Retailers charging processing fees for vouchers

[Winter35]

I am living in a place that has been in lockdown for a few weeks. Only essential retail is open. When this happened retailers posted messages urging people to buy local or buy gift vouchers ect this year for Christmas. I have no problem with that and like to support local places.

My aibu is I went to buy a £50 gift voucher online this morning online from a local gastro pub. The only option for buying the voucher was to have it emailed. I went ahead and ordered it only to find a processing fee on top of the value of the voucher when I went to checkout.

Aibu to think that is just a way for companies to make a few extra quid? I think I'd be more willing to pay a processing fee and postage if it was a voucher or gift card that was going to be posted out to me on nice paper in an envelope but this is literally an email that I will have to print myself to give to the person.

I totally agree. You are basically helping them get through lockdown by giving them cash now and they won't have to provide the goods/service until later, so you'd think they'd be happy to just send out an odd voucher email.

I am assuming with my response that it's a couple of pounds they are charging as the fee and the fact that smaller business are probably family owned, not part of a chain so the owner would be checking emails anyway and not having to pay a worker to do the vouchers.

They are a small family run company. I'd be more than happy to pay a fee for postage but to charge me for an email I think is just cheeky. If I had a choice I would have chosen somewhere else but this was a gift for a person who only ever goes there. 😁