Is it really convenient to pay extra?

I have been a big fan of the band Rush for a couple of decades now, and I've always bemoaned the fact that they were too big of an act to play in my local area. So for the past 20 years, I've driven to major markets like Philadelphia or Baltimore or Pittsburgh to see them live.

But a new arena is opening in Hershey, Pennsylvania this month and one of the first concerts will be - Rush!

Finally!

So I purchased my tickets online for the event and found that I had to pay an additional $7.50 for a 'convenience charge' for doing so. Sure it was more convenient for me to buy the tickets from my desk at work considering I would have had to drive five miles to buy them in person at the box office.

But for whom was it more convenient? Surely the company received a certain level of convenience from my purchasing the tickets online. For starters, the ticket office didn't need to have so many workers since I and countless others bought tickets online.

This 'convenience charge' is becoming rather inconvenient.

For the privilege of using my Automated Teller Machine card instead of going into my bank's branch to make withdrawals and deposits, I am charged a small fee! I've noticed as more and more people have been using their ATM cards, banks' office hours are growing even more limited! And there seems to be fewer tellers in the bank when they actually are open.

This whole notion of life becoming more convenient is a mystery to me. Yes, some modern conveniences are wonderful - the dishwasher being tops on my list. But many others are simply horrid.

Take my television remote control. Please¹. When it isn't lost or being used as a chaise-lounge in my daughter's dollhouse, the batteries are dead. One time we lost our remote control for a few days. We only found it when we had company over to the house and every time they shifted in their chair, the television turned on. It turns out that the remote control was buried under the chair cushion.

Another 'convenience' that I can't understand is the drive-through window. I bet a co-worker lunch one day that I could go inside the local McDonald's, purchase my food and leave before he received his meal at the drive-up window. That might have been the best meal I ever ate at a McDonald's - nothing tastes so good as free food!

So what's my point? Do I want to return to the dark ages of my parents' childhood?

No. I simply don't want to be charged more for something that is as convenient for the company as it is for me.

My local gas station doesn't charge me extra when I use the self-serve island to pump my own gasoline. So why does my bank feel the need to charge me to use my ATM card to do my own deposits?

I can think of two reasons:

1. They like taking my money.
2. They can get away with it.

Personally, I'm going to stop using my ATM card and online ticket brokers in the same way I stopped using the drive-through window at fast food restaurants.

It's simply too inconvenient to take advantage of these modern conveniences.

Jimi X

03.10.02 Front Page

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