Man says he used self-checkout at an airport bookshop, then the receipt added a mandatory 3% employee fee and tax on top of it: ‘Not a gratuity’
He says the $0.66 charge on his $21.99 book was labeled for employee and retention programs, and the receipt shows tax figured on the book plus the fee.
A traveler says a bookshop at New York’s JFK Airport added a 3% employee fee to his receipt even though he scanned and bagged the book himself at a self-checkout. According to New York Post, he shared a photo of the receipt on Reddit’s r/EndTipping. He adds that the shop then charged sales tax on top of that fee.
The purchase came from a Bryant Park Market shop in Terminal 5. The book cost $21.99, and the receipt lists $2.01 in sales tax and a $0.66 “employee benefit” charge. The receipt states that the 3% surcharge funds employee retention programs and that the fee “is not a gratuity.” The man writes, “I just wanted to buy a book before my 6 a.m. flight.” He ends the post with the receipt’s wording, “Not a gratuity.” His account in the Reddit post and the receipt could not be verified independently.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs JFK, allows a similar charge. Truth in Advertising reports that its policy lets airport vendors add an “employee benefits and retention surcharge” that is “not to exceed 3% of a customer’s pre-tax bill.” The cap is based on the bill before tax, so 3% of a $21.99 book comes to $0.66.
Disclosure of the surcharge
The group also states that the Port Authority “does not specify how the fee should be disclosed to consumers.” At a JFK Jamba Juice, it reports, a 3% surcharge was added to all orders and was not disclosed prior to ordering. The group states that the Port Authority did not answer its request for comment on whether vendors must disclose the fee before payment.
The Port Authority’s board approved the policy in December 2024 alongside higher pay for airport workers. It set three increases of 75 cents an hour, in January 2025, July 2025 and January 2026. Later raises are tied to the Consumer Price Index. The Port Authority has also announced that the minimum wage at JFK, LaGuardia and Newark will reach $25 an hour by 2032.
Extra charges and prompts at the register have drawn complaints at other counters too. A Tennessee customer once rejected a Chick-fil-A tip prompt on a tablet at the Nashville airport. Another shopper questioned doing the checkout work herself, as in a Zara self-checkout bag complaint from New York.
The Daily Dot reports that a receipt from another airport shop labels the charge a “3% employee benefits and retention surcharge.” The receipt reads, “This surcharge is not a gratuity payable directly to staff.” The outlet adds that the fee applies only at JFK, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty. It also states that shops may add up to 3% to offset a minimum wage increase for airport workers.
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