4 ms·

Laws like this aren't going to make services and products any cheaper. They'll just shift around and hide the fees into the core price. Sure, that's better I su

Laws like this aren't going to make services and products any cheaper. They'll just shift around and hide the fees into the core price. Sure, that's better I suppose, but end of the day still costs the same amount. Not convinced at all this is a area policy makers should be focusing on.

inemesitaffia 3y ago
You don't want to drive to a resort, hotel or store with a headline figure of say $300 and end up finding out additional fees double that to $600
- musicale 3y ago
  Resort/amenity fees in a nutshell - just a way for them to advertise a rate that is lower than the actual rate. Unfortunately the law seems to ignore hotel taxes/government fees, which are often substantial.
  - kelnos 3y ago
    The law is aimed against companies who try to undercut their competitors by listing deceptive pricing. Taxes are always the same rate for a given good and location, so requiring including those would be a separate -- if related -- issue.
habitue 3y ago
The issue is that you can't compare apples to apples. One company charges more built into the price, another company hides some fees you only see at checkout and can't avoid. It's not adding value and it's not improved by competition (competing with this tactic means hiding more fees than your competitor)
musicale 3y ago
It bans price dripping, where you go through 6 checkout screens and each one adds a new fee. Car dealerships are also notorious for the practice of continually adding fees after you agree to buy for the advertised price. It also makes it harder for companies (phone companies, cable companies and ISPs, utilities, etc.) to enact stealth rate increases by adding bogus fees to your monthly bill.
jen20 3y ago
Putting the fees in the core price is a win for everyone except scumbags who think it is ok to scam people.
eszed 3y ago
It's way better! I want to be able to comparison shop: now I can judge Hotel A (advertised @ $200) and Hotel B ($179) on the same basis, without trying to guess which of them will be adding on what additional (un-advertised, and - so far as I can tell - unknowable until check-in) fees. Whenever-ago it was hotels started doing that the extra fees were fairly nominal, and it was easy to shrug at them. Last year my wife and I stayed at a hotel (thankfully paid for by her work) with a $50 per-person/night "resort fee". In the event, neither of us used those amenities (though yes, we still had to pay: I asked), so that's not what that fee was _really_ about. It's entirely an obfuscation. This bill adds nothing to the state budget. Allowing price discovery (and therefore free markets) to work, is what regulation should do, even under a fairly libertarian theory of government. It's certainly worthy of legislative time.
petesergeant 3y ago
I think this is easy to dismiss as a concern by simply reversing it: why do you think companies hide these fees? Hard to come up with any answer other than “to mislead consumers”

inemesitaffia 3y ago

You don't want to drive to a resort, hotel or store with a headline figure of say $300 and end up finding out additional fees double that to $600

musicale 3y ago
Resort/amenity fees in a nutshell - just a way for them to advertise a rate that is lower than the actual rate. Unfortunately the law seems to ignore hotel taxes/government fees, which are often substantial.
- kelnos 3y ago
  The law is aimed against companies who try to undercut their competitors by listing deceptive pricing. Taxes are always the same rate for a given good and location, so requiring including those would be a separate -- if related -- issue.

habitue 3y ago

The issue is that you can't compare apples to apples. One company charges more built into the price, another company hides some fees you only see at checkout and can't avoid. It's not adding value and it's not improved by competition (competing with this tactic means hiding more fees than your competitor)

musicale 3y ago

It bans price dripping, where you go through 6 checkout screens and each one adds a new fee. Car dealerships are also notorious for the practice of continually adding fees after you agree to buy for the advertised price. It also makes it harder for companies (phone companies, cable companies and ISPs, utilities, etc.) to enact stealth rate increases by adding bogus fees to your monthly bill.

jen20 3y ago

Putting the fees in the core price is a win for everyone except scumbags who think it is ok to scam people.

eszed 3y ago

It's way better! I want to be able to comparison shop: now I can judge Hotel A (advertised @ $200) and Hotel B ($179) on the same basis, without trying to guess which of them will be adding on what additional (un-advertised, and - so far as I can tell - unknowable until check-in) fees. Whenever-ago it was hotels started doing that the extra fees were fairly nominal, and it was easy to shrug at them. Last year my wife and I stayed at a hotel (thankfully paid for by her work) with a $50 per-person/night "resort fee". In the event, neither of us used those amenities (though yes, we still had to pay: I asked), so that's not what that fee was _really_ about. It's entirely an obfuscation. This bill adds nothing to the state budget. Allowing price discovery (and therefore free markets) to work, is what regulation should do, even under a fairly libertarian theory of government. It's certainly worthy of legislative time.

petesergeant 3y ago

I think this is easy to dismiss as a concern by simply reversing it: why do you think companies hide these fees? Hard to come up with any answer other than “to mislead consumers”