I've recently noticed that heaps of restaurants have started charging 10 - 15% more over weekends - including Saturdays. It often just gets added on to the bill even though I didn't see it written anywhere, like on the menu or a sign. What is the deal with this? Do restaurant staff actually get paid more on Saturdays? It also seems kind of unreasonable to be charging 10% more for things like takeaway coffee on a Saturday, considering I didn't have any table service or make any dishes that need to be cleaned afterwards.
Saturday Surcharges - do staff actually get paid more on Saturdays?
MollyJ77 on 21/09/2022 - 16:36
Comments
According to their Award they should be paid more on weekends
Restaurant Industry Award
If you are covered by the Restaurant Industry Award, your penalty rates will be:
If you are not a casual employee
Saturday: 125%
Sunday: 150%
Public Holiday: 225%
If you are a casual employee
Saturday: 150%
Sunday: 150%
Public Holiday: 250%
The surcharge needs to be visible to you and if not then I would not pay it.
Seems reasonable to me, from a cost (increase) recovery perspective.
…unreasonable to be charging 10% more for things like takeaway coffee on a Saturday…
Did you make it yourself or did someone make it for you?
I work in a restaurant as a casual. On weekdays I get $27/h and $32/h on weekends
Instead of raising prices 10% on Saturdays they should raise prices 1.5% on all days. Or offer a discount for meals on weekdays, like weekday lunch specials.
Why…?
Simplifies things, gives everything one price. Charging more for weekends feels grubby, like a stereotypical greedy business owner's reaction to employee wages. Kmart doesn't charge more on weekends, even though shelves still need to be restocked, faced up, and manning checkouts. Charge just a single price and accept you'll make more on weekdays per unit and less on weekends. But also accept that business will be better on Fridays and weekends.
Wouldn't surprise me if a lot of these businesses already priced their stuff like that, and the extra 10% on Saturdays is just a cash grab.
Small business owners love paying penalty rates, while lying around in their hot tubs with bikini clad models, showering cash like confetti and smoking a big stogie and popping champagne and laughing at the rubes paying the 10% extra at their cafe.
even though shelves still need to be restocked
They don't restock shelves on weekends at KMart and even supermarkets barely do (often only for bakery produce), and they long since stopped doing restocks out of business hours.
I agree it would be nicer just to see the final price up front, ultimately it's a thing I think people need to vote with their feet on. Many businesses don't open on weekends because it wouldn't be profitable to do so (which I think is also kind of the point, to give people weekends, or compensation if you don't).
@[Deactivated]: They do if what's on the shelf sells out. And they need to be faced up as well.
Sure some restaurants don't open on weekends. But the usual thing is for a restaurant to not open on a weekday because weekdays are too slow, the weekends is where the real money is even after factoring in penalty rates. The stereotype is a mom and pop restaurant closing on a Monday or even a Tuesday because business is just too slow even though the hourly wage for workers is the lowest.
@AustriaBargain: My experience is usually empty shelves on the weekends (hell, empty later at night on week nights before they get new stock), in both KMart and even supermarkets. If you're seeing fully stocked shelves I'd suggest you're not going anywhere they sell a shelf out over the weekend. Many only get twice weekly deliveries and all the stock immediately goes onto the shelves because they don't have anywhere else out back to put it. They used to stock shelves on weekends 20 years ago, but that's not a thing in any large chain I've been in the last ten years, why would they bother when they can do it cheaper on weekdays? If it's a store that still has any stockroom they'll at best get stock on request, and many don't have stock to restock anyway.
the weekends is where the real money is even after factoring in penalty rates.
It honestly depends on the location, near offices for example they're ghost towns.
The stereotype is a mom and pop restaurant closing on a Monday or even a Tuesday because business is just too slow even though the hourly wage for workers is the lowest.
Mom and Pop restaurants close on a the quietest days because they're not paying themselves penalty rates and it's the only way they get time off, and usually only Monday.
Obviously there are still profitable places on weekends, but a good chunk of that is because rent isn't higher to open an additional day, and some are even forced to open by their landlords as part of their contracts. If you go to a major shopping center you'll likely find many stores that are operating at a loss on weekends but are contractually required to open anyway, having to make that up mid week.
Of course I'm not just talking about restaurants, other businesses aren't profitable to open weekends, eg medical practices etc, because the staffing costs are more than the fees collected which don't get surcharged.
None of this is an argument against penalty rates, I fully support them, I just think people have overly rosy views of how affordable they are for places not charging $40 for a main.
@[Deactivated]: If a weekend is not profitable for a restaurant, then by all means close on a weekend. It'll free up the workers weekends to do things they enjoy on weekends, like going out to restaurants.
@AustriaBargain: Yes, I agree, that is the point of penalty rates after all, to give people the same weekend as everyone else or a penalty if you don't.
As I pointed out above though, some places are contractually obligated to open, and of course since they can surcharge many more are profitable….. It's more other stores that only open if contractually obligated even when unprofitable.
@[Deactivated]: Supermarkets are stocked 7 days a week and have night stock fillers. Work at main chain one. Nothing has changed
@Geoff01: ‘Night fill’ used to be overnight, never occurring with customers in the store, you can trip over staff stocking shelves from 6-9pm now. And yes some items are stocked, others absolutely are not more than once or twice a week.
@[Deactivated]: Well not in our store, maybe it's the supply issue, our stock is turned over everyday and empty shelf reports generated everyday to be restocked..if stock is available.dont have room to hoard items out the back
Why should we all pay for weekend diners.
With the dramatically increased business on weekends, it's more like weekend diners paying for weekday diners.
Abysmal extra pay on Saturday, But do have to work terribly extra, and too much effort on Saturdays. Its almost better of to not work on saturdays at all if I had a choice.
Actually i know several hospitality workers who much prefer to work weekends for the extra pay and take days off during the week.
Even if they do get paid more, should they? I mean, if they weren't working a shift, how many would actually be spending their time any differently to any other day? I call BS on the justification for penalty rates.
Penalty rates for some was to compensate for not spending weekend quality time with family. Example most families. Weekends for social time with friends. Society use to function fine years ago with 5 and a half day trading.
You mean like any trade that charges more on a weekend. Maybe you have them off or maybe week rates in these industries is poor and penalties is all that creates a liveable wage.
I just went to a place on Thursday during the queens mourning holiday, where they had added the 15% surcharge to the price of each line item, then added another 15% on top. I was ok with 15% but 30% is crazy. It was a mistake and they said they’d refund it … so worth watching the receipt
Public holidays incur a 225% wage rate. They couldn't operate without a surcharge
maybe it costs 10% more to deal with saturday customers.