What's the deal with the Surcharge on all SW merch purchases?

[RivShore]

Just noticed this on our first visit to Seaworld in a decade or 2. All merch now gets 5% tacked on? Have not seen much talk of this on Disboards. The employees claimed ignorance, "the signs just showed up one day". What's the excuse for this? Amazing how we all complain about WDW prices when stuff like this goes on down the street with not much mention.

 

[Best Aunt]

I bought a T-shirt there on 08/01. The receipt said $26.99 + $1.75 tax = $28.74.
That's sales tax at 6.5% which is correct.
But I don't remember if the price tag said $26.99 or a lower amount.

I didn't buy any food.

I have seen online that people are mentioning a 5% surcharge charged on merch and in restaurants.

 

[shh]

My big "You have GOT to be kidding" moment with SW is when I tried to buy Discovery Cove tickets directly from them. They wanted to charge $5 "resort fee" per person (lmao) and $10 service fee. Talk about a money grab.

I just abandoned the cart and bought the same thing from a discount ticket broker without the fees. If there was no way to do that, I would have just chosen something else to do. I like the parks, but I don't like their pricing games.

 

[Yoshi]

They started with food having the 5% surcharge in the spring, then the 5% surcharge on merchandise started sometime in August. I first noticed it at Busch Gardens. That's on top of prices increased on some merchandise. There was a water bottle with the coaster logos on it I saw at Busch Gardens earlier in the summer. It was $24.99. I was waiting until I got Busch Bucks to buy it and by August it increased to $29.99 plus there was the 5% surcharge. It was $9.50 after the annual pass discounts and Busch Bucks so I still bought it.

 

[Wendysofftoneverland]

They started with food having the 5% surcharge in the spring, then the 5% surcharge on merchandise started sometime in August. I first noticed it at Busch Gardens. That's on top of prices increased on some merchandise. There was a water bottle with the coaster logos on it I saw at Busch Gardens earlier in the summer. It was $24.99. I was waiting until I got Busch Bucks to buy it and by August it increased to $29.99 plus there was the 5% surcharge. It was $9.50 after the annual pass discounts and Busch Bucks so I still bought it.

Plus the Platinum Pass merch discount went from 50 to 40 percent (I guess that's effectively a 35 percent discount since last year then).