Same difference?

I think all this fuss about companies imposing a surcharge for paying by plastic is aiming at the wrong target.  The manufacturer of an article or the provider of a service has settled on the price they need for the manufacture of that article, or the provision of that service and that is the price they will charge.  It is for the consumer to decide whether that is a price they are prepared to pay.  How that price is made up is really neither here nor there.  If companies are not allowed to factor into that price a premium for paying by plastic, they will simply adjust their tariff in some other way so that the overall total remains the same.  What the Government should be aiming their fire at is the way the public are willfully misled by the way certain things are advertised.  The price is the price and if it is a fair one, people will pay it - the problem arises when you think you are going to pay one price, only to find further down the line that the actual price is very different.  So it's not a price problem, it's an advertising problem.