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Don't be a cheap a$$ business

biophase

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I went to a local coffee a few days ago to get an iced mocha for about $5. When I went to pay with a credit card the employee said, there's a $10 minimum for credit cards.

I paid with cash, my total was $5.17 and I got back my $5 and $.83 in change. Normally I would have put the $.83 into the tip jar. But I'm not giving this business any more of my money. I know when the owners are cheap asses that they don't want to pay an additional $.20 transaction fee for a CC.

Seriously, how do you run a coffee shop where the majority of purchases are under $10 and not accept credit cards for them.

On the opposite note, my friends and I went to a restaurant where we sat in folding chairs and there was duct tape holding the table cloth on to the table. It said cash only, 4.5 stars on yelp with over 500 reviews. It was a total dive, we couldn't understand the owner's English. But guess what, the food was great and portions were huge. Because of the value, we didn't mind the cash only or the decor.
 
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Agbaya

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Agreed. There's a fine line between being economical and being cheap.

On the opposite note, my friends and I went to a restaurant where we sat in folding chairs and there was duct tape holding the table cloth on to the table. It said cash only, 4.5 stars on yelp with over 500 reviews. It was a total dive, we couldn't understand the owner's English. But guess what, the food was great and portions were huge. Because of the value, we didn't mind the cash only or the decor.

I've noticed that if you provide tons of value you can get away with a lot. You see this in the world of professional sports. "Hey that football player beat his wife, but he's great at rushing the quarterback and getting sacks for the team so we love him all the same."

Of course no one here beats their significant other (I hope!) but the lesson to take away here is that in business, the more value you provide to your customers like providing great customer service or having a high quality product, the more tolerant they'll be of your missteps.
 

GoGetter24

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It's the stupidity part that pisses me off.

Just add the transaction fee to the bill then. Don't get in my way as a customer.

I've gotten so sick of stupid businesses I've taken to explaining to them why they're stupid. I don't have the patience to just think it and keep it to myself anymore. I'll just matter of factly explain "the result of X is Y, so therefore you should do Z, right?".

Then you get the expressions from them like "how dare you explain to us that our shit stinks". Next step will be to start calling out their facial expressions. "Sorry, but by that facial expression are you saying I'm correct or incorrect?". Put the heat to the retards.

Trick is to reward competence. Keep mixing up which business you go to, and if you spot a non-retarded one, go there forever more. The 9 in 10 failure rate of businesses has its upside.
 

Danny Sullivan

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I had a similar experience this week. I ordered some parts from two different suppliers. One choosed a very common delivery service for germany the other choosed a competitor which is slightly cheaper (like 1-2 €).

The cheaper delivery service bombarded me with emails about my package (at least 5 messages - your package is on it's way, your package is almost there, your package will be delivered between this and then, sorry, you we couldn't deliver your package it's on it's way to a packing station, your package is at the packing station, etc.). At the moment of said delivery, 3 people were around 5-10 meters from our door. None of us heard someone ringing the doorbell, but all heard the "pling" email notification of the delivery service stating that they could not deliver the package because obviously we weren't there (???). In the end the package was 1 day late and i had to get into a car and drive 15 minutes to pick it up myself. The company i ordered from did a great job, but the delivery service made it an unpleasant experience that's automatically associated with the company selling the goods.

The second order (which i made even later than the first one) send out 1 email and delivered on time.

I wrote email to the first supplier to make them aware of this situation, maybe they'll adjust - or maybe not. We'll see.
 
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AFMKelvin

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I went to a local coffee a few days ago to get an iced mocha for about $5. When I went to pay with a credit card the employee said, there's a $10 minimum for credit cards.

I paid with cash, my total was $5.17 and I got back my $5 and $.83 in change. Normally I would have put the $.83 into the tip jar. But I'm not giving this business any more of my money. I know when the owners are cheap asses that they don't want to pay an additional $.20 transaction fee for a CC.

Seriously, how do you run a coffee shop where the majority of purchases are under $10 and not accept credit cards for them.

On the opposite note, my friends and I went to a restaurant where we sat in folding chairs and there was duct tape holding the table cloth on to the table. It said cash only, 4.5 stars on yelp with over 500 reviews. It was a total dive, we couldn't understand the owner's English. But guess what, the food was great and portions were huge. Because of the value, we didn't mind the cash only or the decor.

The business you just describe are not businesses ran by entrepreneurs but by technicians. The author of E Myth talks about in his book. They have no idea or cared of how the customer should be treated. It just doesn't cross their mind to them the bottom line is all that matters.
 
D

Deleted50669

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I went to a local coffee a few days ago to get an iced mocha for about $5. When I went to pay with a credit card the employee said, there's a $10 minimum for credit cards.

I paid with cash, my total was $5.17 and I got back my $5 and $.83 in change. Normally I would have put the $.83 into the tip jar. But I'm not giving this business any more of my money. I know when the owners are cheap asses that they don't want to pay an additional $.20 transaction fee for a CC.

Seriously, how do you run a coffee shop where the majority of purchases are under $10 and not accept credit cards for them.

On the opposite note, my friends and I went to a restaurant where we sat in folding chairs and there was duct tape holding the table cloth on to the table. It said cash only, 4.5 stars on yelp with over 500 reviews. It was a total dive, we couldn't understand the owner's English. But guess what, the food was great and portions were huge. Because of the value, we didn't mind the cash only or the decor.
What gets me is that a coffee shop can get away with that pricing strategy. Most people go in to buy one drink at a time, which in your scenario probably ranged 4 to 6 bucks (assuming your order represents the mean). Since a lot of people don't carry cash, I'm curious how often customers go to order then redact their order because they aren't willing to buy two items. It's not only cheap, it's very costly. Then again, I could be wrong and people could end up buying two items since they are already in the purchase process.
 

Fastlane Liam

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And just that one negative experience will be all you remember about the place. You literally associate those negative emotions to the name, people remember how they felt more than what happened.
 
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Kak

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$10 minimum... at a coffee shop no less... Wow. That's ridiculous.

Bio is right. When you start seeing that kind of thing it's extremely offputting.

I had a waiter once ask "would anyone care to try our strawberry tea?" I said sure and proceeded to drink 5 of them. I didn't realize they were $3 a piece. I have never been back there.
 

biophase

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Assuming you gave them a $10 bill, they are also losing money by giving out incorrect change!

Lol. I don’t remember. All I know is that i hate having change in my pocket but I wasn’t giving them my coins!
 
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biophase

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Here are photos of 2 restaurants we went to and their decor and yelp reviews.

Restaurant #1

Nice table!
1847D63C-292E-439F-9FD5-0D8CEEF1D81F.jpeg

B42E00E9-3225-4B47-8516-2007327EA026.jpeg

Restaurant #2

This is the entire seating area.
2C3EA736-79D1-4406-8CC1-95BA6037B492.jpeg2E388026-0789-4C32-860B-409917E5FAC0.jpeg

Food served on Styrofoam plates
1264EED2-25B0-4E2F-A787-4159E828E898.jpeg
 

SteveO

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You were in Hawaii and complaining? :)
 

biophase

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