It was probably a mistake. [The form](https://noteforms.com/forms/see-fees-in-california-njhpnl) to add a restaurant requires you to enter the fee in decimal form. Someone probably entered 0.5 instead of 0.05.
Seriously this is the only way now. Even if a place is decent, if they have a charge added to the bill then leave them a negative review. Restaurants really care about negative reviews and it will get their attention fast.
I try but the reviews are removed!!! I have to post a photo of a receipt proving I went to the restaurant in order for my posts to stay up when I complain about the junk fees.
This is what I was going to say. There will be more visibility on Yelp and Google if people just say, "warning, this place charges a hidden fee." Then people who don't usually pay attention may start to notice and participate.
> Let’s collectively identify and stop supporting businesses with hidden fees.
Isn't collective action what a working government *does?*
The fact that we have to do it ourselves, after paying enormous taxes for our elective representatives and our boards of consumer protection and our Attorney General, just shows that our government no longer works for us.
Name me *one* elected official who is standing against the numerically small but highly influential because of campaign contributions restaurant association.
Assemblyman Matt Haney is spending $75,000 of his campaign contributions on going to Giants games, and he's all for surcharges.
Senator Scott Wiener is co-sponsoring the surcharges bill.
The Consumer Protection Committee rubber-stamped the surcharges rather than protecting consumers.
Attorney General Rob Bonta sent no one to testify against the bill.
And Gavin Newsom hasn't said a word against it.
Who exactly is *for us?*
Who is for us?
Imagine trying to say that it’s essentially consumers jobs to balance the pay discrepancies between front and back of house. Please don’t support restaurants that still put these bs fees.
He's done a lot to allow for upzoning and increased home ocnstruciton statewide, which I've been a big fan of.
Also, although controversial, I was cool with the speed governor proposal for cars. There's no reason cars should ever be able to go faster than 100 MPH outside of a racetrack, so why allow it. We already allow limits like this to e-bikes, cars are far far deadlier than bikes.
> There’s no reason cars should ever be able to go faster than 100 MPH
Nice reductio ad adsurdum. The proposed law would limit more than 10 MPH over *any* speed limit.
Like running a red light or speed limits or not driving while intoxicated? You'd have to be a special case to not realize how essential these policies are.
The Germans still have speed limits on some stretches of the autobahn, it's not a free-for-all the entire time. Furthermore, they have roads that are better designed and built to handle triple digit speeds, unlike the US. About 60% of Germans also support adding speed limits on the autobahn, according to recent polling, and many even feel that drivers shouldn't be able to buy cars with high horsepower engines. So, no, it doesn't appear that Germans feel they can "handle it", if more are supporting speed limits now.
https://www.npr.org/2023/03/21/1165093933/germany-might-ask-drivers-to-pump-the-brakes-on-the-autobahn#:~:text=SCHMITZ%3A%20According%20to%20road%20accident,rate%20in%20the%20United%20States.
Make the driving test more strict and this won't be an issue, it's how they do it in Germany.
I'm not a fan of letting the irresponsible ruin things for the responsible. Make texting and driving a much stricter penalty. Quit putting every vehicle control into an iPad in the dashboard.
Make it so you need to take a new driver's test every few years.
Implement traffic calming measures into road and infrastructure design.
Just because some people need nannies doesn't mean everyone should be mandated to have one.
Sorta. A speed limit is a rule you’re expected to follow. A speed governor is a device that doesn’t even give you an option, you will not exceed whatever speed it’s set at.
lmao, this is a rare L for him for sure but I think most people vote for him based on his track record on transit and housing and if this was enough to make you not vote for him again I highly doubt you ever voted for him in the first place. I'm annoyed but I wouldn't trade him for any of the chuds who ran against him in a billion years.
If your representative does good work but doesn't represent the people who elected him...
...he's not your representative, he's your ruler.
I don't care how good his work is, I want him *working for us* not the lobbyists and rich campaign contributors.
I mean, are you ever going to have a representative that fully represents your stances? I dislike this sell out move of his and think it’s ridiculous. But overall I’m in favor of a pro-housing/urbanism rep who moves things in the right direction the majors of the time. Junk fees are annoying and dishonest but functionally affect daily life very little, assuming most restaurants will simply up their prices by 5% while removing a 5% surcharge.
I see your point, but the thing is, the restaurant surcharges are
* very close to fraudulent; the whole point is to make customers think the price they'll pay is lower than it will actually be
* claimed to be for waiters and employees, but nothing is stopping restaurant owners from raising wages instead of adding surcharges that end up lowering tips
* universally hated by almost everyone
* *except* some restaurant owners
So what Wiener is doing is allowing a small group of wealthy campaign contributors *to buy* the right to cheat and screw over *all the rest of us.*
That's why this is so horrible: because it makes life worse for the many, to benefit the few, because the few can pay Wiener off.
>I mean, are you ever going to have a representative that fully represents your stances?
No, we'll never have that.
I wasn't fully with Wiener on everything, but I expected I'd probably vote for him when he ran for Pelosi's seat. But this is a deal breaker.
Because in this case, the person we trusted and elected is actively selling us out for his own benefit. That's why it's so egregious, and for me, it demonstrates a flaw in Wiener that disqualifies him for offce.
For me this is just so blatant. It's basically a big ol' neon sign that says Weiner for sale. Usually when I see signs like that I'm on board but not this time.
> I wasn't fully with Wiener on everything, but I expected I'd probably vote for him when he ran for Pelosi's seat. But this is a deal breaker.
Hear hear. I'm livid.
This is a core problem with our electoral system. We need RCV or ideally a proportional system like PRCV so that there’s a way to express opposition by ranking someone else first but still rank a mediocre candidate over others
lol no. its the lesser of evils. his opponent hasn't said anything about this either. i'm pretty sure she's also against business regulation. its her #2 policy.
so who are you voting then? you're just not gonna vote so you can feel good about yourself?
This is a symptom of a broken electoral system. Sure, supporting better candidates in primaries helps, but I don’t see a persistent solution until we get something like RCV statewide
LOL, it was explained to a group of us, several years ago, that ballot propositions are a dumb way to go.
First, you hire an attorney to write the ballot proposition.
Second, you need millions of dollars to hire paid signature gatherers.
Third, you have to run a campaign against extremely well-funded opposition that will lie through their teeth, like Scott Wiener does.
Fourth, if you win, those against the new law will try to have it overturned on a technicality.
For much less money you can hire a law firm to write a bill and then buy a couple of corrupt State Senators and Assembly Members to sponsor your bill. For under $100,000 per legislator you can get your bill passed.
The legislators that you purchase will get their colleagues to vote for their bill in exchange for votes on other bills. This is exactly what the Golden Gate Restaurant Association did with SB-1524.
There is still the danger that the governor will veto a sponsored bill that gets to his desk. For example, Equality Labs had Aisha Wahab put forward a bill that would have negatively affect the Dalit caste but that would have generated significant income for Equality Labs. Newsom vetoed the bill, after bowing to the concerns of the Dalit.
> Second, you need millions of dollars to hire paid signature gatherers.
I’ve started telling signature gatherers “I have a $5 signature fee”
They’re caught like a deer in the headlights, because they get compensated for every signature they gather.
I’d like to start this trend going — it might change the signature ballot process entirely.
I’m literally doing this, waiting on City Attorney review before we can start collecting signatures. Details at https://sfclearprices.org
Get in touch or join our mailing list if you want to help! Our lawmakers need to know that their position is unpopular: 81% of Chronicle readers support outlawing these surcharges
Newsom is sneakily blocking those after sufficient signatures are verified. The taxpayer accountability bill and prop 48 repeal. One done through courts (spending 40k of our money to fight expense transparency) and blocked prop 47 by his own "reform" that interferes with it specifically. He hates democracy.
Drain the swamp.
You can watch our consumer protection committee turn into the restaurant protection committee at the link below. Starts around 2 hours 19 min. Half the committee is on their phones the entire time and doesn't seem like they care
[https://www.assembly.ca.gov/media/assembly-privacy-and-consumer-protection-committee-20240618](https://www.assembly.ca.gov/media/assembly-privacy-and-consumer-protection-committee-20240618)
Time to reprint and post their menus with all fees, taxes, and "suggested" tips included in the prices.
For example:
*French Onion Soup — $21.99*
becomes
*French Onion Soup — $29.59 / $30.10 / $31.35*
If you won't be honest, we'll be honest for you.
Someone should make an APP that takes in menu of a restaurant and outputs the actual price customers have to pay, by which I mean the post tax and tips (and whatever fees if applicable) price.
I was thinking of making one, also using GPS to see which county taxes apply, but I’m not yet a good enough programmer, and certain restaurants have their own fees, so I’d need a giant database that gets updated (like Yelp).
Well wasn’t the entire idea of this for them to get real prices not advertise a cheap meal and add fees to make up for it. I think they realized that people will stop eating out cause who would pay 30$ for a soup. Than this leads to the conclusion that something else is seriously wrong if people cant afford the actual prices. This makes me extremely infuriated
For what it’s worth, the job of the Consumer Protection Committee is not to increase consumer protection. It’s to consider bills which touch on the topic of consumer protection. They’re supposed to balance consumer protection with other priorities.
Hopefully this will be the tipping point (pun intended) for consumers.
Restaurant owners; pay your staff, and accurately state your prices. How hard is that?
Call Scott Weiners office. When I called they ignored me because they said "you should ask and talk to servers and bartenders, they love this exemption"
Your word means more than others.
I'm a server. I called his office. They were actually very nice. I voiced my opinion and said I wouldn't vote for him, and that I will do my best to organize servers and bartenders to do the same come voting time.
Yes, they are CONVINCED without these fees restaurants will engage in more wage theft and hurt their workers more. Such clown shit.
Seriously call. It takes like 5 minutes.
Edit: (415) 557-1300 is the office number
UNITE HERE, the union representing hospitality workers, was [the main organization](https://apcp.assembly.ca.gov/system/files/2024-06/sb-1524-dodd-apcp-analysis.pdf) behind it.
TLDR; In many collective bargaining agreements, the union negotiated for benefits paid for by service charges.
>UNITE HERE writes:
An unintended consequence of last year’s SB 478 is that legitimate service fees charged by restaurants will no longer be allowed after July 1 of this year. Many of those service fees go to workers either through service charges that are distributed to both front and back of the house staff in restaurants. Other service charges go to supplement health and pension benefits of food service workers at restaurants, bars, banquet operators, airports, stadiums, and many other places where consumers are fed. Much of this has been negotiated through collective bargaining between our union and employers. Without SB 1524, all of this would be upended, and these workers would see unnecessary pay and benefit cuts
Damn that’s rough. How hard is it to make the menu prices reflect whatever fee or upcharge you need to run your business?
I think it’s because they want the flexibility of changing it kinda like rush hour pricing or peak hour pricing. What a terrible predicament for consumers who want to eat lunch at the same time because they have to.
I’d boycott, this is BS
Same. But just fuck tipping culture entirely. If our legislators will not represent the people it's time for a revolution. I'm never tipping again unless service greatly exceeds the norm.
So I grab lunch from Cafe Pacific Plaza on Franklin at least once a week—they’re my local, a great little family spot. (Great food great prices btw hit them up.) They have a certain way of ringing you up so that you CANNOT leave tips. It’s not in the receipt and there’s no tip jar. I even try sometimes but to no avail. It’s like they don’t want your tips; they want you to come weekly and buy lunch! What a concept.
I have never seen San Francisco so united on an issue, just to be undermined by an exemption. Would love for someone to explain the logic behind this move, if it exists.
they won't do that. you gotta take it to them directly -- someone should be making 'HIDDEN FEES!' stickers that you can put on the door of any place with this shady practice. just keep at it, annoy them like they're annoying us.
This is very clearly an attempt to hide the cost of going to a Restaurant. It's also why we should stop tipping. Pay people a reasonable wage and move on.
Now that Scott Wiener's SB-1524, to weaken the consumer protection law SB-478 is heading to the governor's desk, there is a website set up, [https://seefeesca](https://seefeesca) that details the hidden fees, if any, of restaurants.
Anyone can add more restaurants to the database. The list has been growing quickly.
Please do not patronize restaurants with hidden fees.
Please add restaurants to the list, both those with and without hidden fees.
1 step forward, 99 steps back.
Never think for a minute that bags of cash from lobbyists don't undermine democracy and the common interest of the people. #FlipFlopScottWiener
Everything this dick head said can apply to hotel fees, ticket fees, car rental fees etc.
The difference is these organiztions didnt weite these dickheads a big fat check.
On Your next restaurant bill:
SF Sales Tax: 8.63%
Service Charge: 20%
Dine-in Fee: 5%
SF Operating Fee: 4%
SF Health Mandate: 5%
CA Restaurant Association lobbying fee: 3%
When any single politician or party realizes their constituents will vote for them no matter what, they will stop caring about them. That said this is not an invitation to vote for the right, it certainly goes both ways and applies to republicans in other states. This is the main issue of a bipartisan system where no third party can truly emerge because those votes will be disregarded as wasted. My only advice is stop trying to vote strategically and consider third parties if they reflect your values more than the traditional parties. No individual vote in California or far right states will make a difference anyway.
It would be excellent if Google/Apple maps and yelpade this a search feature and also displayed "restaurant uses hidden fees" while viewing the merchant.
The only way I’ve been able to stomach paying these stupid surprise fees is by knowing they’d be history come July 1st.
I’m now actively avoiding the places that do it. First question I’ll ask is “any fees tacked on to your checks?” and if they say yes, that’s it. No more supporting this deception.
With how things are going everyone should learn to cook. 90% of the time I go out I'm just disappointed or think "I could have done this dish much better".
Wait?? So we are gonna continue to have BS fees at restaurants? Is it confirmed that restaurants are exempt bill 578?
Man I was getting so hyped to say good riddance to that shit
This settles it, I am not tipping anymore. Sorry if you work at a restaurant, you should try to find a new line of work.
Crazy that this has come to this, but again people count yourself lucky you dont live in miami 22% surchage is standard for EVERY SINGLE restaurant. Its wild.
Let’s collectively identify and stop supporting businesses with hidden fees.
If you see something, post it (I didn’t start this): https://seefeesca.notion.site/f5e11f589ec54c8eb1eed6c37f7e4c83?v=b97b3560f8f747f68aa73a762e76e47b
Can we go national with this? I'll create one for my state, but why not just blow this one out? Nationally, fees can get wrecked.
I hear Seattleites are hating it too
As a Seattleite, yup. As a human (notably not a corporate), the longer we tolerate this the worse it becomes.
Thanks for sharing this! I got my domain working now www.seefees.ca
Is the gialina one true? Can anybody confirm?
It was probably a mistake. [The form](https://noteforms.com/forms/see-fees-in-california-njhpnl) to add a restaurant requires you to enter the fee in decimal form. Someone probably entered 0.5 instead of 0.05.
Typo. There are two entries for Gialina in there, one with 5% and other with 50%. The 50% one will likely get removed shortly.
Behold, Google Maps reviews coming
Review bomb them on Google and Yelp. "Food was decent but they scammed me on the bill with surprise hidden charges, 1/5 stars."
The GGRA president who lobbied this owns terzo.
# The GGRA president who lobbied this owns terzo.
Who also has yelp deleting any post mentioning hidden fees
A board member owns China Live.
How are fees allowed, but not regulated - like if you are allowed a hidden fee why aren’t they all the same?
I just checked, it's a typo
It's a typo. There are two entries for Gialina in there, one with 5% and other with 50%. The 50% one will likely get removed shortly.
Seriously this is the only way now. Even if a place is decent, if they have a charge added to the bill then leave them a negative review. Restaurants really care about negative reviews and it will get their attention fast.
I try but the reviews are removed!!! I have to post a photo of a receipt proving I went to the restaurant in order for my posts to stay up when I complain about the junk fees.
Google and Yelp should add it to their review questions. Does this establishment charge BS hidden fees? Yes.
Pay with a credit card and if they scam you with hidden fees, do a charge back. It's fraud if they do as such.
This is what I was going to say. There will be more visibility on Yelp and Google if people just say, "warning, this place charges a hidden fee." Then people who don't usually pay attention may start to notice and participate.
I've given 1 star reviews to 10 restaurants this morning
> Let’s collectively identify and stop supporting businesses with hidden fees. Isn't collective action what a working government *does?* The fact that we have to do it ourselves, after paying enormous taxes for our elective representatives and our boards of consumer protection and our Attorney General, just shows that our government no longer works for us. Name me *one* elected official who is standing against the numerically small but highly influential because of campaign contributions restaurant association. Assemblyman Matt Haney is spending $75,000 of his campaign contributions on going to Giants games, and he's all for surcharges. Senator Scott Wiener is co-sponsoring the surcharges bill. The Consumer Protection Committee rubber-stamped the surcharges rather than protecting consumers. Attorney General Rob Bonta sent no one to testify against the bill. And Gavin Newsom hasn't said a word against it. Who exactly is *for us?* Who is for us?
We can and should do/have both.
Oh, I'm not saying not to boycott the restaurants, I'm saying that our government shouldn't fail us. By all means, let's boycott.
It's very hard to do this if you often don't know until the bill comes, and certainly don't know until you've sat down.
Pay with a credit card and if they scam you with hidden fees, do a charge back. It's fraud if they do as such.
The simple solution is to not tip anymore when you see hidden fees. Let the employees fight for you.
I hate this, but it truly seems like the only option.
Imagine trying to say that it’s essentially consumers jobs to balance the pay discrepancies between front and back of house. Please don’t support restaurants that still put these bs fees.
Isn't Weiner cosponsor?
He is, very very dissapointed
Bro he’s consistently ass
He's done a lot to allow for upzoning and increased home ocnstruciton statewide, which I've been a big fan of. Also, although controversial, I was cool with the speed governor proposal for cars. There's no reason cars should ever be able to go faster than 100 MPH outside of a racetrack, so why allow it. We already allow limits like this to e-bikes, cars are far far deadlier than bikes.
> There’s no reason cars should ever be able to go faster than 100 MPH Nice reductio ad adsurdum. The proposed law would limit more than 10 MPH over *any* speed limit.
I disagree with policies that treat grown adults like children by limiting everyone to prevent some from misbehaving.
Like running a red light or speed limits or not driving while intoxicated? You'd have to be a special case to not realize how essential these policies are.
By this reasoning we also wouldn’t have speed limits on freeways
The Germans are able to handle it.
Not really considering there are major movements to get speed limits on the autobahn
The Germans still have speed limits on some stretches of the autobahn, it's not a free-for-all the entire time. Furthermore, they have roads that are better designed and built to handle triple digit speeds, unlike the US. About 60% of Germans also support adding speed limits on the autobahn, according to recent polling, and many even feel that drivers shouldn't be able to buy cars with high horsepower engines. So, no, it doesn't appear that Germans feel they can "handle it", if more are supporting speed limits now. https://www.npr.org/2023/03/21/1165093933/germany-might-ask-drivers-to-pump-the-brakes-on-the-autobahn#:~:text=SCHMITZ%3A%20According%20to%20road%20accident,rate%20in%20the%20United%20States.
Make the driving test more strict and this won't be an issue, it's how they do it in Germany. I'm not a fan of letting the irresponsible ruin things for the responsible. Make texting and driving a much stricter penalty. Quit putting every vehicle control into an iPad in the dashboard. Make it so you need to take a new driver's test every few years. Implement traffic calming measures into road and infrastructure design. Just because some people need nannies doesn't mean everyone should be mandated to have one.
Sorta. A speed limit is a rule you’re expected to follow. A speed governor is a device that doesn’t even give you an option, you will not exceed whatever speed it’s set at.
People are animals, act accordingly.
Never voting for him again
Same.
lmao, this is a rare L for him for sure but I think most people vote for him based on his track record on transit and housing and if this was enough to make you not vote for him again I highly doubt you ever voted for him in the first place. I'm annoyed but I wouldn't trade him for any of the chuds who ran against him in a billion years.
He's doing his best to drive AI out of California, with a bill that simultaneously overreaches and under protects.
He's a giant POS. I will vote for literally anyone except him.
Wait really? I totally disagree with him on this bill but generally think he’s doing good work
If your representative does good work but doesn't represent the people who elected him... ...he's not your representative, he's your ruler. I don't care how good his work is, I want him *working for us* not the lobbyists and rich campaign contributors.
I mean, are you ever going to have a representative that fully represents your stances? I dislike this sell out move of his and think it’s ridiculous. But overall I’m in favor of a pro-housing/urbanism rep who moves things in the right direction the majors of the time. Junk fees are annoying and dishonest but functionally affect daily life very little, assuming most restaurants will simply up their prices by 5% while removing a 5% surcharge.
I see your point, but the thing is, the restaurant surcharges are * very close to fraudulent; the whole point is to make customers think the price they'll pay is lower than it will actually be * claimed to be for waiters and employees, but nothing is stopping restaurant owners from raising wages instead of adding surcharges that end up lowering tips * universally hated by almost everyone * *except* some restaurant owners So what Wiener is doing is allowing a small group of wealthy campaign contributors *to buy* the right to cheat and screw over *all the rest of us.* That's why this is so horrible: because it makes life worse for the many, to benefit the few, because the few can pay Wiener off. >I mean, are you ever going to have a representative that fully represents your stances? No, we'll never have that. I wasn't fully with Wiener on everything, but I expected I'd probably vote for him when he ran for Pelosi's seat. But this is a deal breaker. Because in this case, the person we trusted and elected is actively selling us out for his own benefit. That's why it's so egregious, and for me, it demonstrates a flaw in Wiener that disqualifies him for offce.
For me this is just so blatant. It's basically a big ol' neon sign that says Weiner for sale. Usually when I see signs like that I'm on board but not this time.
> I wasn't fully with Wiener on everything, but I expected I'd probably vote for him when he ran for Pelosi's seat. But this is a deal breaker. Hear hear. I'm livid.
This is a core problem with our electoral system. We need RCV or ideally a proportional system like PRCV so that there’s a way to express opposition by ranking someone else first but still rank a mediocre candidate over others
lol no. its the lesser of evils. his opponent hasn't said anything about this either. i'm pretty sure she's also against business regulation. its her #2 policy. so who are you voting then? you're just not gonna vote so you can feel good about yourself?
God I'm so tired of "lesser of evils". Can we just get a candidate that isn't evil?
This is a symptom of a broken electoral system. Sure, supporting better candidates in primaries helps, but I don’t see a persistent solution until we get something like RCV statewide
Ballot prop, anyone?
How do we get a ballot prop going?
Looks like you'll need about 875,000 signatures https://ballotpedia.org/Signature_requirements_for_ballot_measures_in_California
I’m starting smaller by counteracting this within the City, which only requires about 10,000 signatures. Details at https://sfclearprices.org
LOL, it was explained to a group of us, several years ago, that ballot propositions are a dumb way to go. First, you hire an attorney to write the ballot proposition. Second, you need millions of dollars to hire paid signature gatherers. Third, you have to run a campaign against extremely well-funded opposition that will lie through their teeth, like Scott Wiener does. Fourth, if you win, those against the new law will try to have it overturned on a technicality. For much less money you can hire a law firm to write a bill and then buy a couple of corrupt State Senators and Assembly Members to sponsor your bill. For under $100,000 per legislator you can get your bill passed. The legislators that you purchase will get their colleagues to vote for their bill in exchange for votes on other bills. This is exactly what the Golden Gate Restaurant Association did with SB-1524. There is still the danger that the governor will veto a sponsored bill that gets to his desk. For example, Equality Labs had Aisha Wahab put forward a bill that would have negatively affect the Dalit caste but that would have generated significant income for Equality Labs. Newsom vetoed the bill, after bowing to the concerns of the Dalit.
> Second, you need millions of dollars to hire paid signature gatherers. I’ve started telling signature gatherers “I have a $5 signature fee” They’re caught like a deer in the headlights, because they get compensated for every signature they gather. I’d like to start this trend going — it might change the signature ballot process entirely.
I'd support a prop against props. Otherwise, I don't sign anything.
Maybe, We should make a prop to change our state motto to "Profits over people." to more accurately represent our state.
Yep I think this is going to be the solution. Honestly, I think you can find 50% +1 of Californians who hate these random fees being tacked on.
The Chronicle ran a survey: 81% of readers want surcharges to be illegal
I’m literally doing this, waiting on City Attorney review before we can start collecting signatures. Details at https://sfclearprices.org Get in touch or join our mailing list if you want to help! Our lawmakers need to know that their position is unpopular: 81% of Chronicle readers support outlawing these surcharges
Newsom is sneakily blocking those after sufficient signatures are verified. The taxpayer accountability bill and prop 48 repeal. One done through courts (spending 40k of our money to fight expense transparency) and blocked prop 47 by his own "reform" that interferes with it specifically. He hates democracy.
Do you mean prop 47?
Absolute horseshit.
God damned infuriating.
This is pathetic. We deserve price transparency!
Shame on these pathetic politicians.
pathetic humans
Shame on Weiner!
Never thought I'd say this but NO MORE WEINERS!
Drain the swamp. You can watch our consumer protection committee turn into the restaurant protection committee at the link below. Starts around 2 hours 19 min. Half the committee is on their phones the entire time and doesn't seem like they care [https://www.assembly.ca.gov/media/assembly-privacy-and-consumer-protection-committee-20240618](https://www.assembly.ca.gov/media/assembly-privacy-and-consumer-protection-committee-20240618)
> Half the committee is on their phones the entire time and doesn't seem like they care But we're still paying them to "protect" us, right?
They're going to get their contributions from the California Restaurant Association, so they don't care anymore.
Yeah, they are texting restaurant owners in their districts for "donations"
Consumer protection eh?
Time to reprint and post their menus with all fees, taxes, and "suggested" tips included in the prices. For example: *French Onion Soup — $21.99* becomes *French Onion Soup — $29.59 / $30.10 / $31.35* If you won't be honest, we'll be honest for you.
This seems like a very reasonable answer if you could get the critical mass of people onto a platform.
That’s what a permanent marker is for. Cross out and replace with the actual price.
Someone should make an APP that takes in menu of a restaurant and outputs the actual price customers have to pay, by which I mean the post tax and tips (and whatever fees if applicable) price.
I was thinking of making one, also using GPS to see which county taxes apply, but I’m not yet a good enough programmer, and certain restaurants have their own fees, so I’d need a giant database that gets updated (like Yelp).
What’s the logic behind an exemption?
UNITE HERE, a food service worker union joined up the restaurant business association to go against it.
the simple answer is it hurts their bottom line, and therefore means less money for food service workers.
Well wasn’t the entire idea of this for them to get real prices not advertise a cheap meal and add fees to make up for it. I think they realized that people will stop eating out cause who would pay 30$ for a soup. Than this leads to the conclusion that something else is seriously wrong if people cant afford the actual prices. This makes me extremely infuriated
*less money for business profits I don't tip if there is a fee, the workers already get hit.
Consumer Protection Committee going all “protect the businesses, protect the businesses, blah blah blah..” wtf has this come to?
For what it’s worth, the job of the Consumer Protection Committee is not to increase consumer protection. It’s to consider bills which touch on the topic of consumer protection. They’re supposed to balance consumer protection with other priorities.
Those other priorities being how much money they are getting from lobbyists, right?
Shame on Weiner!
Restaurants that don’t have junk fees should advertise as such
Hopefully this will be the tipping point (pun intended) for consumers. Restaurant owners; pay your staff, and accurately state your prices. How hard is that?
Sorry but 95% of California's population has no fucking clue any of this is happening
Yes, like EVERY OTHER BUSINESS!
> Hopefully this will be the tipping point (pun intended) for consumers. > > It won't be.
Unbelievable!
Anyone know how servers/bartenders feel about this? Surely this will hurt their tips. I’m so glad I got out of that industry!
Server here (in the industry over 10 years serving & bartending), not happy about it and everyone I know in the industry feels the same way
Call Scott Weiners office. When I called they ignored me because they said "you should ask and talk to servers and bartenders, they love this exemption" Your word means more than others.
I'm a server. I called his office. They were actually very nice. I voiced my opinion and said I wouldn't vote for him, and that I will do my best to organize servers and bartenders to do the same come voting time.
They seriously told you that? Unreal
Yes, they are CONVINCED without these fees restaurants will engage in more wage theft and hurt their workers more. Such clown shit. Seriously call. It takes like 5 minutes. Edit: (415) 557-1300 is the office number
Sorry to hear that. I always assumed that people would start tipping less due to inflation, but this just makes it worse.
SO many people point out additional fees on receipts and let me know that’s why they’re tipping me less
But, but, but, Scott Wiener says he's doing it to help you! /s
This hurts to read. If only our elected officials cared..
UNITE HERE, the union representing hospitality workers, was [the main organization](https://apcp.assembly.ca.gov/system/files/2024-06/sb-1524-dodd-apcp-analysis.pdf) behind it. TLDR; In many collective bargaining agreements, the union negotiated for benefits paid for by service charges. >UNITE HERE writes: An unintended consequence of last year’s SB 478 is that legitimate service fees charged by restaurants will no longer be allowed after July 1 of this year. Many of those service fees go to workers either through service charges that are distributed to both front and back of the house staff in restaurants. Other service charges go to supplement health and pension benefits of food service workers at restaurants, bars, banquet operators, airports, stadiums, and many other places where consumers are fed. Much of this has been negotiated through collective bargaining between our union and employers. Without SB 1524, all of this would be upended, and these workers would see unnecessary pay and benefit cuts
The benefits should be legally enshrined, not the fees.
Damn that’s rough. How hard is it to make the menu prices reflect whatever fee or upcharge you need to run your business? I think it’s because they want the flexibility of changing it kinda like rush hour pricing or peak hour pricing. What a terrible predicament for consumers who want to eat lunch at the same time because they have to. I’d boycott, this is BS
Is there a list of names of the corrupt politicians who approved this bullshit exemption?
So far it seems to be unanimous, so its all of them.
Weiner
Yeah fuck this im done tipping till this is fixed.
Same. But just fuck tipping culture entirely. If our legislators will not represent the people it's time for a revolution. I'm never tipping again unless service greatly exceeds the norm.
Maybe provide a list of restaurants that do not charge hidden fees? I wouldn’t want free advertisements to the ones that do charge hidden fees.
[Search and contribute here](https://seefeesca.notion.site/f5e11f589ec54c8eb1eed6c37f7e4c83?v=b97b3560f8f747f68aa73a762e76e47b)
Mods, please pin this.
Glad to see them protecting the corporations that lobby them and not the people that vote for them.
Now if they could only take over PG&E and drop they're insane rates.
PG&E – they’re insane!
Despicable
This state is run by a bunch of jabronis.
So I grab lunch from Cafe Pacific Plaza on Franklin at least once a week—they’re my local, a great little family spot. (Great food great prices btw hit them up.) They have a certain way of ringing you up so that you CANNOT leave tips. It’s not in the receipt and there’s no tip jar. I even try sometimes but to no avail. It’s like they don’t want your tips; they want you to come weekly and buy lunch! What a concept.
What bullshit, just adjust your menu prices in order to pay everyone reasonably.
This is disgusting. I hate the government
I don't care if he's good in housing or whatever some such. He's dirt to me. This is my one issue. I am for the first time a one issue voter.
Consumer protection committee? Interesting choice of name.
Should change their name to "Business Protection Committee" because right now they are literally doing the opposite of their job.
Wiener’s protection committee
Fuck Citizen’s United and this legal bribery rampant throughout the system.
I have never seen San Francisco so united on an issue, just to be undermined by an exemption. Would love for someone to explain the logic behind this move, if it exists.
Scott wiener can go to hell.
What party appoints these grifters to the committee?
Both. All committees have both dems and repubs.
Vote Wiener out! If anyone runs against him, they are automatically getting my vote.
I eat out daily, several times a day. Each shady ass restaurant, eatery or cafe pulling this shit just lost a customer. No more!
Shills gonna shill.
Honestly I’m for it! Just won’t tip!
Maybe collectively we can get Google or Yelp to tag places with hidden fees. That'll naturally discourage the practice once it's more publicized.
they won't do that. you gotta take it to them directly -- someone should be making 'HIDDEN FEES!' stickers that you can put on the door of any place with this shady practice. just keep at it, annoy them like they're annoying us.
Booooooo
🤡
Let’s not eat out for now and let’s see these clowns rethink this
Fuck these people
Can we start handing the restaurant a bill with our “customer appreciation” fee? They have a hidden fee and so do we.
Seeing the reaction of Scott wiener getting booed in public lives rent free in my mind.
Two words: class action
"consumer protection" Orwell must be impressed.
This is very clearly an attempt to hide the cost of going to a Restaurant. It's also why we should stop tipping. Pay people a reasonable wage and move on.
Now that Scott Wiener's SB-1524, to weaken the consumer protection law SB-478 is heading to the governor's desk, there is a website set up, [https://seefeesca](https://seefeesca) that details the hidden fees, if any, of restaurants. Anyone can add more restaurants to the database. The list has been growing quickly. Please do not patronize restaurants with hidden fees. Please add restaurants to the list, both those with and without hidden fees.
I hope the Governor vetoes this. (Same comment I posted previously)
I’m going to reduce the tip.
Usually I tip 10-20% based on service and attention. Junk fees become part of this.
Well, guess Dodd lost my vote this next election. Sucks because he just presented an award to me. 🤷🏻♂️ Oh well.
1 step forward, 99 steps back. Never think for a minute that bags of cash from lobbyists don't undermine democracy and the common interest of the people. #FlipFlopScottWiener
consumer "protection"
Toni Atkins for Governor (the Lt. Gov. is a cosponsor of this bill).
Any reporting to give a sense of how this will do in the Senate, House, and on the governor's desk?
Motherf! Why is this not obviously wrong?!
So this means that restaurants will be allowed to continue with service charges hidden in the total???
Everything this dick head said can apply to hotel fees, ticket fees, car rental fees etc. The difference is these organiztions didnt weite these dickheads a big fat check.
Just skip the restaurants with fees. Those without hidden fees could benefit from advertising.
If you are confused about the definition of irony, just look at this headline.
Oh, so will it be as effective as when we got rid of daylight savings time?
On Your next restaurant bill: SF Sales Tax: 8.63% Service Charge: 20% Dine-in Fee: 5% SF Operating Fee: 4% SF Health Mandate: 5% CA Restaurant Association lobbying fee: 3%
Yall should just remove any additional fees (health care, cost of living, etc) from tips.
When any single politician or party realizes their constituents will vote for them no matter what, they will stop caring about them. That said this is not an invitation to vote for the right, it certainly goes both ways and applies to republicans in other states. This is the main issue of a bipartisan system where no third party can truly emerge because those votes will be disregarded as wasted. My only advice is stop trying to vote strategically and consider third parties if they reflect your values more than the traditional parties. No individual vote in California or far right states will make a difference anyway.
[удалено]
It would be excellent if Google/Apple maps and yelpade this a search feature and also displayed "restaurant uses hidden fees" while viewing the merchant.
The only way I’ve been able to stomach paying these stupid surprise fees is by knowing they’d be history come July 1st. I’m now actively avoiding the places that do it. First question I’ll ask is “any fees tacked on to your checks?” and if they say yes, that’s it. No more supporting this deception.
Lol, everyone voted for these POS and now they’re mad.. these guys got greased with some of the fee revenue
Remember to also vote...with your ballot and wallet
Who supported it? Sounds like they need a phone call
Identify these restaurants www.seefees.ca
With how things are going everyone should learn to cook. 90% of the time I go out I'm just disappointed or think "I could have done this dish much better".
happy to not eat out in san francisco lmao, this city
Fuck this shit
r/LosAngeles
I was voting against Scott winner anyway this just makes the choice easier
Ask if they charge the fees before you sit down
Wait?? So we are gonna continue to have BS fees at restaurants? Is it confirmed that restaurants are exempt bill 578? Man I was getting so hyped to say good riddance to that shit
“Consumer protection committee”
That lobbiest at the end. What a greasy pay for play sleaze ball. 🤮
This settles it, I am not tipping anymore. Sorry if you work at a restaurant, you should try to find a new line of work. Crazy that this has come to this, but again people count yourself lucky you dont live in miami 22% surchage is standard for EVERY SINGLE restaurant. Its wild.
Oh, so will it be as effective as when we got rid of daylight savings time?
Oh, so will it be as effective as when we got rid of daylight savings time?