• Hathaway@lemmy.zip
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    1 year ago

    I could be wrong, but, that feels like a weak position to run on. I’m not sure I want the government worrying about the expected fee at the hotel I cannot afford to go to.

    Isn’t there a way to spend the money you’re going to spend on that to spend it on like food availability, or affordable housing, or education…?

    Idk. Seems like a waste of resources but, I suppose they probably have a massive team figuring out what the country is worried about. Just seems like a weird thing to underline, it feels like a back burner issue.

    • blackbelt352@lemmy.sdf.org
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      1 year ago

      I kinda see where you’re coming from but junk fees are really something that affects everyone, especially those near the bottom of society. Stuff like cell phone fees inflating phone prices, online commerce fees making transactions more expensive, credit card/banking fees, overdraft fees a literal tax on being poor, convenience fees because they can, maintenance fees. It all adds up to tens of billions of dollars annually.

      • GingeyBook@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        What’s going to stop the companies from just rolling that convenience fee into the price of the service though?

        • blackbelt352@lemmy.sdf.org
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          1 year ago

          Thats part of the point, It makes the upfront pricing more visible. Clear, easy to understand information means better purchasing decisions are made by consumers.

          It’s a lot harder to sell a $1500 phone than it is to sell a $1000 phone with $500 in extra fees tacked on at the time of purchase.

        • Pennomi@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          There’s nothing wrong with that, because it’s the advertised price. It’s unethical to say that something costs $1 and then charge them $2.

      • Hathaway@lemmy.zip
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        1 year ago

        Okay, see, this is a much better list than “concert tickets, hotels, and cellphone bills” lmao. Now you can get me to care and see the merit.

        Not sure it still should be an underlined campaign promise, but, as stated, it’s bipartisan, everyone hates them. Then you add your reasoning in there too, and I could get behind it.

      • Hathaway@lemmy.zip
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        1 year ago

        I didn’t say it wasn’t. I said it’s a weird issue to underline and run a campaign on.

    • Ech@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      “Small” inconveniences like this (among other things) are how asshole capitalists win. They nickle and dime us in ways that aren’t “worth” pushing back against. We tell ourselves “It’s just a little bit extra. Not worth pushing back just for that.”, but there are countless little bit extras and they drain us without resistance. And it’s not like individuals are going to be able to change any of that, so it’s entirely up to our governments to address those issues. Of course there are big things to work on too, but fixing some things doesn’t mean we can’t work on the big things too.

    • utopianfiat@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I see you’ve bought into the Republican myth that the reason Americans have a shoddy social support infrastructure is due to budgetary tradeoffs. It’s not. It’s a failure of will of the American people to do what’s necessary to stop preventable innocent casualties.

      • Hathaway@lemmy.zip
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        1 year ago

        Care to elaborate? I probably have, I was raised in that environment, though, I wouldn’t call myself right leaning on most things.

    • Zoboomafoo@yiffit.net
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      1 year ago

      How many resources do you think it takes to ban junk fees?

      Because it’s nowhere comparable to the cost of any of your alternatives

      • Hathaway@lemmy.zip
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        1 year ago

        Well if it’s such an easy win, why not just do it? Why campaign on it. He’s already in office lol. I hate politics.