Here’s something that probably happened to you in the last week. You swiped your card, grabbed your bags, maybe shoved the receipt into your pocket or purse, and walked out the door. You didn’t look at the receipt. Almost nobody does. And that’s exactly what a growing number of businesses are counting on.
There’s a charge showing up on receipts at grocery stores, restaurants, and pizza delivery spots all over the country. It goes by different names. Sometimes it’s called a “non-cash adjustment.” Sometimes it’s a “service fee” or a “processing fee.” Sometimes it’s labeled something so vague you assume it’s a tax. But it’s not a tax. It’s a surcharge, and it’s being added to your bill quietly, legally, and very deliberately.
The 86-Cent Fee That Started a Conversation
A financial educator recently noticed something odd on her pizza order receipt. Buried in the line items was an 86-cent fee she’d never seen before. It turned out to be a 4% credit card surcharge that the business had quietly tacked on. Eighty-six cents doesn’t sound like much. But if you’re spending $100 a week on groceries and dining out, that 4% surcharge adds up to over $200 a year. For a family spending more than that, the number climbs fast.
The worst part? In most states, this is completely legal. As long as a merchant posts a sign (which you probably walked right past) and prints the fee somewhere on your receipt (which you probably didn’t read), they’re technically in the clear. Over 60% of small and mid-sized businesses now use some form of surcharge or dual pricing, according to data from late 2025. This isn’t a fringe practice anymore. It’s mainstream.
Mystery Items on Your Grocery Receipt
Credit card surcharges aren’t the only thing to watch for. An Arkansas woman named Sharon Bufford went to Walmart and bought two items: butternut squash and spaghetti squash. When she checked her receipt, there was a $10 charge labeled “J-A-C-K-E-T.” She didn’t buy a jacket. She didn’t even walk through the clothing section. When she asked about it, a customer service manager told her this type of mystery charge had been happening on and off at that location for about 10 years.
Ten years. Think about how many people paid for a phantom jacket on their receipt and never noticed. If you’re not checking your receipt before you leave the store, you’re trusting that the register system got everything right. It doesn’t always get everything right.
Double Scans at Self-Checkout Are Costing You Real Money
Self-checkout is a breeding ground for errors, and most of them work against you. When you drag a heavy item across the scanner, it frequently beeps twice, registering the product twice. This happens constantly with gallons of milk, big bags of dog food, and jugs of laundry detergent. If your receipt shows a quantity of 2 but you only put 1 in your cart, you just lost $10 to $15 on a single glitch.
And the BOGO deals? Those fail more than you’d expect. The store’s system requires both items to scan within a specific promotional window, and if the manager forgot to update the pricing database, the second item rings up at full price. You grabbed two boxes of cereal thinking one was free, but you paid for both. The only way to catch it is to look at the receipt and verify that a negative deduction appears under the matched items.
Bag Fees That Don’t Add Up
As more states and cities require stores to charge for bags, a new error has crept in. Cashiers have to manually type the number of bags into the register. In the rush to move the line along, they routinely hit the wrong digit. You used 2 bags but got charged for 10. If you brought your own reusable totes, you should see $0 in bag fees. But some retailers have started charging this fee automatically based on an estimated bag count unless you specifically tell the cashier you brought your own. Nobody thinks to double-check the bag line on a receipt, which is why it slips through so easily.
Restaurant Surcharges Are Getting Out of Control
Grocery stores aren’t the only offenders. Restaurants have gotten aggressive with hidden fees, and some of the names they use are almost comical. An investigation by ABC7 in Chicago spent two months eating at restaurants and found surcharges on dozens of tabs, most in the 3% to 4% range. On a $200 dinner, that’s an extra $8 you never planned on spending.
The names these fees hide behind are intentionally vague. “Kitchen appreciation fee.” “CNF fee.” “Wellness and happiness fee.” The Lettuce Entertain You restaurant group, one of Chicago’s biggest, admitted they add the surcharge but said they “advise guests in advance” and will remove it if you ask. Venues like Cabo Wabo Cantina and Beer Park at Paris Las Vegas have been called out for reportedly not mentioning the fee anywhere in the restaurant or on the menu.
On Reddit, thousands of users in the r/LosAngeles subreddit created a page called “LA Restaurant Surcharge Offenders List,” where diners post photos of receipts showing mystery fees ranging from cork fees to “wellness” fees. It’s become a community project to call out restaurants that sneak charges onto the bill.
The Service Fee Trap: You Might Be Double Tipping
This one stings. When a restaurant adds a “service fee” to your bill, most people assume it goes to the server. It often doesn’t. A service charge is legally distinct from a tip. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employers can actually retain service charges as long as they inform customers the fee is not a tip. So if you’re tipping 20% on top of a service charge, you could be double-paying, with the restaurant pocketing one of those payments entirely.
According to a 2025 Square report, more than half of consumers said they disapprove of credit card usage charges, kitchen appreciation fees, and preset tipping options. Yet more than a third of restaurant operators are charging these exact fees anyway. They know most people won’t push back.
Domino’s Is Getting Sued Over This
A lawsuit has been filed against Domino’s Pizza, and it’s a class action that consumers can join. The case focuses on extra fees included in the fine print on Domino’s receipts that most people didn’t notice, didn’t understand, or just assumed were a government tax. They weren’t. The fees were added to cover Domino’s own business expenses, and the lawsuit, filed in California, alleges this violates the California Honest Pricing Act.
The delivery receipt is probably the first thing most people throw away. That’s exactly where these charges hide. If the practice is determined to have been nationwide, consumers in other states could have legal standing too. This is a good reminder: that unfamiliar line item on your pizza receipt isn’t necessarily Uncle Sam. It might just be Domino’s padding the bill.
Where Surcharges Are Actually Illegal
Not every state allows this. As of 2026, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, and California have laws on the books that prohibit or severely restrict credit card surcharges. Colorado caps surcharges at 2%. New York allows them but has strict disclosure requirements. And here’s something important: no business in any state can legally charge a surcharge on a debit card or prepaid card transaction. That’s a federal prohibition. If a store charges you a surcharge on your debit card, that’s illegal, and you have the right to dispute it and request a refund.
Starting July 1, 2026, Florida is implementing a new law requiring all restaurants to inform customers about any automatic fees before they order. Not on the receipt. Before they sit down. Fees will need to be listed on menus, online ordering sites, and mobile apps. Florida’s Attorney General supported the law to crack down on what she called “junk fees.” Given that Florida had a record 143.3 million visitors in 2025, this could shift how restaurants across the state operate.
The FTC Is Cracking Down on “Drip Pricing”
The federal government is paying attention. The FTC’s Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees went into effect on May 12, 2025. It requires that all mandatory charges (except shipping and taxes) must be included in the advertised total price. Violations carry penalties of up to $53,088 per violation.
Lawsuits are already piling up. A class action was filed against a software company for quoting prices on California campsites without including a mandatory $8.95 reservation fee until checkout. The lawsuit claims roughly $398 million in reservation fees were charged to consumers. Another suit targeted an amusement park for a $4.00 processing fee added to tickets without disclosure. The practice of revealing fees only at the last step of a transaction is called “drip pricing,” and the FTC has banned it for covered industries. The White House Council of Economic Advisers estimated that junk fees across the entire U.S. economy add up to roughly $90 billion per year.
What You Should Actually Do
Look at your receipt before you leave the store or restaurant. That’s it. It takes 15 seconds. Check for line items you don’t recognize, quantities that don’t match what you bought, and any fee listed near the bottom with a vague name. If you see a surcharge on a debit card transaction, ask for a refund on the spot. If a restaurant adds a service fee, ask whether it goes to your server before you tip on top of it. And if you spot a surcharge that was never disclosed to you, report it to your state consumer protection office.
The businesses adding these charges are betting you won’t look. Most of the time, they’re right. Don’t make it easy for them.
