What to Know About Hidden Fees That Increase the Price of Everything
What to Know About Hidden Fees That Increase the Price of Everything
Farnoosh Torabi Aug. 21, 2022
What's happening
Many companies have found ways of passing down increased costs to consumers, with extra charges tacked on to your bill at checkout.
Why it matters
It's called drip pricing, and these new fees and surcharges are affecting customers who are already struggling with rampant inflation.
What's next
Knowing what merchants are charging can help you manage your budget and make better buying decisions. The prices for nearly everything have ballooned in the past year. Record high inflation means the cost of food, fuel and other everyday essentials has gone up, which has put severe financial pressure on US households, particularly low-income Americans.
Look out for surcharges like these on your restaurant bills. Courtney Johnston/CNET
And then there's the hidden costs added to your purchase before checkout, or tacked on to the receipt without warning. These additional merchant fees are called drip pricing, and they're inflicting pain on our already-stretched wallets. Businesses often claim these fees are the only way to offset the burden of inflation and supply chain shortages. For consumers, it means the things we buy are pricier than they initially appear.
"Most of the time we find out about these fees when it's time to pay, not before," Ashley Feinstein Gerstley, author of Financial Adulting, told me via email. "Because these fees really run the gamut, you never really know what you are going to get."
I asked my Instagram followers about these new and surprising fees, and they gave me loads of anecdotes. From restaurants to medical offices to rideshare services, here's a look at some charges that I discovered. And I'll offer tips on how to manage these unexpected surcharges.
Restaurants are charging more, and not just for food
Many restaurants are still reeling from a fiscal slump during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, with rising food and payroll costs, eateries continue to struggle. "Average small business restaurants run on very tight margins of around 3 to 5% pre-tax," said Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research with the National Restaurant Association. "The typical restaurant business model is not set up to deal with this sustained and accelerated cost of food and labor, which is putting extraordinary pressure on operators, and indications are these will continue."
Here are some of the new fees you may see on your restaurant bill:
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