When was the last time you actually had to punch in your pin at the counter? PayWave has taken over as the easy way to pay, but nothing comes for free, mate.
Ever wondered how much those quick taps at the dairy or petrol station are costing ya over a year?
Consumer NZ’s Jessica Walker told Newshub that PayWave surcharges in NZ should never be over 2.5% - but some spots aren't sticking to that.
Jessica added that most places you buy from sit around the 1.5% to 2% surcharge mark, but to keep an eye out for anything higher and dob 'em in to Consumer NZ.
Let's say you're snagging a pie and a V on smoko for around $9 - not too bad, right? But add that 2.5% surcharge, and suddenly you're forking out an extra 22.5 cents each time.
Now, if you’re cracking into them every day, that’s 22.5 cents times 365 days.
Quick maths, that’s a whopping $82.13 a year just on PayWave. That could have bought you an extra 9 smoko feeds…
And that’s just for your morning snacks. Let’s not even begin to talk about all those nights out on the town, or tapping for your lunches throughout the week.
In the moment, we're in for a quick grab-and-go operation, so don’t mind the small fee. It saves us a good few seconds of scavenging through our wallets to insert our card and punch in a 4-digit pin.
But when you see it stacked up in those yearly fees, maybe, on second thought, what’s a few extra seconds at the till?!
So next time you're tapping away, just think about where those extra cents are going and whether it’s worth saving some coins by spending a little extra time at the checkout.
