[LadyRuby]

Ha! It makes me laugh, when I've looked into buying firewood, topsoil, etc. and their detailing the pricing to me, they include a "fuel surcharge." Like they think gas is going back down to $1.30/gallon? Their way of disguising the fact that they are having to increase prices due to increased costs? How stupid do they think we are?

[gnm]

Yeah I've seen that added to firewood, concrete, gravel, and even heavy item pallet shipping (think motor parts or batteries). Maybe they think if they do it as a surcharge they can increase it dynamically with the price of fuel...

-G

[Wildwell]

It's a bit of a con really. The airlines if I remember were first to start doing it, I might be wrong in that. Anyway, eventually people complained because they were advertising tickets way below the real cost and they were told to pack it up. Rather like saying, this new TV set has a: Labour surcharge, shipping surcharge, design surcharge, health and safety surcharge, sales surcharge and parts surcharge...but it's yours for $10.

[LadyRuby]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Wildwell', 'I')t's a bit of a con really. The airlines if I remember were first to start doing it, I might be wrong in that. Anyway, eventually people complained because they were advertising tickets way below the real cost and they were told to pack it up. Rather like saying, this new TV set has a: Labour surcharge, shipping surcharge, design surcharge, health and safety surcharge, sales surcharge and parts surcharge...but it's yours for $10.

[lutherquick]

The FED can also keep it seperate...

And BINGO, there is no inflation...

[TnAndy]

It is a con....and frankly, I exploded over it this morning.

I was at the local farm co-op store and the fish truck was there ( mobile truck that comes around from Arkansas with fingerlings for stocking ponds ). Guy is up on the back getting fish out for another guy, and I asked "How much are your catfish ?"

Guy says "58 dollars per hundred".

So I told him I'll take a hundred.

He gets both our fish in the bags, and gets in the cab to write up the tickets. First guy writes him a check, and I get 3 -20's out of my wallet in the mean time. First guy leaves and I step up, hand him the twenties and say "Don't need a ticket...you owe me 2 bucks back"

Fish guy says "No, there is a 3 dollars fuel surcharge".

Uh.....NOPE....you said 58 bucks a hundred......

"Yeah, but that didn't include the surcharge"

Listen man.....I don't give a rat's ass what it costs to raise and transport these fish.....I didn't ask what your property taxes were, what you paid for fish food, what you spent on a motel last night, or what your wife needs for grocery money this week.....I don't care WHAT the details of your costs are......all I care about is the price to me...WHICH YOU TOLD ME WAS 58 DOLLARS FOR 100 FISH......so you can either take 58 dollars or climb back up on that truck and dump these damn fish back in the tank !

He took the 58 dollars.

[strider3700]

I've seen it on concrete but the big one around here is the surcharge on the ferry. It wasn't large enough so they talked about increasing it, this was unpopular so eventually it came out that they'd just add a second surcharge this hasn't happened yet.

When talking about adding little charges the cell phone providers up here are the masters of it. $35/month + $9 for call id/voice mail is what I agreed to. So thats $44+ taxes or about $50/month. That doesn't include the 911 fee, the activation fee, the connectivity fee,... I've never had a bill under $65 I like having a cell phone but I'll like paying my $30 for a landline instead just fine.

[ohanian]

That's nothing!!!

When I visited my prostitute yesterday. She told me that, from now on there is going to be a new

Fuc king surcharge.

Ha Ha Ha

[jdmartin]

Where I work we've been paying fuel surcharges on all kinds of supplies for about 2 years now - everyone is doing it. I guess it's their way of breaking out "their price" versus "the money the greedy oil companies are getting". The thing I've noticed is that the fees are getting pretty large at this point, so I am assuming that they are actually pushing more of their costs into it than it really comprises.

The interesting thing about price increases is that on the consumer side they're being protected from it, by and large. On the business side of things, I can tell you for a fact that everyone is getting hammered. What's happening is that the end user is eating everyone else's costs because they are scared to death of losing business if they raise their prices to cover the costs. At some point, though, they'll either have to raise prices or go out of business. Profit margins for the end sellers of products right now are completely in the toilet. We have seen prices for plastic go up 100% over the last 2 years or so. Same thing for copper, brass, etc.

[max_power29]

They do the same thing with sales taxes, at least in washington and California. If I visit there, I will go pick up something at a store or get something to eat thinking its a certain price only to find out I forgot about sales tax. Its ridiculous they don't include sales taxes in the prices they advertise and espcially the items on shelves. Do they do this in other states? In oregon, we don't have sales taxes. (well actually in reality they do tax the hell out of a lot of stuff but its included in the price, and we don't have an official accross the board sales tax on absolutely everything.

[jdmartin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('max_power29', 'T')hey do the same thing with sales taxes, at least in washington and California. If I visit there, I will go pick up something at a store or get something to eat thinking its a certain price only to find out I forgot about sales tax. Its ridiculous they don't include sales taxes in the prices they advertise and espcially the items on shelves. Do they do this in other states? In oregon, we don't have sales taxes. (well actually in reality they do tax the hell out of a lot of stuff but its included in the price, and we don't have an official accross the board sales tax on absolutely everything.