Smiths implementing "cash back fee" for debit card purchases

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storewanderer
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Smiths implementing "cash back fee" for debit card purchases

Post by storewanderer »

It seems Smiths got delayed but it is joining the other Kroger divisions in having a fee for cash back with debit card transactions. They are going to want a .50 fee for cash back $1 to $100 starting in about a week (this policy change was posted on pinpads in the past couple days).

Okay then. No fee for cash back at Safeway, WinCo, or Wal Mart... Even if I only get cash back about twice a year from a store when paying by debit card (any store), this is yet another thing that comes off as negative at Kroger.

Funny no fee for under $1 of cash back. I find it hard to believe if I ask for $5 or $10 of cash back it costs them .50 to process that.

I was recently denied cash back when I asked at a Raleys. No cash back prompt ever came up on the pinpad and when I asked about it they told me they weren't doing cash back right now. Not sure if that change was just a one off at that particular store, or time of day (it was late at night), or something.
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Re: Smiths implementing "cash back fee" for debit card purchases

Post by BillyGr »

I'm not sure there is even an option (at least most places) for under $1 Cash Back, which may be why they just list it that way ($1-$xx).

We have one chain here that has had a fee for cash back for quite some time (as I haven't done that in a long time at all). I believe theirs was structured with a smaller fee if your purchase was larger (like $1 fee for purchases under $25, $0.50 for those over or similar).
Which leads me to believe that the reason they did the fees to begin with was to avoid losing money when someone came in and bought one (small) item just to get money back (which is actually a good way to get cash when travelling, since just about any ATM would charge more than that if not part of your own bank/network), seeing that the single small item would likely offer little profit and they would still have to pay the fee for the card being used (which is at least a minimum no matter how little the charge is).
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Re: Smiths implementing "cash back fee" for debit card purchases

Post by storewanderer »

I think you bring up a good point. The store perhaps should charge for cash back if a purchase is below a certain dollar amount so as to not annoy regular customers. The scenario of someone doing a small purchase to get cash back is very common.

I've actually put in for under $1 of cash back before when I needed to get coins.

Scolaris in my area historically had a policy of processing debit cards for cash back without a purchase. The fee was 35 cents (and still is at their two stores that are left). The hope was folks would draw money out of the debit card then go use it on the (cash only) slot machines in the store. I am guessing the 35 cents is somewhere around their transaction cost.
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