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Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

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Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#371

Post by carlosjobim »

michaelmrose wrote: post #280
TheCoelacanth wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not dine and dash if they refuse to accept payment.

Most employee interfaces don't have a way to represent customer paid arbitrary dollars towards their ticket but not all of it. Try this at retail. I'm only going to pay 50c towards that candy bar because that's what I feel like it should cost and ask to swipe your card for 50c. Most systems could represent a payment of less than the cost of the ticket as a partially completed transaction but would be faced with the d…

If their system is inadequate that is their own problem, certainly not any problem for the customer. Machines are not the masters of people.

>Try this at retail

I do this all the time in retail, paying part in cash and part by card. No problem at all, cashiers often ask if I have any cash I'd like to use towards the bill first.

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#372

Post by AlgorithmicTime »

thayne wrote: post #317
jaredhallen wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it capitalism? That doesn't sound like it's specifically the result of the free market at work. I don't love the situation, but it seems like it's kind of a nuanced history that started with extra incentive for exceptional service, which changed over time. Why? I don't know. But ultimately we (in the US) know that we should be expecting to pay ~20% on top of our bill, and take that into consideration when we're ma…

Capitalism doesn't necessarily mean a free market. It just means that capital is controlled by private entities as opposed to the state.

Capitalism is a necessary but not sufficient condition for a free market.

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#373

Post by jrochkind1 »

HelixEndeavor wrote: post #196
abawany wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most prepaid vendors afaik seem to offer a tax-included price - two examples are Visible and Mint.

Why are prepaid carriers so much better then traditional ones, it seems? I've been on Metro for years, service is identical to T-Mobile at a fraction of the cost with no hidden fees.

The weirdest thing is that Metro is literally 100% owned by T-Mobile. And Cricket by AT&T. Just different business models.

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#374

Post by nulbyte »

II2II wrote: post #165
ericmcer wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same happens with my ISP. I just call customer service and tell them I want to cancel. They offer me a significantly better price for a year, I take the new price and after the year it goes up again and I call to cancel again.

The Canadian government compels the major telecommunications providers to lease their services to independent ISPs. Getting internet service installed with an independent ISP literally involves a visit from the major telecommunications provider and the service is pretty much equivalent to what the major telecommunications provider offers. The difference is price. Few of the independent ISPs try to attract customers w…

The result sounds similar to what happens in some places in the U.S., where you'll find a reseller or two that offer the same service as a major ISP with a better rate plan. Such is the case here in Louisville, Kentucky. IgLou resells AT&T. They don't play the promotion game, and their plans are better. While AT&T's fiber plans feature asymmetric speeds, IgLou offers the same up and down on every plan. They've changed their published prices recently, but I'm still paying the same price I did when I signed up. They don't offer the plan I have anymore, and I didn't even know it until I went looking for prices considering an upgrade, because they also don't call and bother you every year or 6 months trying to get you to buy more schlock you don't know. It's great to get AT&T's network without having to deal with AT&T. More places should be like that.

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#376

Post by nulbyte »

nocoiner wrote: post #298
illumin8 wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One small township near us does this. They passed a law that states restaurants must put an additional 2% charge on every bill that is used to pay "kitchen staff." When we asked our server about this surprise charge they said "the law requires that we charge it now." We decided to simply reduce our normal 20% tip by 2% and pay that. We don't like the fact that the city has stepped in to mandate additional fees like t…

Outstanding, just outstanding. Way to stick it to your server to throw a fit about a duly-enacted law you don’t like. I would have thought the price of surrendering one’s decency and regard for fellow humans would be somewhat more than two cents per dollar, but I suppose I was wrong.

In the U.S., servers are commonly expected to tip the kitchen staff. If a locality mandated a 2% fee to pay the kitchen staff, that's 2% the server doesn't have to pay out, so this seems entirely reasonable to me.

What is unreasonable to me is the locality thinking by mandating a 2% tip the problem they claim to be solving will somehow magically disappear.

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#377

Post by nulbyte »

michaelmrose wrote: post #259
1000100_1000101 wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The advertised prices form part of a contract you're agreeing to. The drip fees are un-advertised extra expenses after the contract is signed and completed (you're fed). If you're willing to pay the agreed upon price, and they're unwilling to accept your payment, that should be their problem, not yours. They have violated the contract, added new fees after the fact. They have violated the contract, refusing to accept…

This seems like an expensive fight to have wherein the opposing parties lawyers probably already did the due diligence to ensure those fees are legally defensible by virtue of signage. Seems like you would probably be hiring a lawyer with a 3000 retainer to fight an 8 dollar charge.

These places stiff their servers and expect customers to make up the difference. I doubt they care to pay an attorney to tell them what they already know about their unscrupulous practices.

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#378

Post by phpisthebest »

ketralnis wrote: post #268
phpisthebest wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>It would be nice to have bundle reform that requires all prices to be listed as taxes-and-fees-inclusive here in the US No no no no Taxes should be listed for atleast 3 reasons 1. The company is not paying the tax, you are. You owe the tax not the company, the company is merely collecting the tax for the government. In many states the company is paid to collect this tax on the governments behalf. If the tax was not…

But the rest of the world does include the tax in the advertised price and they do just fine

Do they? The rest of the world has all kinds of Insane tax rates.

I think the US Taxation is absurdly high and I pay in total about 25% to the government, many parts of the work 40-60% is common (when you factor all taxation), and that to me is out right theft.

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#379

Post by phpisthebest »

pas wrote: post #273
phpisthebest wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>It would be nice to have bundle reform that requires all prices to be listed as taxes-and-fees-inclusive here in the US No no no no Taxes should be listed for atleast 3 reasons 1. The company is not paying the tax, you are. You owe the tax not the company, the company is merely collecting the tax for the government. In many states the company is paid to collect this tax on the governments behalf. If the tax was not…

If the company is collecting the tax they owe it after the sale. Yes it's a tax on consumption/commerce. There's no point saying it's paid by the buyer as there's no transaction without the seller either, and if there were no tax the seller were able to raise prices. (And likely the new market equilibrium would be somewhere between the two extremes, so it means both parties pay it actually.) And as others mentioned i…

I dont think simply putting on the receipt is a solution, because people internalize pricing and make the choice to buy before the transaction. it would only work if the before Tax and After Tax price was displayed before purchase.

I would be agreed if they displayed/advertised both. but Only displaying / advertising the final post tax price and then itemizing it on the receipt does not change the psychology of the issue where by people will internalize the final price and not fully understand the tax component.

In the same way people are complaining about not being able to understand the final price if it not displayed

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#380

Post by red-iron-pine »

hadlock wrote: post #231
II2II wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Restaurants must be happy that I am not the type of person who eats out more than once or twice a year. I don't tip unless there is table service. I withhold tips if the quality of the product is bad (sorry servers). Even in social situations. That doesn't mean I don't tip when it is appropriate, but I view it as more of an incentive for good service than to reinforce bad business practices. I'm not sure how I would…

Servers make $2.14 an hour in Texas, they're fully dependent on tips. They often/always have zero control over the kitchen or management's ability to do staffing. Keep this in mind when you eat in that state.

That's if and only if you make enough declared tips to bring you over minimum wage for that period. Otherwise they have to give you minimum.

But it also means that if you snag a $40 dollar tip or something you're basically down to $2 an hour for that day. By comparison some states like California requires minimum wage + tips.

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