If you feel like your wallet is lighter these days, you’re not alone. Unemployment is over 9%, groceries are costing more and wages have flatlined.
Adding insult to injury is the rash of fees being levied on many things that used to be cheap — or in some cases, even free. An extra $5 here or $10 there really adds up these days.
Yes, companies are feeling the burn, too — and investors demand ever-growing earnings even as growth is hard to come by. But that’s small consolation as consumers wind up get nickel-and-dimed to death.
Here are five fees that are pinching consumers’ wallets (or could be soon):
Banking Fees
Five dollars per month to use your own money? Sounds preposterous, but that’s exactly what Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) has in store for its customers with a $5 debit card fee that will go on the books Jan. 1. BofA isn’t the only bank upping the costs of banking, with Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) testing out a $3 monthly debit card fee in several states and Citibank (NYSE:C) charging $15 per month to EZ Checking account holders who don’t carry a minimum balance.
House lawmakers, always looking for a few more votes, discussed repealing the regulation that banks say forced their hand in the first place. But you know you’re desperate if you’re expecting our do-nothing Congress to help out. Bankers who stick with BofA in 2012 also likely will be stuck with the $5 fee.
Costco Fees
Low-cost warehouse retailer Costco (NASDAQ:COST) announced earlier this month that it was hiking annual membership fees 10% after its earnings failed to meet Wall Street expectations. For the company, it means more than $100 million in additional annual revenue. For you and me — if you happen to be a member — it means an extra $5 per year on top of the $50 you already pay.
And while $5 per year doesn’t sound like much, put it in perspective. People don’t shop at Costco for its caviar selection or its extensive wine cellar. They shop at Costco because times are tough, buying in bulk saves cash over the long run, and with Costco’s hundreds of warehouses in the U.S., there’s probably one nearby. Budget-conscious shoppers will notice a missing five-spot.
Netflix Fees
Netflix’s (NASDAQ:NFLX) grand change in business plan — involving a split in its DVD-by-mail and streaming video services, price increases, a CEO apology, a rebranding of the DVD-by-mail service and subsequent retraction of said rebranding — can be summed up to consumers in simple dollars and cents: Unlimited streaming video and a one-DVD plan cost $6 per month more Sept. 1 than it did Aug. 31.
More than a million customers jumped ship, and millions more that remained complained, leading some to chastise Netflix users for bemoaning a relatively slight price change for a very large service. But think about it this way: For folks putting aside travel plans in a down economy and instead sticking to cheap, at-home entertainment, $72 a year matters. Especially when many people opted for Netflix as a lower-cost alternative to cable.
eBay Fees
Online auctioneer eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) is no Sotheby’s, but its prices are headed in that direction. As of Sept. 22, eBay changed its pricing structure: Auction customers won’t pay listing fees for their first 30 transactions, but the “percentage final value fee” charged will be increased from 5.25% to 7.9% — the percentage previously charged only on fixed-price sales.
Lifehacker aptly illustrates the impact: “Let’s suppose you sell a lamp for $20, with a starting price of $0.99. Under the current system, you’ll pay an insertion fee of 30 cents and a final value fee of $1.05, for a total of $1.35. Under the new system, you’ll pay $1.58.” Some people try to make a little extra cash by selling old junk on eBay, and some people even try to eke out a living through auctioning — both are likely to feel eBay’s pinch.
Flight Fees
Just when airline passengers finally feel numb to constant fee gouging, the Obama administration plans to tack another couple lines onto their travel receipts. According to President Barack Obama’s deficit-cutting plan released in September, a couple new aviation fees would come into effect, including a hike in the passenger security fee and a surcharge of $100 per flight that would go toward air traffic control.
The passenger fee would jump to $15 from its current $5 to $10 by 2017. No hard math there: That’s $5 to $10 more out of your pocket. And that surcharge? While touted as a tax on corporate jets, it would apply to regular flights, and it would pose a particular burden on regional airlines. Chippewa Valley Regional Airport Manager Charity Speich told WEAU.com, “If you divide that up among a 50 seat aircraft, you’re having $2 a passenger, versus if you’re dividing it up among a larger aircraft with more than 100 seats.” People fly from regional airports for cheaper fares. An extra $12 might ground them entirely.
As of this writing, Kyle Woodley did not own a position in any of the aforementioned stocks.
