Service charges; resort fees; “surcharge” add-ons: If you’ve been startled by unexpected fees when you pay your check at a restaurant — or book a hotel room or buy a ticket to a game, you’re far from alone. But if you live in California, change is coming. A new state law requiring price transparency is set to take effect in July.

“The law is simple: the price you see is the price you pay,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said on Wednesday, as his office issued long-awaited guidance about a law that applies to thousands of businesses in a wide range of sectors.

Restaurant owners like Laurie Thomas, who heads the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, say the changes will bring higher prices and sticker shock, which could then raise a psychological hurdle in customers’ dining habits. That, in turn, will hurt restaurants and their workers, she warns.

“If it’s in the core price of the menu, there will be a pullback” in patrons’ spending, she told NPR shortly before the attorney general released the guidelines. "There are some people, I think, that are hoping that the restaurants will just absorb that cost, because we’ve seen people say, ‘Oh, it’s too expensive with the service charge.’ "

Restaurant Association head thinks it’s perfectly OK to mislead customers into thinking that prices are lower than they actually are, and gouge them after they’ve consumed/used the product. Because having knowledge of true prices would cause some customers to make informed decisions that might hurt sales. What other product information could be withheld to boost sales? What product misinformation could be provided to get those customers to “yes”?

  • Habahnow@sh.itjust.works
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    6 months ago

    This is pretty cool. It really helps to level the playing field in prices.

    Recently, I have felt more restaurant have tacked on prices and fees which was uncommon before the pandemic.

    Change in topic, but I really do wish we had a good way of addressing tipping. California took the step of forcing minimum wage to apply to even tipped workers, but that didn’t really affect our tipping culture (though its great the change was implemented). Tipping really helps certain people (White women, near their 30s) more so than others (black waiters). Not to mention, I’ve been hearing people encouraging inflating tips 20% being the new standard rather than 15%. I’ve no idea how this would even be addressed (note: I’m not saying food should be cheaper because of the removal of tip, I’d prefer for the full worker wages, that usually includes tip, to already be baked into the price of my food like with other services).

    • brbposting@sh.itjust.works
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      6 months ago

      Inflation to 20% must be 5-10 year old news here in California (anybody confirm)? At least SF Bay Area

      Tipping fatigue now common the past year or so

      • Tony@masto.es
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        6 months ago

        @brbposting coke costco 2019 9,95 now 18.99

        The only thing that hasn’t changed in inflation in California is the chicken and the costco hot dog