Minimum surcharge a necessity at Mount Pleasant bars, restaurants
Offering the option for customers to use credit or debit cards comes at a price for many Mount Pleasant bars and liquor stores.
Every time a customer uses a credit card instead of cash, businesses must pay back a percentage of each transaction to the company that supplies the card scanners. Because of that, several businesses have a minimum amount of money that must be spent in order for a customer to use a credit or debit card. This is typically $5, but for other businesses, the minimum amount has been set at $10.
At the Blue Gator, 106 Court St., customers usually spend more in order to make it to the $10 minimum or go to an ATM to get cash. According to employee Angelina Sider, customers have started to understand the bar's policy.
"They usually know about the policy," Sider said. "It's not like they have never heard about it before."
There is an 18 percent gratuity charged to customers who leave their tab open and have not spent at least $10.
According to Blue Gator Manager Richard Swindlehursp, this is usually when he gets the most customer complaints. Swindlehursp will waive the minimum charge if the customer is being charged for food purchases, not drink orders.
"We have always had a $10 minimum," Swindlehursp said of his policy. "Keeping track of a tab isn't worth it when someone only buys one drink."
Some businesses, such as Stan's Restaurant, 220 E. Broadway St., have avoided the controversy all together. This small breakfast joint does not want any of its profits being taken away by another company by holding a cash-only policy.
Samantha Germain, a waitress at Stan's, said the cash-only payment system has never really been an issue with customers, in part because it has been in use for so long.
"This is the way it's always been and always will be here," Germain said.
She added that most of their customers are regulars and know the restaurant only accepts cash. If a customer has no cash on them, they are directed to the ATM across the street.
