4 ms·
"Californians are fed up with being bombarded by junk fees that, more and more, are making it unaffordable to attend a concert, go to a sporting event, take a v
by jawns 4y ago
"Californians are fed up with being bombarded by junk fees that, more and more, are making it unaffordable to attend a concert, go to a sporting event, take a vacation, or stay at a hotel."
Oh, believe me, state Senator Nancy Skinner, requiring businesses to disclose these fees up front is not going to make these purchases any more affordable. Companies will either maintain the fees but comply with the disclosure requirement or remove the fees and jack up the base price accordingly. Either way, the goods and services they sell will not magically become cheaper.
What it will do, however, is level the playing field, which is good for competition, and may have some indirect benefits for consumers. So I'm very much in support of requiring up-front pricing. (In fact, it would be lovely to see pricing that's inclusive of all taxes as well.)
- 8ytecoder 4y agoAssuming the companies are not hiding the fees for shits and giggles, we should see an impact albeit not as large as the entire fees but not $0 either.
- lclarkmichalek 4y agoUnbundling is a real thing, with some pronounced second order affects. The first order effect of charging for in flight food service and checked bagged is purely redistributive, but rise of low cost, heavily unbundled airlines has increased the total market for air travel, increasing net economic activity in the sector.
- 88913527 4y agoLeveling the playing field means increased competition which means better prices for consumers. It does make it more affordable. Your listed examples are discretionary purchases. So it might not matter much to higher earners, but I'm sure some median earners bounce when they make it to the final step in the checkout flow when all the fees are revealed and now it's out of budget.
- HDThoreaun 4y agoincreasing competition lowers prices.