Despite the amount of sugar I poured into my coffee, there was still a bitter aftertaste long after I left the coffeehouse.
I take my coffee black. And cold. Like my heart.
But the sour aftertaste had less to do with the quality of the product than it did with what I paid for it.
Like most of us, I’m numb and accustomed to paying a $4-plus for a small cup of pulverized beans and hot water. It’s the price we pay for caffeine dependency.
What left the sour taste in my mouth was the few extra cents that were tacked onto the bill. There on the receipt after the accounting of the sales tax was a line item indicating an operations surcharge. The wording may have been different but the explanation was clear—in small print—near the bottom: Because the state of California was requiring higher minimum wages the cost was—regrettably, it noted—being passed along to the customer.
That was the last time I went to that vendor. And I know my absence has not been noted as, in all likelihood it was not noted by the confectioner’s shop that I stopped frequenting because of the “inflation surcharge” they charged.
Undoubtedly, the cost of doing business can be high. And business owners can’t be faulted for trying to make a living or even just break even. To a degree.
What doesn’t sit right with me and other consumers is the hidden costs of patronizing those businesses.
Providing relief, if not from higher prices than at least from surprises, this summer is the introduction of SB 478 in July.
The legislation mandates that restaurants and the like include the costs of doing business in their menu prices. In other words that $15 for the hamburger you see on the menu will reflect the restaurant’s labor and operations costs, and you won’t be surprised, for example, by an additional $1 surcharge for the cost of higher minimum wages or electricity charges.
Opponents of the law argue that the change will see business owners pass the costs of doing business onto the consumer. In other words, nothing will fundamentally change other than customers knowing upfront what they’ll be paying for a cup of Joe or a meal. Sounds like a good deal to me.
