This is absolutely not expected for normal businesses.
Normal businesses provide other businesses a service, charge them a profitable fee for services rendered, and make a few tens to hundreds of millions in profit a year and keep shareholders, employees, customers, etc. happy.
VC funded scam businesses spend billions of dollars in VC funding selling their services at a loss for the single purpose of establishing themselves as a monopsony/monopoly, and then once they've established enough dominance, and destroyed the possibility of a competitive market through VC funding, they turn on the screws and start charging monopoly prices.
Basically, they succeeded in using the "tech startup" and/or "unicorn" branding to somehow bamboozle governments and citizens into believing their entirely monopolistic, anti-free market behavior was not monopolistic and anti-free market.
Oh, and I still don't understand why we aren't recognizing the massive contribution this is playing in inflation. I buy a sandwich today from my local sandwich shop and I get the exact same service I did 15 years ago, except now anywhere between 15-45% of the money goes to some other company not integrated in the local economy whose only purpose is to provide a pretty interface and/or steal my data.
> the massive contribution this is playing in inflation
Further, and I'm not necessarily against this part but it's also contributing to tip inflation in a big way. Now everywhere I go has that Toast tip %age screen when I buy something no matter how much or how little actual service was provided. Like most people I feel social obligation to click the button. And voila, now tips are expected for buying a pack of gum at the corner store. At least that money is presumably going to the workers and not the tech bros behind the scenes.
It's hardly just businesses. Around where I live it's very common for local government to have an online payment processor that charges a fee. I assume the town gets a no-fee or reduced-fee service in exchange for that service having the right to impose a fee. You can always just send a check instead (or have your bank do so, which I do).
Otherwise, you will be replaced with somebody who will.
As it was in the beginning, and shall be always, world without end. Amen.