Sliding scale/pay what you wish - how much do you pay?

[Tris Prior]

Sometimes I patronize small businesses or go to events that either have a sliding scale cost (not dependent on income, it's honor system) or are pay-what-you-can. Sometimes there's a range of accepted prices, sometimes not. I'm always torn on the best way to handle this. Especially if I technically "can" pay the highest amount.

I just ran into this today. The sliding scale was $20-$40. Usually I pick somewhere in the middle, but today I only paid $20, because my credit card balance is higher than I'd like right now due to some medical bills and vacation expenses. I figure that they wouldn't offer to take as low as $20 if they didn't mean that they were OK with taking that little, but I still kind of felt like an asshole. I'm not destitute, I make a decent - though by no means high - salary for my city, I have savings, but my credit card balance makes me a bit nervous and I want it gone asap so I went with the lower amount this time.

Was that the right thing to do, or am I a cheap asshole who's taking advantage of a small business?

[Dollar Slice]

It really depends... If it's friends, people I want to support, a charitable cause, or if the scale is low (e.g. $5-$10), I'll go for the high end. If it's a for-profit business, not owned by friends, not particularly cheap... probably leaning towards the low end. Depends on value for money too - I would pay more if I were planning on staying at an event all day vs. half an hour.

[gooki]

Relax, it's all good. They're happy and you should be to.

[elliha]

I would probably also pay in the middle most of the time but if I would go to an event with the aim of supporting many businesses I would probably pay at the lower end unless the lowest was a ridiculously low prize and feel satisfied that I was able to spread my money to many people instead of just one person. If a seller offered two things I wanted I would probably also pay at the lower end. If a service was much better than I expected I would probably pay towards the higher end. If I would just buy something to be nice or to support a good cause and the thing was of little significance to me I would pay a low prize since I would not have paid for it anyway and paying at all would be the nice thing.