Singapore Eatery Chain Charges 5% “Takeaway Charge”, Calling it “Packing Charge”

There’s a reason why Singaporeans love driving across the causeway to JB: Singapore is too expensive.

We’ve seen everything from inflated cai png prices to BTOs—or so we think.

A Singapore eatery chain, The Banana Leaf Apolo, was recently revealed to impose a 5% “packing charge” for takeaway orders.

The Banana Leaf Apolo Charges A 5% “Packing Charge”

On Friday (11 August), a woman named Nermala Balasupramaniam took to the COMPLAINT SINGAPORE Facebook group to, well, complain.

Her woe? She was charged $43.10 at The Banana Leaf Apolo (Downtown East) for two packets of mutton biryani.

But no, it’s not because of the usual 10% service charge that has most of us sighing at our bank balances.

It’s because of a strange 5% packing charge, essentially a takeaway surcharge.

The breakdown is $19 per portion of mutton biryani, 8% GST, and 5% packing charge.

After this, you don’t need to eat Banana Leaf Apolo already lah. Eat banana leaf.

While most of us are used to, at most, a $0.30 surcharge for takeaway orders, The Banana Leaf Apolo takes it to another level by imposing a 5% charge, which for Nermala’s order amounted to $1.90.

We wonder if the “packing charge” still applies if you bring your own container.

The restaurant confirmed with AsiaOne that they do impose a 5% packing charge for takeaway orders, which is made known to the restaurant’s patrons.

This means the 5% packing charge isn’t just imposed at the Downtown East outlet. It is also imposed at the restaurant’s other outlets islandwide, including Race Course Road, Little India Arcade, Sixth Avenue and Rivervale Mall.

So, what’s your take? Is the 5% packing charge imposed by the eatery chain too much?

Other Strange Charges Imposed By Local Shops

If that isn’t enough, there are more strange charges imposed by shops around the island that will have you scratching your head.

Earlier this month, netizens on the COMPLAINT SINGAPORE Facebook group (where else, right?) found themselves engaged in intense discussion over whether a $0.20 surcharge for cashless payments was valid.

You see, a Facebook user had shared her experience of being charged an additional $0.20 for paying for a $4 item via PayNow.

This is despite zero extra charges for shop owners accepting payments from customers via PayNow.

Strange, isn’t it? You can read more about this $0.20 PayNow charge here.

Last year, we also saw a restaurant that imposed a “screaming children surcharge“—it’s self-explanatory. Diners must pay a surcharge if their children disturb other restaurant diners.

So, parents with noisy children, try to avoid this restaurant: Angie’s Oyster Bar and Grill at Outram Road.

We wonder what the next big surcharge to spring up will be.