If you’re fed up with fees, raise your hand.
What fees?
Airline fees for seats, bags and a bag of pretzels.
Resort amenity fees for WiFi, gyms and a bottle of water.
Movie theatre fees. Yup. This past week, The AMC Theatre chain announced fees for better seats.
If you sit way in the front, it will cost you less. But, if you want to sit in the middle, then it’s going to cost you a couple of bucks more.
Facility fees? Is that a fee to use the facilities? In other words, a fee to pee?
It is a fee free for all! Say that three times.
President Joe Biden is so peeved over fees, he took precious time from his State of the Union Act this past week to call for the passage of a bill to stop what he calls “junk fees” in travel and entertainment. He said, “Americans are tired of being played for suckers.” Not just about fees, Mr. President. But I digress.
The Federal fee fighter legislation is called the Junk Fee Prevention Act . Among other things it calls for resort fees to be included in the rates that hotels advertise. It also calls for a cap on service fees for concerts and sporting events.
The ticket sellers do something called drip pricing. They try to attract you with lower prices, then slam you with the fees. But, after you’ve promised little Tommy, Tammy and Pat they’re going to see Aladdin on Broadway, how are you going to tell them the outing is off because the fees are too damn high?
The hotels hide the resort fees so they can show up more prominently in internet searches and their extra fees are hidden in the small print. Get this; I was told of one Manhattan hotel that charges a $40 “resort” fee, but it doesn’t have a swimming pool, a gym or any other facility. And BTW, you can’t pay for the fee in points. Cash or credit card only.
Biden is right. Don’t play us for suckers. If you need to charge more for your services, then do it and don’t try to hide it. But to show up at a hotel and be told it’s an extra $40 a night to use the amenities, even if there aren’t any, that’s b.s.
Actually, it’s more like being held hostage. You want to sit with your kids on a flight, then pay up for your seats. You mean you can’t fit a week’s worth of clothing, toiletries and sundries in one carry on bag? Then shell out for the distinct and unique experience of standing on line and checking your bag for a fee.
Surely this is a bipartisan issue. I mean, what politician is for fees. But let’s see what happens after the lobbyists get their claws into our elected representatives.
In New York State, Governor Kathy Hochul recently signed legislation that bans hidden fees and delivery charges on tickets that are sent electronically or are printed at home.
The law also forces sellers to disclose what fees are included in the total cost of the ticket.
I guess it just comes down to transparency. Tell me upfront what I’m going to have to pay so I can make an informed decision.
As the late, great clothing retailer Sy Syms used to say, “an educated consumer is our best customer.”
Speaking of customers, I’ll be blunt. How messed up is New York’s effort to license legal weed stores?
In trying to be socially equitable and grant weed licenses to prior victims of pot busts, New York’s rollout of legal weed stores has gone to pot.
It’s been nearly two years since the New York State legislature legalized marijuana sales. So far in New York City, there are two, that’s right, two licensed stores. Meanwhile, hundreds of those vape stores have grown like weeds and they’re selling bud from who knows where and with who knows what laced onto it.
Take Toronto, Canada for example. Licensed pot stores are on virtually every block. It’s easy and convenient to buy the legal, taxed and safe weed. There’s no underground market in plain sight as there is NYC.
To get a license to legally sell pot in New York, you have to have been convicted of a marijuana offense before the legalization. You must also have prior experience running a small business. After you’ve gone through all the red tape, New York State will find a location for your store and will build it out for you, eventually. If you go on your own, there are all sorts of rules and regs you have to follow where you can open your store.
Bottom line: the Illegal weed sellers’ sales are smokin’ and the guys who are playing it straight are bonging their heads against the wall. And what about the $20 million in tax revenue that was supposed to be coughed up this year? Don’t hold your breath.
New York’s legal weed licensing law was a noble idea that’s been wrecked by government bureaucracy and overkill.
One last question to ponder…
Does Colorado GOP Congresswoman Lauren Boebert disprove the theory that only House members with three names are dumb?