A Banker Explains Your PayWave Charges

THE SATIRISER: Thanks for joining us.

A BANKER: Well, I appreciate your interest. ‘Interest’, that’s a little banking joke there.

TS: Yes. Now suppose I’m a café.

AB: How would I do that?

TS: Use your imagination.

AB: I’m a banker.

TS: Look, most cafes and takeaways have pretty tight margins. So they feel obliged to add a surcharge to their PayWave transactions to cover the fees they have to pay.

AB: Smart business sense!

TS: So that money, those fees, where does it go?

AB: Well some of it goes to the people who supply the EFTPOS machines.

TS: But isn’t it true that most of the money goes to you, the banks?

AB: Only in one sense.

TS: Which sense is that?

AB: In the sense that most of the money goes to us, the banks.

TS: Yes, so what I think people would like to know is: if it doesn’t cost any money to do an EFTPOS transaction, why does it cost money to do a PayWave transaction?

AB: It’s an excellent question and the answer is: it’s part of our commitment to paying a living wage to our staff.

TS: Which staff?

AB: The staff who live inside the machines.