You Do the Work, We’re Doing You A Favor
Have you noticed how much more work organizations are pushing toward their customers? Doctors’ offices and pharmacies want you to “pre-checkin” on the computer before your appointments, so that their staff doesn’t have to do anything other than ask you to take a seat, lying that “someone will be right with you,” when you arrive. You’re forced to chat with robotic entities online instead of being able to reach a human. Hotels don’t present a bill on departure unless you insist—they email it to you instead, requiring you call them if you later actually check it and find discrepancies for a stay you may no longer remember!
There is a dramatic push to have consumers accept making payments through automated withdrawals from their bank accounts, rather than receive and return a paper bill, which increases companies’ costs. In fact, firms are shortening the payment “window” so that they threaten you with being late (given business travel, vacations, and the general sloth of the postal service) and notification to credit bureaus and/or the assessment of late fees, so that they’re “doing you a favor” by just taking the money from your account.
Ironically, my bank charges me $18 for a wire transfer into my account, and I can’t connect those dots. What cost is associated with that?
This trend will continue. As will airlines hawking their credit card partners in the aisles when you’re trying to watch the video you’ve paid for or eat the desultory food.
