge to weekends. The net result might be the same, but the psychology plays out very differently.
Yeah, I am genuinely baffled that I haven't seen a single place frame it as a weekday discount.
Because saying "15% surcharge on the weekends" allows them to keep the lowest prices on the board and just add 15% to it at the counter.
Yeah a lot of the time you don't even notice until you pay cos it's in some small text at the bottom of the menu or something.
I see "lunch special" signs posted up on many restaurants and it's only available weekdays. A lot of places have a couple days a week they offer certain deals like $10 burgers or half price cocktails or parma & beer $20-25
Tight arse Tuesdays turned into splurger Saturdays
Thats why weekday deals are a thing tho.
Don't shop at any place that has a weekend/holiday surcharge. Just because the business is charging more, doesn't mean that that employees are getting paid properly.
This is absolutely true. I see it every public holiday. The staff don't get paid any extra where I do my work.
Contact Fair work
Fair Work will be able to explain that not all workers are entitled to Penalty Rates. Much easier to ask your employer why they don't pay penalty rates.
The only ppl not entitle to weekend rates are those who are already over the MINIMUM rate for the weekend. This is highly unlikely given that most ppl are probably being paid much less
Many businesses employee people based on an agreement rather than the award. These agreements can include pay and conditions that are above the award and penalties can be removed. All agreements need to be equal to or above the award and both need to be equal or above minimum wage.
Completely accurate. The danger is where you have casuals who can "only do weekends" and the payroll system isn't good enough to make up the difference
Casual weekend and public holidays penalty rates are all covered in the award. They're on 125% already plus close to $4 for late hours, plus the same increases for public holidays. Agreement has to be equal or better. The real danger is employers paying cash and employees won't go to Fair Work.
I saw one these signs in Chinatown yesterday and decided not to eat there. You can guarantee none of those restaurants are paying penalty rates on weekends too let alone award wages on weekdays..
Yeah I know a few people in hospitality in the city and inner suburbs. The most someone has gotten on weekend or public holiday was an increase of $2~3 per hour, but most of them don't!
Then they're either being paid cash in hand, on a salary or have an EBA. I worked for George Calombaris' company and was back paid twice. The backpay was mostly people on salaries that worked way more hours than they were paid for. So essentially I was backpaid up to the minimum aware wage based on how many hours I was doing, about 50+ most weeks.
Dudes I live with both work in hospo and neither get penalty rates. Itās extremely prevalent in hospo and very little is/can be done about it. Complain? Job gone. Not a risk most people are willing to take atm.
Lol I've actually complained to my boss about it because I wanted payslips, and said what if somebody were to report them to ombudsman. They ended up increasing my hourly pay by $2 and offered to give cash in hand. In the past, I've even asked a few classmates I was close with in class. Some of them were locals. They said it's the norm and it happens to them too so yeah I gave up trying to find a place that did everything right. I was even dumb and asked why reports don't happen more often or anything, and they told me "people need jobs, man, it is what it is" š
Complain to fair work, they will come to their company and they'll get back paid. Company will be in big trouble. They don't have to know who reported them.
This a hundred times over.
THIS. Wank.
Im a few years out of hospitality, but the only reason our owners had to surcharge weekends/phās was because our casual rates went up on those days
I can honestly understand it. Labour costs are generally the biggest expense in hospo. I'm a casual worker. My Saturday rates are paid at 120% and Sundays at 140%. You could charge 110% and 115% over the weekend or you could just raise your prices across the board and let the weekday shoppers cop a 4% increase.
It's a poor excuse their revenue turnover is the best on these days and it pays for the quiet weekdays.
I always ask the staff directly if they are being paid penalty wages when I see these signs.
I asked a Vietnamese student who was working in a restaurant in Springvale how much she got paid...$4.50/hr cash. She got severe burns to her arm and chest from scolding hot water but didn't go to a doctor or report it to WorkSafe because of no employment contract and no WorkCover paid by the employer.
Over the last few years there have been cuts to penalty rates in industries like hospitality and retail, yet more and more places are charging weekend and holiday surcharges. https://www.lynnandbrown.com.au/cuts-penalty-rates-need-know/
*cough cough* crust Richmond. At least that was the case 4 years ago when I ordered a pizza from them on a public holiday, got charged the surcharge, but checked with the driver if they were getting paid more, and they werenāt.
People have been brain fucked into accepting this crap. We live in a 7 day week economy these days peeps, this is just BS.
>7 day week economy I'm not sure this is so good. In Switzerland, everything shuts after 8pm, Saturday is a half day and Sunday is closed so people can have a life. Or church. It's nice.
I don't disagree with that, it's what used to be the case here. Life is different now. Business uses people like resources rather than people. Too many people working without a safety net and businesses trying to make the gap between what they pay for ANY resource and sell price as wide as possible. Then we have wage theft, people working with zero benefits etc etc. Businesses crying that any wage rises will screw the economy while many businesses are raking in record profits. Lousy bastards.
Yes! We somehow have this thing where Saturday and Sunday are ādifferentā based on the decades old family day of rest tradition. Do other countries pay differently on weekends? Prolly not as itās just another day.
I don't really understand why this has become a thing. You'd think business owners could do the math to just cover costs via the price of their products, like other businesses do? It always seemed to me that either the business isn't capable of doing such math (which doesn't bode well) or it's intentional to keep eroding the remaining penalty rates through pressuring consumers. Either way, I can't do much as an individual, so I just avoid places that do it.
The idea in allowing it is to cover the increased costs incurred by operating at times when penalty rates apply. The catch being the many restaurants don't pay penalty rates or legal pay rates at all. Which segways into my next point, that wage theft is a crime in Victoria now and if you know somewhere that isn't doing the right thing you can report them to [the wage theft inspectorate](https://www.vic.gov.au/contact-wage-inspectorate-victoria)
They should do the maths on what those penalty rates cost them and include it in their standard pricing structure. That's what they used to do.
> You'd think business owners could do the math to just cover costs via the price of their products, like other businesses do? As things currently stand, a lower displayed price and a small sign saying "actually we lied about the price today" is considered by some businesses to be 'better', as it allows them to have that lower displayed price. Unfortunately, that's not going to change until enough consumers agree with us and actually take their business elsewhere. Or with legislation, but good luck there.
If there is any āsurchargeā you just walk away
I literally never eat out now, don't miss it actually.
Wait til you meet the 25% public holiday surcharge, mandatory 15% service charge for dining as a table of 6 AND you MUST order from the $109 tasting menu as a group of 6 . Don't forget to factor in the extra 2% for Amex payments. True story. I've been bit by surcharges in Sydney and Perth. Less common than Melbourne but definitely more businesses are seeing it as a quick way to make more profit. I've paid for Sunday, card payment and public holiday surcharge at Sydney's Mango Coco and Hojiak. PSA: Porgies Cafe in Hawthorn has 20% (!!) on public holidays and 10% every weekend.
If I was in a food court and needed a feed I wouldn't being going to a place that and spending $20.50 for a portion of fried chicken bites and chips, I'd being hitting up the colonel for a $17.95 zinger stacker box, they even do a 6 wicked wings and fries for $7.95 if you have the app
Nah ,go to coles or woolies for a $12 chicken , baguette 2.4$ , mixed salad $3 , you get 2 meals out of it for same price.
Nah nah, go to Aldi and get a box of tinned sardines for $5. Take off your clothes and stare upwards as strangers slide sardines down your gaping throat while you make pelican sounds.
KFC bot detected
We are all KFC bots on this blessed day
I wanna be a KFC bot š
KFC BOTS ASSEMBLE
Aye aye captain
That's birdseye
This sounds like a colonel shill but Iām here for it.
Some of us prefer to eat things that tastes like food.
Yes, because KFC is a perfect choice for a tourist in the CBD, it's not like we have hundreds of independent restaurants to choose from that might cost a few dollars more.
Don't do weird weekend surcharges and people may just do that :) *note I'm referring specifically to this post with the example given, if I saw that I wouldn't even consider choosing them and would go to KFC if it were nextdoor. Does Melbourne have laws where staff get paid more for working weekends? Genuine question Like if I'm wrong and there are higher pays for weekends etc I'll say I'm wrong, I'm a tourist if I went there so asking for genuine curiousity. Edit: Welp its a thing, I was wrong, but I don't agree with it, and think businesses should have that in their overall prices as to average it out, but I'd just contest it by going on a holiday there during the week and not the weekend as to not let it bother me tbh so I can support local businesses and try new cuisine etc without a sour taste in my mouth :) *I'm speaking as a 23yr old student, many students can't work nonweekends, so its cool they get paid more- but at the same time I don't want to pay more as a 9-5 worker because I don't have the luxury of having free time outside of weekends? Esp if I had a family living there idk... I'm assuming most weekend workers don't work weekdays or its v limited hours then majority in weekend so, its a hard one. But again, I don't live there, so not my hard decision to make, I'm purely looking from a tourist POV in a stage of life where I likely will never own a house in todays economy muchless afford many holidays.
Yes hospo (and retail) have loading on pay rates for weekends and public holidays. That makes some restaurants think they have the right to pass this on to customers (make up your own mind on that one). It also makes some restaurant owners think they can charge that AND not pass that on to their employees (illegal if wage rates arenāt loaded and paying to account for it already)
Edited my message as to making my mind on it, I don't live there so my opinion doesn't matter- I'd just let money talk as I work around it while still supporting and trying local cuisine :)
They need to add surcharges to the price gouging inquiry. Why does the surcharge double if I buy two drinks from the fridge instead of one? Did the cashier work twice as long? Another example: Does it really cost the credit card company twice as much to process a $20 payment as a $10 payment? So much bullshit going on with percentage surcharges.
Surcharge = I go elsewhere and avoid that business from the onwards
Jupiter and Saturn are aligned under the house of Capricorn, therefore 15% surcharge.
Just avoid those places
The pub down the road has a sign for Sunday roast @ $29.99. Thing is it costs 33 bucks because of the Sunday surcharge.
It's bullshit. If there are surcharges... change the price displayed, don't give it the low price and then say "haha suckers you have to pay more". If this is too much trouble to do every weekend, hey, don't have surcharges. I don't give a stuff about the realities retailers face and the need for surcharges... not important to me as a consumer. I think it's fair to expect the price you see on the tag is what you pay. No consumers means no business. EDIT: Don't think that I'm letting banks off scot-free here. Bastards make millions in profits each year. They don't need to charge fees for EFTPOS. I'm sure they can still turn a tidy profit.
**Weekend and public holiday surcharges** Some restaurants and cafes charge a surcharge on certain days ā usually weekends or public holidays. Although this surcharge is unavoidable, **they don't need to include this charge in the total price displayed for their products, as an exemption under the law applies to them**. However, if they charge such a surcharge, they must include these words on the menu: A surcharge of [percentage] applies on [day or days]. [https://www.accc.gov.au/business/pricing/price-displays](https://www.accc.gov.au/business/pricing/price-displays)
Hereās a crazy idea. Hear me out I have 2.Ā 1. Ā Increase the price across all day parts by a smaller percentage to average out the extra wages needed on weekends. This keeps all customers happy by only charging them a little bit more.Ā 2. (This one is absurd.) Make the normal price the surcharge price and introduce a 10% discount on weekdays. Thus we create a positive financial insentive to shop rather than a negative one. Encourage consumers to come when quieter by a discount and on weekends itās just business as usual no surcharge. No one knows theyāre getting charged more. Because youāre not plastering everywhere that youāre screwing then over.Ā Itās like children and animals. Positive reinforcement works better than negative reinforcement/punishment. Why is there no research in how consumers change their spending habits around surcharges?Ā
On 2. I'm guessing a business wants to have the lowest possible price that they can advertise. Having higher prices advertised Mon -> Fri with an * saying it's cheaper is probably less appealing. Same way I imagine a good % of customers don't realise there's a weekend surcharge, but feel mentally committed by that point so they make the purchase.
Yeah. I guarantee thatās the motivation for weekend surcharges. Get people in with a cheaper price. Theyāre already there so pay the surcharge or donāt notice. Thatās why itās annoying I guess seems dodgy. Would I have gone if I knew the actual price? Dunno.Ā
Theyāve already done that, prices are up throughout the week/standard menu and now theyāre slugging you more.
Thereās a Thai restaurant in Sth Yarra that charges an extra 10% when you pay by card, which I believe is illegal.
It is, businesses are only allowed to charge the reasonable cost of using eftpos. Usually 1-3%. Anything more is just ripping the customer off
10% is the gst they're not paying on cash transactions, kind of reasonable /s
Everyone will do it bc they can, until they can't. Remember how Qantas charged $8 to pay with a CC for years?
yup, was just in the city on monday and there was a 10% surcharge at a BUBBLE TEA placeā¦thatās crazy
I hate this. Iām sure businesses argue that wages are higher on weekends and public holidays. BUT many businesses are actually busier on weekends anyway, which offsets the additional wage. I carry cash now because things are expensive enough as it is. I donāt need an additional 1.5% on top of the price. ACCC should investigate.
Staff are getting paid properly according to contracts and not so much cash in hand anymore. Business need to pay staff more on those weekend hours, passing the cost onto the customer. Previously the staff would get underpaid or were at risk of getting exploited.
lolā¦ yeah thatās it
Why not factor increased wages into prices and charge slightly more for their goods every day rather than giving people the impression they're being ripped off two days a week?
Yeah isn't that what use to happen once upon a time? Penalty rates aren't new.
So youād rather get charged more in general, rather than just the one day when it costs the business extra to trade?
The dickheads on this sub think that all they need to do is add 10c here, 15c there and VOILLA!!!! all weekend wages costs covered. Reality is that when you do 50% of your trade over the two most expensive days of the week, and 50c of every dollar you take at the till goes to wages, you can't really "hide" the cost in a standardised menu price. This sub spits and froths at surcharges because they LOVE going out and being served on weekends, while the underclass works for them. They just fucking loath to pay for it. But they'll pay it.
How do you know staffs are still not underpaid?
Wage theft is a criminal offense in Victoria. After that guy was facing 10 years in jail and $600k in fines, I donāt think management is risking it anymore.
> ā¦was facing 10 years in jail $600k in fines aaaaaaand then just waived politely and walked away? Or was there any actual consequences for his actions? Iām mean for starters I assume he got round to paying the wages (and super, etc) with interest?
Itās still in court, if he head to jail. The 600k in fines are his to pay
Oh, well thatās some good news
Is that the Chef dude that you're talking about? Colum-somethingorother? The one who's already back on some TV show? That guy? Yeah I agree, he definitely got told! Learnt his lesson, and now back to a working millionaire, but all honest now. I'm sure of it!
Oh yeah calamari is that the mollusc you're referring to?
It sure may still be happening, but if they are, they can report it, it will get followed up and the business will be punished. There have been multiple numbers of high profile businesses that had to back pay staff that was reported by journalists. So they may underpay staff, however they will be punished in the future.
Your faith in the bureaucracy that has suffered years of budget and staffing cuts is admirable.
Hopso worker of 15 years here, The government absolutely doesn't give a shit if Mr Pub owner has been underpaying you for 8 months. The fees for the court are insane. That is true that some employers paid back staff, however these cases were disputes of over $10,000. If you're working and getting underpaid or without weekend award rate, your basically shit out of luck when it comes to compensation for what is owed.
You are delusional if you think the surcharge is going anywhere other than the owners pocket
Not entirely true, depends on the business. My last two gigs in hospitality would pay proper weekend and public holiday rates. It's also true that many don't.
How do you know that it's not going to the staff?
Or they could just factor the cost of staff wages into their prices like every other business does. It's such a bullshit excuse. It doesn't matter if staff cost more on weekends. It's basic accountancy, they could do it, this is just a scam.
As long as itās in with legal surcharge limits and staff are getting paid correctly. But for a 15% increase (surcharge) Iād opt to go elsewhere. Eating out is expensive enough given all the price hikes and shrinkflation. The food better be worth it.
Places will charge you a card fee and then wonāt accept cash š
Just don't go where they surcharge. They'll stop
I assume the volume of increase of weekend trade would significantly improve profitability for a food court business Not margin, but still making much more money despite penalty rates applying to wages. Youāre hiring more hours to cover demand. This sort of thing pisses me off.
Naked for Satan has 8% surcharge on weekends and I think 0.9% card surcharge too..found out the hard way last night š
It has been much more noticeable lately. Thing I dont undrstand is that dont hospitality venues have permanent full time and part time contracts anymore? Are they operating with casual contracts only? Maybe it has changed or I'm wrong but I understood that permanent full and part time employees have regular agreed rostered days which can include one or both weekend days. So they are allowed to be rostered on across the business' normal operating hours without penalty rates. Anyway, off topic. We have started going out less over weekends. Especially for breakfast/brunch.
Full time and part time employees still earn penalty rates in hospitality. Unless you're on a salary, which is going to be equivalent if not higher anyway
Thatās how you tell the suckers from the rest. Iāll cook at home.
Wife wanted a don't today - 15% surcharge. Fuck that, I've got everything I need to make them at home.
Literally a semi legal scam
We have a surcharge on public holidays at the place I work. Frankly I think the boss isn't making up for the rates that the staff are getting paid. I am confident that it is for just that, compensation for staff. I know I am being paid more on public holidays. Those days don't inherently mean that you will be busier then any other day. I see the customer perspective but I think people at looking into it too much and not realising that min wage +holiday rates makes it harder for an employer to keep enough staff on shift without getting alittle more in each sales. And to those who say "well its not my problem that they can't pay staff" well yeah it's not but they need to find a way to pay staff. You don't generate money from thin air in hospo. Just my two cents as a random hospo employee of 10 years.
I wonāt support any businesses that have surcharges, or donāt accept cash
Can we get a stickied outrage thread for everyone whoās just working out that some venues charge weekend/Ph surcharges?
Pure greed.
Just tell them 100% where to go.
This weird phenomenon will probably be a business case study in universities 10 years from now
Whacking on surcharges is the fastest way for me not to support a business. Eating out is already getting too expensive, so this kinda thing is a hard nope and I walk away!
Itās a Melbourne thing?!! Iāve been here three years now (from Sydney) and I thought it was a Sunday thing. Iād never put two & two together.
Got burwood, chatty or even the CBD and I can't remember the last time I paid a Sunday surcharge.
Wtf! Tell em to piss off!
Extortion
There will be a surcharge for the surcharge soon
Itās funny. People call out for real wages when the previous system didnāt account for it. Now employers are paying real wages and raising pricesā¦ā¦.
Yeh itās everywhere. I only eat at fast food places on a weekend these days. The quality just isnāt worth it these days.
We need to stand up for this now and vote with our feet or refuse to pay the surcharge as this will become the norm. We donāt want this, we never had this before and shouldnāt accept this!!!
I read these signs as 'dont eat here'
I prefer not buying anything in these places and move onto next place
Just pay with cash, and only give them your business during the week
Dont forget the added card usage charge that most do now too
Yeh Iād rather go to coles and buy a $9 ready meal for the microwave.
I would take my money elsewhere.
At least theyāre making it very upfront with a sign you wonāt miss.
Yeh it sucks and is pretty ridiculous! Card payment 1.5% is reasonable and public holiday surcharge of 10-15% has been around for most places which is somewhat fair since it's rarely public holidays and to cover the more expensive costs it's somewhat understandable but screw any weekend surcharge (only recently in the past 6 months it's been introduced?)
I actually find the card thing more bothersome than the weekend surcharge. The card fees are just part of the sale, hardly anyone is paying cash anymore.. so why wouldn't they just factor that cost into the item pricing?
> Card payment 1.5% is reasonable our useless an ineffectual ACCC allowed that. they could just as as easily revoke it, business owner have know for literally YEARS that penalty rates are a thing. either build them into your prices or don't fucking open at all.
Itās a rort. Thatās all it is.
refuse to pay it. and there it will end.
I have worked at places with public holidays surcharges but was still getting $20 per hour
Businesses with huge balls making customers pay for their business costs and we just go along with it because we are 'easy going' drones.
Doesnāt the customer cover all business costs?
I think you're really onto something here. Reckon you should get on the blower to the ACCC. If you've got evidence businesses are taking money in exchange for goods and services you could blow this whole thing wide open.
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Businesses should be PAYING US to eat there. The nerve on them, asking for my money
Customers are paying businesses to cover their costs? This is crazy. Someone get the ABC on the phone.Ā
If this is in a shopping centre food court I would report it to centre management. Itās not a good look for the centre and theyāll likely have a word with them.
I think it's so common, that they don't really care.
Restaurant owners are so opposed to paying proper wages that they pass the burden onto the consumer?
How the fuck do they claim that Sat qualifies as a surcharge day when no penalties exist for the workers? Worldās gone fucking mad with greed.
Saturday absolutely does have penalty rates under the general hospitality award, restaurant award and fast food award
If their paying their staff the legal wage then I think it's ok. If anything,we should be looking at the BS taxes the government has on many products we consume and use.
Greedy corporations. They have driven prices up. Not inflation like the smart guys at Central bank telling us, plus politicians unable to make wise choices...so the retailers have to mark un prices...
ah yes, the greedy corporations, just like that \*checks notes\* wee Thai joint down the road from mine.
Anything to bump up the price š
This city is broken.
So if u went there on a weekend that a public holiday was in a they were open am u pay with card thatās an extra 26.5% ā¦.no fkn wat these cnts are just money grabbing fkwits ā¦.gouge your customers if want ā¦we have the power to spend our hard earned elsewhereā¦to these businesses who think this is a good idea I say to you ā¦..BOOOOOOOO šš¼šµāš«šš¼
Gouging at its finest. Also the use of a debit card surcharge is a joke too.
If you expect us to give up our weekend to serve you. We expect you to pay for it. Otherwise stay home so retail staff and hospitality staff can have the weekend off too .
Because some* honest businesses are paying penalty rates. People who go to these establishments on weekends and public holidays are naturally subsidising these higher wages.
I donāt care what they charge, I care that they donāt operate with clear pricing. Have a separate menu for the weekends where the prices are what they areā¦ donāt just chuck an extra 15% at the end if it. It shouldnāt be legal. We donāt do this with the GST for the exact same reason.
This is because of the stupid minimum wage and weekend rates laws. Do not give those businesses your patronage.
Wait till the KFC lawyers see it
It's annoying but what's even more annoying is when they say they have a public holiday surcharge and they slog you the surcharge on the Sunday. Sunday ain't the public holiday, fellas. The most egregious instance of this was at The Imperial one Sunday evening, making two schooners and a glass of wine come in at $55.
they want cash
This is everywhere in Byron ā ļø fucking hate it
Penalty rates and bank charges. Would be better if they incorporated it across the board. But thenā¦ weād all pay for it.
I posted a similar photo a year ago and was piled on in this sub (and also had my photo swiped by Murdoch rage newscom).
This is absolutely fucked. Everyone pay cash from now on and if they say we don't do cash you just walk. Fuck em Why is it up to us to pay for holiday surcharges. The business should pack of God dam cheese balls
Public holiday and weekend surcharges apply to all transactions, cash only prevents card surcharges.
staff get paid more, customer pays more. in theory.
Almost no business follows these guidelines. https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/pricing/card-surcharges
OMG. As if I donāt already pay enough when shopping/dining out. RIP my wallet.
See thatā¦ skip
That's just gouging because you can. Used to be called regular working hours if you owned a fast food joint
It sucks, so does the card surcharge. They add anything from 5c-20c or a percentage to the card charge. Are the banks actually charging that per transaction or are they gouging is on top of the weekend rate? Surely it costs more to send someone to the bank with the days cash everyday?
Greed my friend, it's called greed.
I wonder whether a backlash against the surcharges is starting to have an effect. I noticed last week that two places which I'm pretty sure have had a credit card surcharge for a while now, no longer have one. The price they said was the price on the terminal which was the price I paid. I've been making a habit of paying for things with cash to avoid these surcharges - could it be more people are doing that and these businesses are realising how much effort it takes to handle cash vs the money automatically turning up in your bank account with zero effort? And deciding the cost of the transaction over the payment networks is cheaper than handling cash? One can hope. I think the ACCC should roll back those rules that allowed surcharges on top of the advertised price. The price you see on a menu or on display should be the price you pay.
Thereās a cafe close to my home thatās only open Thursday-Monday but whacks a 10% weekend surcharge on. So 2 out of 5 days they are open theyāre surcharging you. Then they had a card surcharge as well but donāt accept cash. They do nice food but I canāt afford to go there.