Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ucla-cs.ARPA
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!sdcrdcf!trwrba!cepu!ucla-cs!wales
From: wales@ucla-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.legal
Subject: Re: credit vs cash sales (surcharges are apparently legal)
Message-ID: <930@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 23-Aug-84 14:45:57 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucla-cs.930
Posted: Thu Aug 23 14:45:57 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 25-Aug-84 07:22:40 EDT
References: <904@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Organization: UCLA CS Dept.
Lines: 34

I decided to follow up on the merchant whom I reported as having a
credit-card surcharge policy, thinly disguised as a cash discount
policy.  I talked to my bank and gave them the "reference number" of a
credit-card transaction I had about a year ago with the merchant (I got
this mile-long number from my monthly credit-card statement).  Appar-
ently, the first few digits of this reference number identify the bank
through which the merchant negotiated the credit slip.  I then called
the toll-free customer-service number of the merchant's bank (who sup-
posedly could apply appropriate leverage if the policy in question was
out of line).

What I was told was that the law which forbade surcharges on credit-
card purchases expired a few months ago and was not renewed.  Hence,
if a merchant wants to impose a surcharge on credit purchases, he can
apparently do so totally "above board" now.  Seemingly, the only reason
merchants have not done this in masses and droves is that they are
afraid of driving their customers away.

I remember now that there was some talk about this issue a few months
ago, but somehow I guess I thought that the old law had been restored.
(The credit-card companies, for one, were lobbying powerfully in favor
of extending the law -- they didn't want to lose business because of
merchant surcharge policies leading people to eschew credit.)

Does anyone know the current status of anti-surcharge legislation in
the U.S. Congress?

And my original question still stands, after a fashion:  Does it make
sense to ban surcharges for credit, while at the same time allowing
discounts for cash?  If all a store has to do to be legal is post a sign
saying that its "real" prices are X percent above the markings on the
shelves or the merchandise -- but that you can get an X-percent discount
for paying with cash -- then something is (or was) clearly wrong with
the law.