It seems every time you turn around you are paying a fee, fees upon fees. Fees for this, fees for that, here a fee, there a fee, everywhere a fee, fee. There is even an office visit fee, for fee fee, the family dog to get a check up or a vaccination at our family vet.
So what the heck are all the fees for, and why am I paying them? The purpose of a fee of any type often depends on the nature of the product and corresponding service provided. A service fee, service charge, or surcharge is a fee added to a customer’s bill. These fees usually allow for overhead, administrative personal, wages, Workman’s compensation insurance and general operation costs most businesses need to pay to stay in business and provide a service when we need it.
The costs behind the scenes of running a business are like the fees my wife and I pay monthly to run our home. Credit card bills, electric, water, alarm system Internet connection, auto loan, telephone, rent, or mortgage payment, lines of credit, and the list goes on. Businesses and their owners have alot of similar costs that you and I have, only paying your employees is much more expensive than paying the little slaves a weekly, or monthly allowance to pick up “fee fees “recycled food” off the lawn, dog crap if I lost you.
Company’s like UPS and FedEx charge surcharges, fees recently added for fuel.
Restaurants and banquet halls have long charged service fees in lieu of tips and distribute them to their wait staff.
Bank charge fees assessed to customers for both services and as penalties. There are overdraft fees ATM fees and even fees for having an account balance under a required amount. Some banks even are as bold as to charge a fee for using tellers in an effort to encourage customers to use automated services instead.
A setup fee is often charged by places that rent space or other things. Apartment complexes often charge fees for pets (mainly dogs or cats). Some complexes call these a non-refundable deposit, ignoring the definition of a deposit as inherently being refundable.
Airlines have long charged fees for changing flights, and for excess luggage. In May 2008, it was announced that some would be charging even for just one checked bag, making it nearly impossible to avoid. Airlines have also invented fees for just about every “service” that has always previously been included in the ticket price. While the extra income may be necessary to prevent bankruptcy, the practice of not including mandatory fees in the stated price is deceptive.
Some retail stores add fees, mainly for “guest passes” at membership warehouses where membership dues have not been paid. There are a few other “cost-plus” stores, however, that add ten percent or so at checkout, using the lower shelf price to trick consumers who comparison shop prior to a purchase.
A title company or attorney collects a variety of fees in the course of handling the purchase of a house at a closing. These may include fees for tax service, flood certification, underwriting, appraisal, credit report, record deed trust, loan signing and processing.
An impact fee which a developer must pay to local government, in order to raise money for capital improvements to roads, libraries, and other services upon which the new land development places a burden. This prevents existing residents from being forced to pay in taxes , in addition to already having to put-up with the traffic, noise , and environmental damage of the new development.
When you buy a product online you pay a ‘shipping and handling fee”. You save on the cost of the product but in most cases it ends up costing more than you cloud have purchased the item for at your local discount chain or retailer, when you combine the cost of each.
And finally, automotive dealers charge a documentation fee to handle processing of your paperwork and registration of your new automobile. Execution of payoff checks to the financial institution on your behalf, preparation of your loan doc’s on your new vehicle, wages for the administrative and back office personal, additional advertising (how you found them in the first place). In most cases the bank owns the cars on the lot, not the dealerships. The dealership pays the bank interest called floor planning interest to keep inventory on hand so you can select the one you want and drive it home the same day.
Hey this blog post is fee free, not too shabby huh? And I thought we were just an interest based society. Here’s a million dollar idea lets create a fee collar.
