Nickel and Dime

Stipulations: I am not an American, I live in New York.

There seems to be a cultural acceptance in the USA of the practice of Nickel and Dime-ing, co-paying and demanding tips from the population until death (or poverty!) takes them away from the open palm. I suspect that the average citizen has been worn down to the point they just pay up. Over and over again, nickels, dimes and more commonly, one dollar bills are handed over for no valid reason. Sigh.

I get a mobile phone service for $59.00 a month including 2 lines and about 600 minutes. A good deal it seems. My bills average $82.00 a month. Huh? The deal was for $59.00 - what gives? Examining the bill shows additional charges of a dollar or two here and a dollar or two there for taxes and fees and co-pays on each line (see AT&T or WirelessGuide). Searching the net shows that some of these so called taxes are 100 years old and have been cancelled. And several seem to be just plain made up by someone smoking crack. The phone network provider gave me 2 choices, pay up or pay up and pay an additional $150.00 to cancel the service! They said the additional fees were not of their doing. Yeah, right!

The power bill has them too...like a dollar to allow you the choice of power providers!!! In my building in New York there is only one, so why pay extra for the choice between them and, well, um no one else!

Buy a flight ticket, pay a fuel surcharge, an airport fee, a booking fee and a federal tax. Why can't they just give me the price when they already know the how much fuel they will use and at what cost (many purchase fuel future contracts so that they know the fuel price long in advance!) and which airport the plane leaves from. More dollars....

Order delivery from Amazon, get a delivery fee on the web and a surcharge when billed. More dollars....

Use another bank's ATM, $1.50 (yet my other non-US bank does not charge this)...

Use a credit card overseas, add 1% (again, non-US cards do not carry this charge!)...

Receive a mobile call, get charged...even for the spam ones...

Send a text, 10c, receive a text, 10c, add a picture to the text, 25c...

Free wi-fi, na-aaahhh....

Write a check, money goes out on day 1, in to the receiver on day 7, they get 6 days interest on the float (I use free wires from my non-us bank instead - instant!)...

Eat a meal, tip, leave your coat, tip...

Six people eat a meal, tip gets included on the bill and you're still supposed to leave a few dollars...

Take a taxi, tip...

Walk in to a hotel, tip, enter your room, tip, sleep, leave a tip on the bed...

Got a doorman, gardener, manicurist, tip....

My wife goes to a salon, gets her hair washed, tip, dried, tip, colored, tip, cut, tip, and then still has to pay for the haircut!

Gaaah! I want to stop being nickel and dimed and dollared to death. Give me a price and stick to it! No more! No less! No muss! No fuss! Leave me and my rapidly depleting wallet alone!

The hiltmon has left the website....