Convenience Fees - Is that an oxymoron?

Posted Sep 28, 2006 by Vidisha Priyanka

Updated Sep 28, 2006 at 09:06 AM

Think about it, if it is about convenience how do I get slapped with a fee? What is the whole point of paying online or over the phone and trying to go paperless and save a 39 cents stamp if one is to be charged $3 or $10 for the convenience of trying to pay bills?

And some of the companies don’t even tell you till the very end that a convenience fee will be charged if one attempts to try and save some trees and spare the paper shredder.

It is not as if filling up online personal information database or talking to an automaton on the phone is very convenient.

I don’t consider myself a penny pincher, but there is something really wrong about having to pay extra on top of all the various penny and dime taxes added to the bills. (whine whine)

Of course I have a choice - to continue with the snail mail payment plans. But the point of convenience is to be convenient.

Imagine if all the fees were dropped, even more people would pay online or over the phones, the companies will have to send less paper to homes, think of all the trees that would save. How naïve of me to expect that!