Newsagents need to gear up for a fight with the banks on the new EFTPOS fee regime. Otherwise Coles and Woolworths will have the advantage of not having to pay the 5 cents (or more) transaction fee wel will face with the recently announced changed.
The EFTPOS fee move is all about the banks looking for other fee opportunities. In this move, they have a fee which is difficult to understand and somewhat removed from the consumer. By hitting some retailers (the weak and generally disorganised) and not others (the big and very organised) they are giving big businesses an unfair advantage.
What are newsagents going to do about this?
If we do not fight, many of us will probably absorb the fee as another cost of business. Those who do not risk negatively impacting customer goodwill.
Our fight should / could include:
- Lobbying local federal members of parliament.
- Complaining to the Banking Industry Ombudsman.
- Complaining to our banks.
- Moving our business to a smaller more friendly bank.
- Running a national and unified across the counter campaign – to EVERY newsagent customer.
- Calling talkback radio to get the story on the agenda.
- Picketing outside Coles and Woolworths head offices.
- Joining with other retail groups and bodies to unite on this common cause.
- Writing to newspapers.
TYRO is a focal point on this issue since so many of their retail customers are small businesses. I am confident that they will also provide suggestions of how newsagents can engage on this topic.
This is not an issue which newsagents should leave to the next person to deal with.
Suncorp has just cut my fee to 3 cents ago and i have no on going fees
DR can you tell if they made to change or you contacted them please?
Hi do all my banking with them includeing share tradeing ,loans the lot no contract ,went to them at the time of billpay .Rang them 3 weeks ago and said you are to dear ,said i could get 3 cent per go met in 1 hour .great bank
It frustrates me that nobody seems to notice the activities of the major chains and how they are taking over the retailing in Australia.
Asside from over 80% of dry grocery sales they now have over 80% of pokies gambling and liquor sales, over half the petrol sales and now Wolworths working on Hardware so that they will eventualy own that category. They have done it through the back door by making deals like this EFTPOS sham where their directors are on the board deciding to charge higher rates for small business.
If you throw Metcash in the mix behaving no different what chance has a small business got?
Lets hope the new ACCC chairman isnt scared to do something because Labour doesnt seem to care much.
Domenic small business has been let down by all sides of politics. The John Howard years were dreadful for us.
Plus one, on that comment, Mark.
Domenic,
Why do you say Metcash is “behaving no different” to Coles/Woolworths? Metcash is predominantly a wholesaler and marketing group operator. Their entire structure is based around the small businesses they suppy to and support.
Oh, and the ACCC is currently trying to prevent Metcash from aquiring Franklins because they believe it will substancially reduce the competition in the independant grocery wholesale market. The entire independant supermarket industry is scratching their heads wondering what the hell the ACCC are talking about.
Mark I have emailed my local member of parliament about this today. I hope that other newsagents do the same.