[workingdog]

"In January 2008, the voter-approved San Francisco Health Care Ordinance went into effect, requiring any business with more than 20 employees to set aside money for their workers' health care."

It's ok for business to tell their customers why prices are increasing via line item.

[MatekCopatek]

Sure, if they actually increase the prices written on the menu. But the way I understand the parent comment, they didn't, they just tacked them on as extra fees at the end.

[eiopa]

Exactly this

[ryandrake]

Why stop there? A restaurant can have a line item in the bill for the customer’s share of the cost of:

- rent of the restaurant building

- the water bill

- the pizza oven

- the owner’s BMW

List everything! Why not?

[polygamous_bat]

Yes, and as an added bonus, following the same reasoning, the restaurant can put everything on the menu as $0! Isn’t that a brave new world.

[lukeschlather]

That's fine. But it makes sense to treat putting a price on the menu that doesn't include that fee as fraud.

[c22]

No it isn't. The cost of my widget isn't broken out to material sourcing, transportation, and other overhead. Doing it this way causes unnecessary mental gymnastics and is done for the sole purpose of creating political pressure. I don't mind companies having and sharing political opinions, but keep it off my receipt. Just put up a sign that says "prices have increased due to new regulation" and feel free to hand out pamphlets decrying the state of things, don't be disingenuous about your motives.

[ryandrake]

Exactly. If the SF restaurants OP mentions are not also itemizing all their other taxes and expenses on their customers' bills, yet singling out the “SF health mandate” one, it's pretty clear that they are just using those bills to make a passive aggressive political complaint.

Nobody cries and moans publicly in front of customers when their business license fees rise 5% or when the cost of their utilities go up, but suddenly when there is a mandate to make their employees' lives marginally better, they weep their crocodile tears all over the customers' checks.

[hyperhopper]

Not the sole purpose of creating political pressure: there is also the benefit to business of showing a customer a lower price and psychology easing them into spending more.