Getting a Discount on Vet Bills

You want what is best for your pet but with the current economy, it is important to keep as much of your hard earned cash in your pocket. So how do you cut costs on your vet bill without sacrificing the care of your beloved canine companion?

A well hidden secret all comes down the business sense. Given that I am a small business owner, a simply thing came to me when I was ready to pay Dakota's huge vet bill for recent stomach surgery.

Upon leaving with my beautiful Lab, I was greeted with my outstanding bill. It was a whopping $1,302.90! When I first heard the amount, I thought I may need stomach surgery!

Then I remembered something... all businesses tack 3% on their bills! Did you know that every business has a 3% per transaction fee that they must pay to the credit card processing companies every time you use your credit card or debit card to pay for something at that business? This is how they are able to process credit card transactions.

So, I put away my credit and debit cards when the bill came due and calmly asked the lady if they pay 3% per credit card transaction. Upon confirmation, I smiled and said "Let's make a deal! Would it be possible for me to pay by check or cash and get a 3% discount on my bill considering you do not have to pay a transaction fee for cash transactions?" Her response: "Sure! Not a problem"... and my $1,302.90 bill was discounted by $39.00 to $1,263.81!!

We have even used this "let's make a deal" with our local domestic control office when applying for the Lab Brats' new county dog tags - it saved us $0.70 for the two tags. Now some of you may think that is chump change but that can really add up when you have one or more pets and especially if you have such big ticket expenses such as animal emergency visits or surgeries. Hey! $39.00 is still $39.00!

The trick is to use this new gifted information when doing business with privately owned companies or non-profit organizations as they are able to strike such deals. Remember, it never hurts to ask - the worse they can say is "no". *wink*