Originally Posted by
BamaVol
I think actually that started in the early 70's after the oil embargo led to rising energy costs. Businesses started adding energy surcharges to their invoices. Today, look at cruise fares, air fares, cell phone bills cable TV bills. Buy a set of tires or a car battery. I could go on. Many businesses have gone to a pricing model that includes multiple additions. I'm no less irritated than you. But it's really all over the place and has been for almost 50 years.
You are correct, but one should note that there is also a financial motivation for "surcharges," i.e. that surcharges are often not subject to the same tax implications as basic charges. The best example is airfares where the surcharges are not subject to the excise taxes that the base airfare is and this goes directly to the bottom line for the airlines. Same with your mobile phone bill where certain charges are not subject to excise taxes so they tack the charge on "differently" to avoid the tax implications and to point the finger of blame at government. You should also note that many of the charges on you phone bill get lumped in under "fees & government charges," but if you read carefully you will find that at least half of them are nothing more than fees that go into the pocket of the mobile service provider and are not truly government charges.
Thus this whole scenario is truly a multiple edged sword of transparency, greed, blame sharing/finger pointing and yes, even customer benefit in some cases.