New York State Restaurants Get “Green Light” to Offer ‘DISCOUNT’ for Using Cash

New York State restaurants are allowed to charge extra is you use a credit card versus pay in cold hard cash for your meal.

It is something that has been so controversial because customers get surprised by the extra surcharge and understandably, they get mad. It is not cheap to run a restaurant in this day and age in New York State and it is not cheap to go out to dinner anymore.

• The price that you see on the menu is the price paid with a credit card.
• Businesses CANNOT add a separate credit card fee on top of the bill.
• You cannot have 3 lines on your recepit: tax, tip and credit card.
• If a business chooses to, they can offer you a discount on your food if you pay cash.

Businesses are not allowed to advertise a price and add a surcharge at the point of sale when a consumer elects to pay with a credit card. Instead, businesses are required to inform consumers of the higher credit card price for a product or service by posting the higher price. Businesses are also able to offer a discount to consumers who pay in cash.

There was an instance in Western New York where we went to a restaurant and when we got the bill to leave, there was quite the surprise. There was a surcharge percentage for using a credit card. So we had another line item that charged us 3% extra to use a credit card--a surprise to us. The restaurant told us that it was not reversable and it was quite a debate. But turns out, they cannot do that per Erie County and New York State.