I know it seems like I’m having more and more to say about subject matters these days. And, perhaps, this is a good thing…or maybe it’s bad. Who’s to say? At any rate, I thought I would share these few odd thoughts and ponderances. Perhaps you’ll agree.

Perhaps you’ll merely scratch your head and wonder, once more, why I haven’t already been admitted to a psychiatric ward. I’m the first one to admit that some of my thoughts….well…ok, MOST of my thoughts are not mainstream in origin. Too much of the non-conformist gene in me, I suppose. But, without further delay, here it is.

Have you ever stopped to wonder about how businesses seem to have this innate “right” or “permission” to slap any and all operational costs on the buying public so they can dismiss any worry of it? Think about it. Imagine there’s a business called “XYZ Service - We keep America Zipped!”. Ok, XYZ has just found out that the government has imposed a new monitoring fee on their services. This means that each month, XYZ will have to pay close to $500 to state government in order to operate legally. The board of directors at XYZ determines that this fee will cut into their profits, and we all know how important it is to squeeze every penny of profit out of us as customers.

How can they avoid disruption of their regular income? Easy. They merely pass this cost along to their customers in the form of a “Fee” listing on their monthly billing statement. We’ve all seen these tiny little enigmatic charges and fees on our utilities and monthly subscription service invoices. But why do businesses have the right to stick US with THEIR costs?? Answer: Because there’s no law against it. And there should be one. Businesses get away with this because there’s no legislation that says a business must pay its own costs and fees if it provides a monthly service to customers.

If you’ve ever taken a close look at your itemized cell phone bill, you’ll see a whole slew of charges for every little fee and cost under the sun. That’s because, as a mobile phone service provider, your cell phone company must pay all manner of usage taxes and charges mandated not only by the state they’re operating in…but also for the country they’re operating in. This would cost them MILLIONS per year if they absorbed the cost, themselves. That’s simply not going to happen.

No, they’re going to divvy that cost up among all of their customers who are locked into a 2-year service contract (which means, kiddies, that you’re now bent over the proverbial stump…and I hope you brought lube). Yes, there’s state fees, state taxes, federal fees, federal taxes, sales tax and probably a paper bill fee (so they can recover the costs of mailing you the bill in the first place). Yes….they’re that lame and greedy.

There needs to be legislation enacted on a federal basis, which would require these cell phone companies to absorb some of their own costs. Fundamentally, what they’re doing is wrong. Oh yes, they’re making it easier to gain profits by “passing the buck”. But why should it be OUR responsibility to pay THEIR bills? We’re already paying our own.

Just something to think about, the next time you’re writing out that check for your monthly services.