Build A Better Box

Infomercials are full of them: those enticements that operators are standing by, that callers in the next 13 minutes will receive a bonus gift, and that every order placed will also include a free set of steak knives, additional 1-month supply, or three extra pair with every three pair ordered. But wait... there's more! If you rush $19.95 (plus $8.95 shipping and handling) to the address below, we'll also throw in the incredible Mini Shred-O-Matic at no extra charge, just for trying out the Lard Magic (TM) Home Cholesterol Dessert Kit in the privacy of your own kitchen!

Remember when "free stuff" was the norm, and there was always a little something extra to sweeten the deal, no matter what the product or service offered? There was a time not long ago when a fill-up at the gas station (which was often full-serve) usually had an attendant running around the car washing windows, topping off fluids, and checking oil. Grocery stores routinely passed out free samples at every aisle end cap (no need to eat lunch: just head to the supermarket at meal time.) Banks gave away radios for signing up for accounts. Sure some of this is still around, but it's certainly not as common. In an effort to stay "competitive", businesses have swung the machetes and cleared all this stuff from the picture. But being competitive is more than just about saving a few bucks for the consumer. Value means more than being 5% cheaper than the next guy, or ten cents a pound lower than everyone on the block. It means offering the extras in the package experience, even if subsidized in cost by the main purchase price itself.

Some production companies we know of charge clients for lunch, line-iteming the measly few extra dollars on their bill. This is after the client may have dropped $2,000 or more for a day of editing. And how about the example of airlines now charging for each piece of luggage checked, every bottle of water served, and no more peanuts and snacks? Tell you what: how about just charging me an extra $50 for the ticket and including all that stuff, like the recent "good old days?" Is the price increase really going to stop me from going on my long-planned and much needed family vacation? If all airlines did this, it'd be the expected norm, and all could still compete without having to cut the valued frills and inclusions.  Most people may not feel gouged by the extra $50, but they will feel short-sheeted by having to pay a la carte for a $2 pair of rental headphones or a quarter's worth of soda in a half a cup of ice. Times may have changed, but the need for not feeling nickel-and-dimed has not.

There is some irony here. As companies feel compelled to compete by cutting prices by 10%, they create customers who say, "I'm paying all this money and they have the nerve to charge me extra for stuff they used to throw in free?" News flash, folks:  that stuff was never "free".  It was just buried into the purchase. But did we care? No. We valued and appreciated the extras. And we flocked to the places that offered this stuff. Most of the time, we still do. But not all businesses look at it this way.

It's gotten to the point where we can't even go to a grocery store and expect to necessarily have a human being ring up our food: You want faster service, use the self-checkout lines. And there's irony here, too: how many of us routinely get through these things without them crashing on us at least once, requiring a [human] attendant to come bail us out and clear the errors? But wait... there's less! We even get to bag our own groceries and - sometimes - pay extra for the bags.

It's natural for things in our lives to increase in street price over time; from bread to gas to a cup of coffee. Cell service, cable TV, movies. Up, up, up. And when air fare goes up, it goes up.

Just please don't take away my peanuts.