Starting from today Dock Street Brewery (50th & Baltimore) is not going to accept credit or debit cards on Wednesdays, so if you are going there tonight make sure to bring enough cash. The popular neighborhood restaurant is showing support to the “Occupy” movement by taking a stand against credit card companies who charge businesses fees for processing credit or debit card payments. According to a Dock Street press release, operating on a cash-only system will allow them to keep the money in the pockets of the 99 percent.
Saving this money will allow Dock Street to give everyone a 3 percent discount on Wednesdays. Occupiers and their supporters are especially welcome to come and make a statement by leaving their credit cards at home.
December 21st, 2011 at 11:51 am
Totally support this move by Dock St, and I hope others will follow in their footsteps.
December 21st, 2011 at 1:51 pm
I’m a little confused. Doesn’t this just pass the charge onto the customers in the form of ATM fees? Is that counterbalanced by the 3% discount?
December 21st, 2011 at 4:21 pm
But only on Wednesdays. That will stick it to them.
December 21st, 2011 at 4:27 pm
@Karl I live relatively near to the 50th/Baltimore PFCU, so convenience is biasing my recommendation, but they don’t charge for ATM transactions at their ATMs, and they offer no-fee transactions in all WaWa and 7-11 ATMs as well.
January 25th, 2012 at 6:26 pm
Just got back from Dock Street on a Wednesday and I am annoyed. The 50th & Baltimore PFCU charges $1.50, and my bank charges me $2.00 at other ATMs. I spent about $20, so instead of 3%, the banks made 17.5% off of me due to cash-only Wednesdays! I like Dock Street–I like their beer, I like their pizza, and I appreciate the sentiment…but this just doesn’t work.
January 29th, 2012 at 9:05 pm
this is possibly the lamest marketing scheme of all time. Occupy is not for sale. stop treating our movement as a brand for you to sell overpriced food and drinks.
if you were really in solidarity with the Occupy movement you would invite us to have our General Assemblies or meetings in your restaurant. and the food would be free, just like our food committee is able to accomplish with no budget.
January 30th, 2012 at 8:38 am
I agree with Alex. This is obviously a marketing scheme and it really turns me off to Dock Street. I was OK with the fact that their pizza and beer is very expensive, as the quality is good. But please Dock Street, don’t try to capitalize on the Occupy movement – really sickening.
January 30th, 2012 at 10:00 am
Rosemarie has long complained about the high transactions fees credit card companies charge vendors. This idea may be self-interested because she hates the high fees the banks charge her to get to hold her money in a way that is in fact easier for them but I think you are sort of missing the point if you really believe she is actually trying “cash in” on the Occupy “brand” in some way. Nobody is rushing out to buy pizza and craft beer mistakenly believing that it is somehow benefiting the Occupy movement. Its more that she dislikes this sneaky fee banks try to place indirectly on consumers (which most small businesses eat by raising prices on everybody – even those who pay with cash) and attempting to make her complaint on the practice public in a very small way.
Love it or hate it, its not “capitilizing on the Occupy movement”. Its more using some of the increased awareness of how banks profit from hidden fees on consumers to make a small point about one of her personal pet peeves.
January 30th, 2012 at 10:16 am
What I mean is you may love/hate/be annoyed by Dock Street’s effort to publically pass along the savings from the hidden processing fees put on everyone (even those who pay with cash) but its more about publicizing her gripe in a way people can conceptualize not trying to sell something people would not be buying anyway to profit off of Occupy.
Its not like say this $22 Rocawear T-shirt.
http://www.drjays.com/shop/P1200951/rocawear/occupy-all-street-ss-tee.html?utm_source=cse&utm_medium=googlebase&utm_campaign=rocawear%20-%20men&utm_term=1200951%20-%20occupy-all-street-ss-tee
August 16th, 2012 at 8:59 am
I don’t buy this. In the end this “stand” has no impact on the credit card companies and only serves to inconvenience customers who have come to expect that the restaurant will accept their credit cards. In fact, it would seem Dockstreet is basically acknowledging that they have chosen to pass this fee on to the customer. If “the 99%” didn’t want to pay that fee shouldn’t THEY take a stand and not use their credit card?
If Dockstreet wants to take a real stand against this practice, they should offer the 3% discount to every customer that chooses to pay with cash REGARDLESS OF THE DAY. Seems to me that this would be a better way of showing their customers the hidden fees charged by the credit card companies and offering them the benefit of being able to choose whether or not it is worth it for them.