It all started with an overflowing garbage can. A 35-gallon can was fine for a family of four. But as our family grew, the garbage did too.
When I finally got around to calling our garbage hauler to request a larger can, the customer service representative said, "Boy, you pay a lot for garbage."
Excuse me?
She explained that because we've been customers for years, we were paying several dollars more per month than new customers because each year about $1/per month is tacked onto existing customers' bills.
I told her that wasn't acceptable and requested the new customer rate plus a waiver of the garbage can pick-up/delivery fee. She quickly granted me both of those requests and I hung up feeling like a savvy customer. But then I started to think. Why do savvy customers have to call companies that they've been doing business with for years to ask for the service's best price? Is this the cost of loyalty?
Then I headed to Twitter, which is a great place to vent. I asked my followers about the other businesses that charge you more the longer you stay. Your cable and Internet providers. Cell phone companies. Gyms. Insurance. Magazine subscriptions. Even your newspaper (gasp!).
Obviously lower prices attract new customers. And as a few people pointed out, it's a hassle to hop from provider to provider to get the best deal. Which is probably why companies do business this way. But should they? I would much rather pay a fair price from the start rather than having to haggle every couple of years. For me, that's certainly better than the alternative, which is to accept that I am paying a higher fee to subsidize new customers.
