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While doing some research over the weekend on a few different personal finance issues, I got drawn into a conversation taking place on Yahoo!  The topic they were discussing was the usual “fees here, fees there” about how nowadays everything seems to come with a fee attached. Fees for using debit cards at the gas pump, fees for having a checking account, fees for using websites such as Ticketmaster, but what was even more disgusting was the number of comments and complaints on this one particular article – and why. At the time I had last looked, the article had almost 1500 comments and most were from regular folk – me and you- who are sick and tired of paying for everything under the sun while the services or products attached are getting worse AND the glaring greed of Corporate America.

It’s a recession in case they don’t know! More and more people are out of work, losing their homes and not paying their bills yet the fee hikes continue.

You pay more for packaged food yet you get less. Companies have quietly reduced the amount you get but increased the price. If you thought that box of cookies felt smaller at the grocery store, you weren’t imagining it. We pay more for health insurance but the level of care is nothing like it used to be. We pay much more for cable and phone services but get less. You are practically forced into buying their bundle packages to save money. Airlines want to charge us for baggage whether its the carry-on kind or because our rear-end is too big.  Cell phone companies want to charge you for “data” fees although you’re already paying to access their service. Amusement Parks? Forget about it. It’s almost as much as taking a vacation. You aren’t allowed to bring in your own food but they’ll be happy to charge you triple for a single corn dog.

The comments on the Yahoo! personal finance article was an accurate reflection of how people are fed up with the fees in this country and the constant price gouging that goes on. Just this past week NetFlix announced that they’ll practically DOUBLE the price of their service effective immediately for new customers and Sept 1, 2011 for existing customers. Now, I’m no brain surgeon but if Netflix has to increase their cost by more than 60% in one shot, then their P&L statement must have been a mess indeed. Short of Netflix being extorted themselves by the film industry, there is just no excuse for that type of fee hike. At least have some decently and gouge us a dollar or two at a time.  They can get away with it too because they’re the only service that offers streaming movies and DVDs by mail. It’s estimated that about 30,000 customers have canceled so far, but with customers in the millions, do they really care?

One of the comments on the Yahoo! article was a ridiculous amount being charged by the airlines where the ticket was actually less than the fees. A commentor writes;

I just looked for tickets from LAX to FRT and Lufthansa takes the Fee Cake. Ticket Price $439 one way – Fees and Surcharges $647.  How can the ticket be less then surchage? Needless to say, they didn’t get my money.

Another one writes;

This just goes to show how completely out of control corporate america is. It also goes to show how complacent americans are. DEMAND CHANGE. Stop doing business with unethical companies like this. They will get the message.

Another person mentioned getting gouged for Internet service by high-end hotels but the cheaper hotels/motels charged way less. It went on and on by people who are being financially raped at every turn. Marriot in Las Vegas charging $18.00 a day to park your car, a fee to pay your credit card by phone (dont you want to be paid, Citibank?!), bank fees for leasing your car, a facility fee for ONLINE classes. Where’s the facility?

It seems the only way to reduce the fees is to stop using the services, if that’s even possible. We all need to work, commute, travel, stay in hotels and purchase a car at some point. Fighting back against Corporate America greed could be changed at state and federal levels but that’s a whole different article isn’t it.

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