e-Vents

[ Monday ]

Companies Raise Prices

Companies have been steadily raising prices for goods and services, many using the price of oil and hence, gasoline and diesel fuel, as the excuse for doing so.

But wait...fuel prices have not gone up at the same rate as the price of some of the individual items being increased, and therefore, these firms are not just covering their costs. They are 'sticking it' to their customers...namely you and me.

Take for example, the nation's largest retailer...Wal-Mart. I happened to notice several months ago that an item my family purchased quite frequently from the grocery section had gone from $1 (USD) to $1.14, in one week. It was a private label item for Wal-Mart, but who could believe that this promoter of 'Always Low Prices' could be pushing through a fourteen percent price increase? Maybe not much in a dollar amount, but a huge percentage increase.
Today, I noticed that the price jumped to $1.25. So, this perceived low-price retailer increased their price on this item by twenty-five percent over the course of a few months. How many other items are getting double-digit increases, as they continue to advertise their low price mantra?

That, of course, is only one example of price increases being levied by companies. Banks and financial institutions have been doing it for years, even though they once proclaimed that their investments in information technology would make banking less expensive for their customers.

USAA Federal Savings Bank has one of the better customer service policies around. They reimburse their customers for out-of-network ATM fees, and have postage-paid deposit envelopes. But, a recent letter to their customers stated changes in some of their other fees.

Certain excess Debit card fees will increase from $1 to $2 per transaction.
An 'Official Check Fee' went from $2 to $5.
A 'Statement Copy' went from $5 to $10.
A 'Photocopy Fee - per item' went from $1 to $5.
The 'Outgoing Wire Transfer Fee' went from $12 to $20.

While these items don't affect me personally, they will affect hundreds and, perhaps, thousands of this bank's customers. And this is just one financial institution. Do the math...these are HUGE percentage increases. The next time you need a photocopy from your bank, ask them if you can take it down the street to Kinko's or some place similar and get it done for THREE CENTS !

Do not be misled by the rise in fuel prices as an excuse for increases in other goods and services. As the price of gasoline comes down, check your prices at Wal-Mart and your local bank to see if their prices have dropped also.

MM [13:47]