Dropzone Credit Charges

[darmabum 0]

Not sure if this is the right place for this so sorry if not. Recently jumped at Davis and found they charge a 3 percent fee for experienced jumpers using credit cards even when they buy blocks of jumps that cost the same as a tandem jump. I havent been around much, but is it normal for dropzones to punish experienced jumpers like this? Shouldnt it be a fee for all credit transactions or a fee for all trans under a certain amount? Confused and a little annoyed.

[hackish 8]

I've seen it at a few dropzones, a 3% fee for credit card and they add it because that's what they're charged from the processing company. In some places this extra "fee" is illegal and instead it has to be considered a "cash discount" and no discount if you use the plastic.

-Michael

[CSpenceFLY 1]

It's not just a Dropzone thing.

[darmabum 0]

Im used to some places charging extra for a credit fee. But what I found unusual was for a place to charge a fee to one population of people but not to another when both were spending the same amount of money...

[PhreeZone 20]

For Tandems they may have built it into the advertised price.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[aresye 0]

If that's the case, then wouldn't it be illegal to do that to the tandem passengers that pay with cash?

Skydiving: You either learn from other's mistakes, or they'll learn from yours.

[Andrewwhyte 1]

The profit margin on a tandem is large enough that they can absorb 3%; on experienced jumps they cannot.

[Andy9o8 2]

Quote

I've seen it at a few dropzones, a 3% fee for credit card and they add it because that's what they're charged from the processing company. In some places this extra "fee" is illegal and instead it has to be considered a "cash discount" and no discount if you use the plastic. -Michael

I've seen that a lot, too. Having said that, a surcharge is a surcharge, regardless of what it's called - for example, even if it's called an "absence of a cash discount." Calling a turkey a swan does not make it a swan; it's still a turkey. DZO's who try to circumvent state laws by doing this may have gotten away with it so far, but in my professional opinion, they're still running the risk that some state Attorney General's office's consumer affairs division may decide to bring an enforcement action against them in court. If that happens, the legal fees alone, not to mention potential fines, could easily bankrupt a DZ.

[chrismgtis 0]

Quote

Quote

I've seen it at a few dropzones, a 3% fee for credit card and they add it because that's what they're charged from the processing company. In some places this extra "fee" is illegal and instead it has to be considered a "cash discount" and no discount if you use the plastic. -Michael

I've seen that a lot, too. Having said that, a surcharge is a surcharge, regardless of what it's called - for example, even if it's called an "absence of a cash discount." Calling a turkey a swan does not make it a swan; it's still a turkey. DZO's who try to circumvent state laws by doing this may have gotten away with it so far, but in my professional opinion, they're still running the risk that some state Attorney General's office's consumer affairs division may decide to bring an enforcement action against them in court. If that happens, the legal fees alone, not to mention potential fines, could easily bankrupt a DZ.

3% of a jump ticket isn't that much. I've never complained about it and some places do that. I've had gas stations require that I buy at least $5 worth of stuff to use a credit card. So I'll just throw in some bubble gum or something. It's not that big of a deal and honestly, wouldn't you want to do the same thing? It's at least not worth getting a DZ in trouble for.

Rodriguez Brother #1614, Muff Brother #4033
Jumped: Twin Otter, Cessna 182, CASA, Helicopter, Caravan

[peregrinerose 0]

I think almost every DZ I've been to does that. DZs barely break even on fun jumper tickets, why should they have to lose what little profit they do get on a credit card company? Don't like it? Write a check.

Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

[genfreefly 0]

the ranch in NY has no cc fees for fun jumpers and never has (at least for the 13 years i've been jumping there).

[Andy9o8 2]

It doesn't really bother me, either, Chris. I was simply analyzing the legal status.

[diablopilot 2]

Pay cash.


And you can complain about it, but if the DZ feels pressure from a CC processing company you know what the next thing they'll have to do is?


That's right. Raise ticket prices across the board.

----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[darkwing 5]

Lots of gas stations do the same thing these days.

-- Jeff
My Skydiving History

[NickDG 23]

I remember a few DZs I worked at in the early days. Manifest was a girl sitting under an umbrella at a folding card table. She had a pad of paper for names and load numbers and a Dutch Masters cigar box to hold the cash.

At the end of the day we'd all gather around and divvy up the money. The pilot was paid first for his time and expenses, then the Instructors and Jumpmasters, then the manifest girl. If there was anything left it went to the DZO.

I suppose it was understood we could go work anywhere, but without us the DZO was out of business.

Sure we had no pool, no bar/resturant, no gear store, no showers, and we pee'd in the bushes. But the sky was still blue, the air was still cool, the manifest girl was still hot, and the beer was still cold.

What else do you really need? . . .

NickD

[CSpenceFLY 1]

That's how the RoamingDZ started out. Ahh, the good ol' days.

[Andy9o8 2]

Quote

Sure we had no pool, no bar/resturant, no gear store, no showers, and we pee'd in the bushes. But the sky was still blue, the air was still cool, the manifest girl was still hot, and the beer was still cold.

What else do you really need? . . .

New bushes?

[chrismgtis 0]

Quote

I think almost every DZ I've been to does that. DZs barely break even on fun jumper tickets, why should they have to lose what little profit they do get on a credit card company? Don't like it? Write a check.

That's what I was thinking too.

Quote

It doesn't really bother me, either, Chris. I was simply analyzing the legal status.

I know man, I was just saying.

Rodriguez Brother #1614, Muff Brother #4033
Jumped: Twin Otter, Cessna 182, CASA, Helicopter, Caravan

[skydived19006 4]

I hate plastic! Unfortunately credit has become a way of life, so I have a machine sitting on the counter. The processing company debits my checking account a few hundred dollars a month, and I'm just a small one Cessna 182 DZ. I maintain a land line phone line because of the machine, and pay something like $40 a month if I process nothing, so around $100 a month just to have the machine sitting there. You're not happy about your 3% up-charge, my policy is 5% rounded off. As the guy who has to pay the processing fees, from my preservative when you hand me a credit card you're saying "fuck you," so I simply return the sentiment, in the form of "full price."

To my knowledge it is not illegal in the state of Kansas to give a cash discount, which by the way you get if you write a check, or even use a debit card (it costs me a flat fee of $.40 to process a debit transaction.)

No Wal-Mart does not charge you to use your credit card, but I'm not Wal-Mart! Small businesses, with a relative low amount of credit transactions pay the highest fees. Wal-Mart is large enough that I'd imagine they're their own bank/credit processor, so it's apples and oranges.

I may be a bit old school, I am in my 40s. I feel almost naked if I don't have a little cash in my pocket. It's simply foreign to me, and I'll say stupid when I see people who don't have as much as pocket change, and will use plastic to buy a candy bar.

Yes, this subject if a pet peeve of mine. Visit the ATM, and carry some good old fashion Cash!!!

http://www.aircapitaldropzone.com/prices.htm

Have a nice day.
Martin

Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else.

AC DZ

[CSpenceFLY 1]

I agree. Just look at how much money the CC companies spend convincing everyone to use cards. Those commercials where everything comes to a stop because someone uses a check or cash piss me off.

[skydived19006 4]

Additionally, I'm no conspiracy kook or anything, but I do like the anonymity of a cash transaction. Every time you use a credit card, there are records on all kinds of data bases.

Hit the ATM, get some damn cash people!

Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else.

AC DZ

[NickDG 23]

I remember when Perris first installed a computer to keep track of everything. Your USPA membership, your reserve repack date, how current you were, all the things I purposely don't much care about. And that damn "pay it forward" system of having money on account. I've always liked to see if I live through a jump before I fork over money for the next one . . .

One time manifest told me my reserve was out of date. but I fixed that in five minutes . . .

NickD

[jpechbre 0]

Quote

I havent been around much, but is it normal for dropzones to punish experienced jumpers like this?

They're not punishing you, you're punishing yourself if you can't remember, from one weekend to the next, to bring cash to the DZ

[mjosparky 4]

Quote

One time manifest told me my reserve was out of date. but I fixed that in five minutes .

What I used to tell them was I'am a rigger, my rig is never out of date.

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[bjjman 0]

Quote

I hate plastic! Unfortunately credit has become a way of life, so I have a machine sitting on the counter. The processing company debits my checking account a few hundred dollars a month, and I'm just a small one Cessna 182 DZ. I maintain a land line phone line because of the machine, and pay something like $40 a month if I process nothing, so around $100 a month just to have the machine sitting there. You're not happy about your 3% up-charge, my policy is 5% rounded off. As the guy who has to pay the processing fees, from my preservative when you hand me a credit card you're saying "fuck you," so I simply return the sentiment, in the form of "full price."

To my knowledge it is not illegal in the state of Kansas to give a cash discount, which by the way you get if you write a check, or even use a debit card (it costs me a flat fee of $.40 to process a debit transaction.)

No Wal-Mart does not charge you to use your credit card, but I'm not Wal-Mart! Small businesses, with a relative low amount of credit transactions pay the highest fees. Wal-Mart is large enough that I'd imagine they're their own bank/credit processor, so it's apples and oranges.

I may be a bit old school, I am in my 40s. I feel almost naked if I don't have a little cash in my pocket. It's simply foreign to me, and I'll say stupid when I see people who don't have as much as pocket change, and will use plastic to buy a candy bar.

Yes, this subject if a pet peeve of mine. Visit the ATM, and carry some good old fashion Cash!!!

http://www.aircapitaldropzone.com/prices.htm

Have a nice day.
Martin

You choose to accept credit cards, and then take it as a "fuck you" when someone uses them. I'd be pissed at people for not using them if I dropped $100/month for one of those machines to sit there.

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." -Albert Einstein