Note that drip pricing for restaurants (e.g. 10-20% non-tip surcharge) is illegal in many jurisdictions (if not "conspicuously advertised" before eating), but some restaurants try to do it anyways (claiming the policy is "conspicuously advertised" on the last page of the menu, or a tiny sign behind the bar). Sometimes you can just refuse to pay it and they'll back down because they want a repeat customer more. Someti…
Every day it seems more and more like restaurants in general are a completely unsustainable business unless you want to pay $20 for a cheeseburger.
Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers
321–330 of 425 posts
Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers
#322Earlier 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.
Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers
#323Earlier quoted context omitted.
They know how much to charge you at the till, therefore they know what price to put on the label. It is that simple. For webstores, require customer to disclose location so the right price can be computed; they have to do that when it comes to the billing page so it isn't novel work. Everything else is bullshit reasoning to get away with false pricing/false advertising.
Okay but what happens if the tax changes, do you really expect retailers to reprint their labels every few months?
Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers
#324Earlier quoted context omitted.
Okay but what happens if the tax changes, do you really expect retailers to reprint their labels every few months?
Taxes change every few months? Anyways, yes, I expect them to reprint them if the price changes as well, which actually is liable to happen somewhat often. If you’re worried about paper waste, they make lcd labels too, which can be reprogrammed on the fly, so you can’t even make the “reprint” argument. It’s really and truly not an unsolved problem.
Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers
#325Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Most places in the US, the local tax is the same statewide. Didn't quite pass my seasonally congested anecdotal sniff test. Turns out[1]: - 74% (37 states) vary depending on a local rate - 18% (9 states) are fixed at a state level - 8% (4 states) don't have sales tax > Not in Ohio, where it can vary by township, sometimes across invisible boundaries. Ohio isn't really exceptional in this regard; a few examples that…
Note that South San Francisco is actually in a different county.
Similar situation with Julington Creek Plantation and Fruit Cove; both are technically in the same county (St. Johns County) and literally butt up against each other, and yet the former pays Jacksonville (Duval County) sales tax.
Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers
#326Earlier quoted context omitted.
This didn't work last time I called Comcast. I told them I wasn't happy that my Internet bill went up again by $15 and that if they can't reduce it back to what it was, I wanted them to cancel it. They placed me on hold while I sat there grinning about my awesome negotiation skills. Expected to get sent on to customer retention where I could get a better deal. Then the rep came back on and said "As requested, your in…
I’ll never forget when I did that with Verizon and they said “we invite you to try out the competition”. Bastards. They were right though. They’ll get ~$80/mo from me for the rest of my life.
The next challenge is that even in the face of competition simple economics can break down in the face of uncoordinated cooperation even without collusion . It may be superior for major providers to collectively increase the price even without literal coordination simply by a small number of providers acting legitimately on shared interests.
In theory someone with more than one option could ping pong between providers during sales that offer free installation but this is for obvious reasons undesirable insofar as internet is a vital service and switching can incur unacceptable costs and the more people actually do this the bigger the incentive to find a way to resolve this. For instance limiting such promotions to those who haven't had them before.
As a buyer I want this to resolve down to a simpler pricing model like T-Mobile even if its not as advantageous as initial pricing offered because I would like a predictable and sane price and for providers to compete on price/value but its likely that the current opaque and complicated pricing model will continue because its more advantageous for it to be complicated.
The biggest threat to this model is probably municipal broadband.
Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers
#327Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't actually want restaurants to be the ones providing health insurance. I want the workers to have insurance. Within the framework of the laws that exist today (which, like you, I think should be changed), there are tax advantages for employers that provide it, so that's the most practical approach right now.
> I don't actually want restaurants to be the ones providing health insurance. I want the workers to have insurance. Then who provides this insurance? Are you saying they should buy their own via Obamacare?
Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers
#328Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is no right for the timid to receive as much as the bold. Your friend also does equally poorly in salary negotiation. $25 doesn't keep the lights on and there are far more of your friend than there are of you ergo you ought to be careful for what you wish for because fair pricing looks a lot more like you and your friend both paying $94.
Fair pricing would result in reduced profits for the ISP otherwise they wouldn't do it. Therefore consumers would benefit on net from fair pricing. Certainly some hard negotiators do benefit from discriminatory pricing, but their gains are less than the losses incurred by those who aren't.
Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers
#329Earlier 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.
Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers
#330Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are not right. The crime being committed is fraud and the guilty party is the restaurant. If they refuse payment for the actual payment, that is their problem. Any court in any jurisdiction in the world will side with the customer in a case such as OPs.
Why hasn't anyone court in any jurisdiction found this by now then? Added fees are pernicious and annoying but I'm not aware of them being found to be illegal. The most likely end result is the court finds your lawsuit is frivolous and simply dismisses it then you end up paying the $8 charge if you are unlucky legal fees for bringing a frivolous suit. Instead of relying on your fictional understanding of how the law…