Let’s be real, when was the last time you actually had to type in your pin at the counter? PayWave has taken over as the go-to way to pay, but with convenience comes a cost.
Have you ever wondered how much those little taps have cost you over a year?
Consumer NZ’s Jessica Walker told Newshub that PayWave surcharges in NZ should never be over 2.5% - but some sneaky spots aren't sticking to that.
Jessica added that most places you buy from sit around the 1.5% to 2% surcharge mark, but to keep an eye out for anything higher and report it to Consumer NZ.
Let's say you grab a coffee for around $5.50 - not too bad, right? But add that 2.5% surcharge, and suddenly you're paying an extra 13.75 cents each time.
Now, if you’re a real coffee fiend (like me) and grab a cup every day, that’s 13.75 cents times 365 days.
Quick maths, that’s $50.19 a year just on PayWave. That could have bought you an extra 9 brews…
And that’s just for your coffee addiction. Let’s not even begin to talk about all those nights out on the town, or tapping for your weekly ‘treat yourself’ purchases.
In the moment, we obvs don’t mind the small fee, it saves us a good few seconds of scavenging through our wallets to insert our card and type in a 4-digit pin.
But when you see it laid out in those yearly fees, maybe, on second thought, what’s a few extra seconds at the till?!
So next time you're tapping away, just think about where those extra cents are going and whether it’s worth saving some dollar signs by spending a little extra time at the checkout.
