$90 Time Warner Cable bill becomes $190 after two years
arstechnica.com
arstechnica.com
That's a terrible example. In the US that's exactly how restaurants work.
In Europe if the meal deal says 20 euro it costs 20 euro (inc. taxes and tips are legitimately optional). In the US if it says $20 it costs $20 + 5% hidden tax + mandatory tip (15-20%). So in the US a $20 meal costs $24.15 (15% tip which I'm told is the minimum).
That's the way the entire US society is set up top to bottom. Hidden fees, surcharges, and required "tips" on every single thing. You cannot even use an ATM without being hit for a $3 fee now.
Yet whenever anyone brings this up everyone flocks to defend the practice, like people who want an inclusive price are bonkers! Sorry but American pricing is screwed up, stuff like this is the normal rather than the exception unfortunately.
Consumer laws actually make that kind of charging completely illegal in the EU. Price transparency and all that jazz.
What's more is that now almost any place that prepares food has a tip line or a tip jar. Kid behind the counter just scooped some icecream on a cone? "Tip please." Hand me a cup of coffee? "Add whatever amount you want to the already hyper-inflated price of that joe you got there. I poured it, remember?"
The worst offender that I've run into is a sandwich shop called Jersey Mikes. I absolutely love their food but they recently rolled out a new system that has me so annoyed that I will never go back. As part of the payment process you are now required to either select from a predetermined set of tip percentages or explicitly opt-out.
The thing is, I actually feel for the guy preparing my sandwich or the girl that writes down my order and hands it off. I know that unless they are a waiter in a swanky, up-scale restaurant or a bartender pretty much anywhere then they are probably not making a ton of money.
Yet customers are made to feel as though they have some moral or social obligation to bring them up to a livable wage. In reality what is happening is the restaurants & bars are passing on their wages directly on to us. We are expected to pay a tax so that they don't have to pay them enough to survive on.