Can NY Business Charge You More For Paying With Debit or Credit?

So you see this sign in a business window, what do you do? Do you go out of your way to pay cash? Do you pay with your card? Do you walk away and look for another place to eat?

I used to think that it was against the merchants agreement with the credit card companies that they could not implement a minimum transaction amount or charge you a fee for using a card.

So, as pictured above are they giving you a discount for paying cash? Or are they making you pay a surcharge for using your card? Is there a difference? I am not 100% sure.

When looking up 'is it legal for companies to charge you a fee for using a card?' I found a few ways that this merchant might get around it. Allegedly (and they must be allowed or how else would they be able to keep doing it) they are able to charge you a surcharge, a convenience charge if you will. Yep. All they have to do is something similar to what this merchant did. Tell you that they have specific prices for a specific way of payment (tender). If you choose to pay a different way, then you pay a 'convenience' fee or surcharge.

So, I get that small businesses need to do what they can to recoup all of the credit and debit card processing fees, but is this the way to go about it? Does it really cost them $3.99 a transaction?

What will you do when you see a sign like the one above? Pay it? Pay with cash or walk away?