Aldi makes visible swipe tax on contactless payments

According to Aldi Australia’s website, the company charges a 0.5% credit card fee on all credit card purchases to cover the cost of the service, but the tax also extends to customers who complete contactless transactions using their debit cards. 

If customers want to avoid paying a surcharge for their groceries, they can insert a debit card and select savings, instead of Tap-To-Pay. 

Aldi offers various payment methods, with the most common ones being via Mastercard and Visa but also contactless transactions. The company allows customers to choose their preferred payment method and benefit from the discount prices by paying cash or choosing an alternative payment method with smaller transaction processing fees. 

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), in conjunction with the Reserve Bank of Australia standard, introduced a ban against excessive surcharges in 2016 which limits card processing fees to 2% per transaction.