You say you want a Revolution...
June 30, 2008 9:06 AM Subscribe
When it comes to government and corporate America, why are our problems our problems, and their problems our problems? (Super long-winded rant to follow)
I travel regularly for my job, and this morning I'm reading about reactions to some airlines charging for checked luggage, and am pretty floored by the travelers that are being interviewed talking about how they sympathize with the airlines getting squeezed by high fuel costs, and are understanding of this new fee.
Then I read that the CEO of Continental (my carrier of choice) is thinking about imposing the same fees, but wants to "wait and see" how travelers react first.
WTF? I have ZERO sympathy for these guys or their stockholders! they have been nickle-and-diming me for years just because they can! I can't count how many times a trip wrapped up a day early, and they had the nerve to hit me with a $100 change fees to allow my to sit in an unsold seat that was leaving that day, and probably would have been empty anyway, while at the same time giving them an extra day or two to sell my original seat for 3x what I paid!!
I once bought a ticket on Orbitz that was something like Houston to Memphis, Mephis to Newark. I got to the airport a few hours early, and saw an earlier, direct Houston to Newark flight. When I inquired they said that the earlier, direct flight was almost empty, but they wouldn't let me switch due to "policy", even though the second leg of my original flight was showing as being oversold!
It's no wonder many in this industry have been losing money for so long..
Now they are simply going to artifically increase demand by cutting flights and pulling seats, so they can charge more money.
And it's not just the airlines, it's all these big corporations. Cell phone and cable compainies can be unable to provide service for hours at a time and they say " these things happen, read your customer agreement, we make no promises" But if your bill is late, they shut you off and charge you a $25 reconnect fee.
Even worse than this: AT&T Wireless "rewards" their loyal customers by hitting them with a $35 UPGRADE fee when you extend your contract and upgrade your phone!! But lose your job before the contract expires and try to get them to waive the $175 early termination fee!
The post office keeps raising the prices of postage, but they could probably cut expenses BIG TIME by simply refusing to take all the junk mail that the vast majority of consumers throw away, without ever even opening anyway. ( they could also cut down deliveries to 4 days a week instead of 6, but that's a whle other conversation)
Why do we continue to let these companies stick it to us every which way, and continue to come back for more? Is their anyway to reverse this trend? Do others share this view, are you doing anything about it?
or am I just becoming a cranky old man?
Now, move along you kids....and STAY OFF MY LAWN!!
I travel regularly for my job, and this morning I'm reading about reactions to some airlines charging for checked luggage, and am pretty floored by the travelers that are being interviewed talking about how they sympathize with the airlines getting squeezed by high fuel costs, and are understanding of this new fee.
Then I read that the CEO of Continental (my carrier of choice) is thinking about imposing the same fees, but wants to "wait and see" how travelers react first.
WTF? I have ZERO sympathy for these guys or their stockholders! they have been nickle-and-diming me for years just because they can! I can't count how many times a trip wrapped up a day early, and they had the nerve to hit me with a $100 change fees to allow my to sit in an unsold seat that was leaving that day, and probably would have been empty anyway, while at the same time giving them an extra day or two to sell my original seat for 3x what I paid!!
I once bought a ticket on Orbitz that was something like Houston to Memphis, Mephis to Newark. I got to the airport a few hours early, and saw an earlier, direct Houston to Newark flight. When I inquired they said that the earlier, direct flight was almost empty, but they wouldn't let me switch due to "policy", even though the second leg of my original flight was showing as being oversold!
It's no wonder many in this industry have been losing money for so long..
Now they are simply going to artifically increase demand by cutting flights and pulling seats, so they can charge more money.
And it's not just the airlines, it's all these big corporations. Cell phone and cable compainies can be unable to provide service for hours at a time and they say " these things happen, read your customer agreement, we make no promises" But if your bill is late, they shut you off and charge you a $25 reconnect fee.
Even worse than this: AT&T Wireless "rewards" their loyal customers by hitting them with a $35 UPGRADE fee when you extend your contract and upgrade your phone!! But lose your job before the contract expires and try to get them to waive the $175 early termination fee!
The post office keeps raising the prices of postage, but they could probably cut expenses BIG TIME by simply refusing to take all the junk mail that the vast majority of consumers throw away, without ever even opening anyway. ( they could also cut down deliveries to 4 days a week instead of 6, but that's a whle other conversation)
Why do we continue to let these companies stick it to us every which way, and continue to come back for more? Is their anyway to reverse this trend? Do others share this view, are you doing anything about it?
or am I just becoming a cranky old man?
Now, move along you kids....and STAY OFF MY LAWN!!
This post was deleted for the following reason: Dude, wtf? -- cortex
goodbye, mr. chips
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 9:13 AM on June 30, 2008 [3 favorites]
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 9:13 AM on June 30, 2008 [3 favorites]
Too bad you can't flag the businesses you don't like just like I flagged this "question" as chatfilter...
posted by wfrgms at 9:14 AM on June 30, 2008
posted by wfrgms at 9:14 AM on June 30, 2008
When it comes to government and corporate America, why are our problems our problems, and their problems our problems?
The market for goods and services and the applicable regulatory environment.
WTF?
OMG!
Why do we continue to let these companies stick it to us every which way, and continue to come back for more?
The market for goods and services and the applicable regulatory environment. Plus each individual consumer's sense of perspective and desire to avoid unnecessary conflict.
Is their anyway to reverse this trend?
Stop buying products/services. Initiate a boycott. Petition your elected representatives to regulate. Engage in criminal behavior. These may or may not have any effect.
Do others share this view, are you doing anything about it?
Others surely do. I do not, and I am not doing anything about it.
or am I just becoming a cranky old man?
Yes.
posted by pardonyou? at 9:17 AM on June 30, 2008
The market for goods and services and the applicable regulatory environment.
WTF?
OMG!
Why do we continue to let these companies stick it to us every which way, and continue to come back for more?
The market for goods and services and the applicable regulatory environment. Plus each individual consumer's sense of perspective and desire to avoid unnecessary conflict.
Is their anyway to reverse this trend?
Stop buying products/services. Initiate a boycott. Petition your elected representatives to regulate. Engage in criminal behavior. These may or may not have any effect.
Do others share this view, are you doing anything about it?
Others surely do. I do not, and I am not doing anything about it.
or am I just becoming a cranky old man?
Yes.
posted by pardonyou? at 9:17 AM on June 30, 2008
fyi, junk mail is the post office's main source of revenue.
posted by norabarnacl3 at 9:18 AM on June 30, 2008
posted by norabarnacl3 at 9:18 AM on June 30, 2008
The economics of the airline industry is pretty strange. The domestic airlines are getting hit hard by the oil prices. They're already facing low margins and hypercompetitive markets, as well as high labor costs. Domestic flying is insanely price competitive; being $5 over the lowest fare is enough to significantly lower the number of tickets sold; if they can cut their ticket price by $5 and make that up by charging for a drink, they have a strong incentive to do that. They don't have the capital to invest in new aircraft, lowering customer satisfaction as well as causing those planes to be expensive to operate. Most of the majors are tied to a hub and spoke model that causes lower utilization rates than point-to-point models. Other than Southwest, nobody's making money with oil at $140 a barrel.
How do you stop it? Stop buying doing business with companies whose business practices bother you. Start/Join a grass-roots campaign to lobby for more customer protections.
Also, Chatfilter.
posted by theclaw at 9:23 AM on June 30, 2008
How do you stop it? Stop buying doing business with companies whose business practices bother you. Start/Join a grass-roots campaign to lobby for more customer protections.
Also, Chatfilter.
posted by theclaw at 9:23 AM on June 30, 2008
Personally, I'd rather pay $.41 for a stamp then get mail 4 days a week.
posted by drezdn at 9:25 AM on June 30, 2008
posted by drezdn at 9:25 AM on June 30, 2008
Personally I'd like to see the airlines liquidated and appropriated by the federal government and run at a loss. At some point the constraints on business and commerce created by the for-profit airlines becomes a drag on our national economy.
Like education, health care, and law enforcement, I'm not sure there is a convincing argument out there anymore for why air travel (along with all mass transit) should be a for profit venture.
posted by wfrgms at 9:27 AM on June 30, 2008
Like education, health care, and law enforcement, I'm not sure there is a convincing argument out there anymore for why air travel (along with all mass transit) should be a for profit venture.
posted by wfrgms at 9:27 AM on June 30, 2008
Corporations are, in one aspect, liability (translation: responsibility) redirection and destruction mechanisms. Accountability just shuffles around until it vanishes.
You cannot slap a pair of handcuffs on a corporation. You can't make it take the long walk down to the chair (okay, I'm told that there is a corporate death penalty somehow, never heard of it in use). If a corporation does something wrong ... "mistakes were made." Occasionally a scapegoat is selected. If Exxon's tanker spills some oil, it's the fault of one guy - sue him! If that same tanker doesn't spill, that one guy does not reap all of the profits, Exxon does.
Additionally, there's the "the corporations employ us, so we must not interfere with them, lest we kill the goose that laid the golden egg." We can't even send the goose to its hutch without supper - it might not lay eggs. We're perfectly happy throwing individuals with families (dependents) in jail, because it only affects a spouse and some kids. Restriction of a corporation affects many people.
We let them stick us this way because practically everything incorporates at some degree, and it becomes very difficult to select a provider who is not incorporated. Incorporation is itself a protective mechanism against litigation, both valid and bloodthirsty/nuisance.
In terms of practical solutions on a large scale, corporate personhood has been, in my totally uninformed opinion, a big part of this problem, along with the focus on ever-increasing profits. You cannot just make the same level of profit ever year, you must grow. And your growth must grow, too. Removing corporate personhood might be a start - good luck with that. You could lobby for taxes to be increased on corporations, but you've got the Goose Effect again. "If we don't let them do whatever they want, they might stop giving us money! Oh noes!"
At a grass-roots level, you could stop working for corporations, stop buying from corporations, avoid political candidates supported by corporations, and basically spread the word.
posted by adipocere at 9:31 AM on June 30, 2008
You cannot slap a pair of handcuffs on a corporation. You can't make it take the long walk down to the chair (okay, I'm told that there is a corporate death penalty somehow, never heard of it in use). If a corporation does something wrong ... "mistakes were made." Occasionally a scapegoat is selected. If Exxon's tanker spills some oil, it's the fault of one guy - sue him! If that same tanker doesn't spill, that one guy does not reap all of the profits, Exxon does.
Additionally, there's the "the corporations employ us, so we must not interfere with them, lest we kill the goose that laid the golden egg." We can't even send the goose to its hutch without supper - it might not lay eggs. We're perfectly happy throwing individuals with families (dependents) in jail, because it only affects a spouse and some kids. Restriction of a corporation affects many people.
We let them stick us this way because practically everything incorporates at some degree, and it becomes very difficult to select a provider who is not incorporated. Incorporation is itself a protective mechanism against litigation, both valid and bloodthirsty/nuisance.
In terms of practical solutions on a large scale, corporate personhood has been, in my totally uninformed opinion, a big part of this problem, along with the focus on ever-increasing profits. You cannot just make the same level of profit ever year, you must grow. And your growth must grow, too. Removing corporate personhood might be a start - good luck with that. You could lobby for taxes to be increased on corporations, but you've got the Goose Effect again. "If we don't let them do whatever they want, they might stop giving us money! Oh noes!"
At a grass-roots level, you could stop working for corporations, stop buying from corporations, avoid political candidates supported by corporations, and basically spread the word.
posted by adipocere at 9:31 AM on June 30, 2008
41 cents to send a letter ANYWHERE IN THE WHOLE GOD DAMN COUNTRY DELIVERED DOOR TO DOOR. You can't drive to the post office for 41 cents. I personally don't think that's too much to ask.
posted by ALongDecember at 9:31 AM on June 30, 2008 [2 favorites]
posted by ALongDecember at 9:31 AM on June 30, 2008 [2 favorites]
CORPORATE AMERIKKKA IS RUN BY GREEDY A$$HATS!! AMIRITE?!?!?
posted by mkultra at 9:32 AM on June 30, 2008
posted by mkultra at 9:32 AM on June 30, 2008
You should probably learn a bit about the industries you're criticizing before you unleash a nonsense stream of chatfilter that I can only hope will be deleted as soon as the mods see it.
But just in case it isn't, here's some actual evidence to combat your bizarre junk mail theory. "The Postal Service, suffering from a decline in the number of letters sent between individuals and in customer bills as result of the Internet, depended on direct mail for about a third of its revenue in the last year, up from 29 percent five years ago."
I'm not sure where to start with your insane rant about airlines and cell phones. You may want to read a bit about public choice economics, and specifically regulatory capture, which examines the interactions between large industries and the government agencies created to regulate them.
In the meantime, you probably should get in the habit of reading contracts before you sign them and declining to do business with companies whose terms you disagree with.
posted by decathecting at 9:34 AM on June 30, 2008 [2 favorites]
But just in case it isn't, here's some actual evidence to combat your bizarre junk mail theory. "The Postal Service, suffering from a decline in the number of letters sent between individuals and in customer bills as result of the Internet, depended on direct mail for about a third of its revenue in the last year, up from 29 percent five years ago."
I'm not sure where to start with your insane rant about airlines and cell phones. You may want to read a bit about public choice economics, and specifically regulatory capture, which examines the interactions between large industries and the government agencies created to regulate them.
In the meantime, you probably should get in the habit of reading contracts before you sign them and declining to do business with companies whose terms you disagree with.
posted by decathecting at 9:34 AM on June 30, 2008 [2 favorites]
Oh, and as a side note: early termination fees are being challenged in court.
posted by ALongDecember at 9:35 AM on June 30, 2008
posted by ALongDecember at 9:35 AM on June 30, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
Because there are no real alternatives.
Is their anyway to reverse this trend?
Not on your own.
Do others share this view, are you doing anything about it?
Travelling less, taking bus/Amtrak, flagging chatfilter posts.
posted by cog_nate at 9:12 AM on June 30, 2008 [1 favorite]