This Is Now a Fee Country

We're paying fees for a lot of things that once were free. In the automotive, electronics, banking, telecommunications and other industries, services that once were provided as a courtesy are now raking in millions of dollars.

For years, credit-card companies have been imposing an "over-limit fee" when customers exceed their credit lines. But other fees have the acrid tang of novelty. Some credit unions charge $15 for a copy of a disputed check. A few companies have actually penalized customers for paying bills early.

Some banks these days charge customers who exchange rolled coins for paper money.

"I don't get that one," a woman in the bank line complained the other day. "It's all American money, yet we're being penalized. It may not be a big charge, but they add up." Charges for bank checks, money orders, statement printouts, check costs, returned checks, and "failure to maintain a minimum balance" all help reduce customer account balances. Fees imposed on consumers who pay bills online bring banks an estimated $2 billion annually. Checks returned for "insufficient funds" are practically an industry into themselves, bringing in billions each year.

Airlines today impose a range of bizarre charges. Several airlines routinely charge for meals once included in the price of a ticket. Northwest Airlines is testing a program called "Choice Coach," for which 5 percent of coach passengers are charged an extra $15 for seats with additional leg room. Four other airlines have similar programs, according to a Northwest Airlines representative.

Martin DeLeon, a spokesman for Continental Airlines, told me, however, that Continental is proud it has been able to hold the line. "We still charge only $5 for an alcoholic drink, and soft drinks remain free," DeLeon said. Meanwhile, in the last couple of years, Continental has increased its luggage fees, so passengers are now saddled by new weight restrictions.

At your auto-parts store and elsewhere, if you buy an item and return it later, you must pay a "restocking fee."

Surcharges for once-gratis services such as housekeeping generated more than $100 million for the hotel industry last year, according to PricewaterhouseCooper.

"It's much easier to raise a price through obscure fees and surcharges than to raise a sales price," says Stephen Brobeck, executive director of the Consumer Federation of America.

Politicians know this. Rather than risk raising taxes, they hit us with a dizzying array of penalties and fees, hoping we won't notice. State governments are in on the take. They will pull in $2.6 billion in new revenue this fiscal year by raising more than 200 fees on everything from driving and fishing licenses to fingerprint processing.

Fee creep has made it nearly impossible for consumers to tell the price for the forest of fees. All they know is that they pay, pay and pay some more. Customers who fail to read their bills carefully have almost no idea how many sneaky charges are included.

Where it will end is anybody's guess. A new take has been added to that old bromide that "Nothing is certain except death and taxes." Now, we can safely add: "and hidden fees."

Claude Lewis is a retired columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Readers may write to him at the Philadelphia Inquirer, 400 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19130; or via e-mail at Clewis97@ptd.net.

You should live in Texas. We have a bunch of idiots masquerading as Conservatives trying to create toll roads all over the state, including turning existing, already paid for roads, into toll roads.

Of course, taking a road that was paid for with bonds/gasoline taxes/etc. and turning it into a toll road is not double taxation, at least it's apparently not double taxation in Texas. Apparently being able to take a roundabout way that adds %50 or more to your drivetime (which increases fuel consumption which means more gas tax revenue) makes it not double taxation.

All the stuff mentioned in the article costs time and/or money.

Companies are striving to drive down prices for their core products.

Stores manage inventory far more tightly than before in order to provide low prices - if a store takes a return from a customer and has to readjust its inventory schedule to accomodate it, why should every customer in the store absorb the cost instead of the individual customer who actually returned it?

Likewise, by providing extra leg room, airlines are eliminating other potential seats with standard leg room - why not charge for the extra convenience to offset the opportunity cost represented by fewer seats?

The points you make about all the costs involved for businesses are valid. However, in many cases it is the consumer who pays for poor business management or inefficient business practices. Union demands, government micromanagement, out-of-sight bonuses for certain corporate officers, legal fees for a plethora of preventative or defensive matters ranging from shady accounting practices to sexual harrassment defense and charging a restocking fee for the return of plain old shoddy merchandise that should not be on the shelves in the first place are not the fault of consumers.

After roads are built they require subsequent upkeep.

No doubt about that, but the problem in Texas is this:

1)We already pay for upkeep and new roads through gasoline taxes, as well as bonds, vehicle registration fees, and taxes on auto parts/supplies.

2)They want to permanently make these already-paid for roads tollroads. This isn't a "oh, we are just going to make them toll roads for x number of months or years to pay for future upkeep". This is an open-ended tax.

3)Much of how it has been handled has been out of the public spotlight, without voter participation or approval.

4)There are European companies involved in this, that would manage everything (wonder how much they donated and to whom).

5)Until there was a lot of public outcry, they wanted to make some roads tollroads, that were the only road access for entire subdivisions/communities (we are talking anywhere from $600 to $1000 extra a year per vehicle for a normal commuter). Talk about having a captive audience.

6)The service roads and the like (roads that parallel these would-be toll roads) would have sections removed or have the lights timed to make it inconvenient for commuters to use those roads instead of the tollroads (i.e. it's the government saying "use the tollroads or we'll make it a pain in the ass for you".

7)The way some of these roads are going to be structured and their locations, a farmer or rancher could literally drive 5-10 miles just to get to the other side of their property (where the roads cut through their property or where they own property on the other side of the highway) because they want to restrict off-ramp access to toll locations only.

8)The roads targeted for conversion appear to be targeted first and foremost for revenue generation, not necessarily because they need money for repairs/improvements, or because of those areas needing improvements to handle more traffic or projected traffic.

9)Many of the new tollroads will have very little frontage infrastructure, making it very inconvenient for drivers (and wasting gas and time).

10)The state handing off many of these functions to private, profit-driven, companies creates lots of potential for abuse (i.e. their goal will not necessarily be the upkeep of the roads, their goal will be first and foremost to generate a profit).

11)The whole problem with turning publicly-paid for assets over to private companies, that deserves its own post.

12)These companies that are going to be setting and collecting the tolls are not publicly accountable.

The only way it's being allowed to happen is because it's Republicans behind it. If this were Ann Richards instead of Rick Perry, Republicans in Texas would be going crazy.

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