XPost: nf.general 
 From: tsanford@nf.sympatico.ca 
  
 "JustBrowsing"  wrote in message 
 news:1119575950.413348.40960@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com... 
 > Crooks??? You have no idea...they could just up the price on everything 
 > and you wouldn't know the difference. At least you have a choice to use 
 > cash or debit. It's your call...nobody says you "have" to use debit. 
 > 
 As just browsing has said and I agree; 
  
 It is not 'crooked' i.e. dishonest to make such charges and/or include such 
 costs in pricing. 
  
 Surcharges may irritate a customer, such as myself, but as long as one is 
 advised. 
 In this, my first instance, which started this whole thread/question, the 
 cashier took care to tell me. 
  
 She was doing her job well from both the viewpoint of her employer and mine 
 as a customer. 
 Nothing crooked/dishonest about that. 
  
 Having received that information I had a decision to make. 
  
 1) Not buy that item, for less than $5. 
 2) Buy something else to raise the purchase above $5, and avoid the 25 cent 
 surcharge. 
 3) Not buy at all. 
 4) Use cash. 
  
 Also as a customer it is rare that I HAVE to buy a particular item, HAVE to 
 buy it at a particular store and/or HAVE to use a debit card. 
 Any retailer is entitled to structure their pricing etc. so as to, stay in 
 business, be competitive, make a reasonable profit, attract customers etc. 
 The concept that all business is dishonest is wrong. Also a retailer may 
 under-price, say, milk (as a loss leader) knowing that most of the time I 
 will often buy other items on which they will make a profit. 
  
 Unintelligent comments about crooks etc. make no sense. What would be best? 
 Charge nothing at all, therefore pay very low wages to the people growing or 
 making the products, have the government regulate who, what and where 
 anything can be manufactured and sold ..... etc. 
 It's called Communism and it hasn't worked, yet, in parts of the world as 
 varying as the Iron Curtain countries to Cuba! 
  
 Just to repeat; the basic premise here is that we, as consumers/customers 
 should be aware of any/all of these extra charges that have crept into our 
 financial dealings;  these 'extras' range from paying a fee to use a bank 
 machine (ABM) not of the same brand as our bank, surcharges as discussed 
 here for certain (generally 'small') transactions, cheque return charges, 
 transfer funds fees and many others. And don't even mention not paying off 
 the monthly balance on your credit card! Most expensive and can affect your 
 credit rating, possibly also leading to an even higher rate of interest! 
  
 To paraphrase "Be careful out there. It's expensive to earn or spend money." 
  
 --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 
  * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)