Ralphs has joined other Kroger chains in rolling out a 50-cent “convenience fee” for providing cash back at the register for debit card purchases — a service most supermarkets have offered gratis for years. Columnist davidlaz explains:
Airlines, banks, phone companies — each has boosted its bottom line by hitting customers with nickel-and-dime charges for services that were once offered for free.
“Our cash-back program is designed to save customers money vs. ATM fees, and to give them a safer and more convenient way to get the cash they need,” said John Votava, a Ralphs spokesman. On the other hand, although a 50-cent fee for such a routine transaction might be small potatoes on an individual basis, over an entire customer base you’re talking big bucks.
All I can say is that when you announce you’re celebrating your love for customers, and just a few weeks later you launch a $75-million cash grab, that’s some tough love indeed. And don’t forget our friends in the phone and cable industries, which never met a fee they didn’t like. As I’ve noted previously,
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