Heritage Results

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Yep, so true. My son goes to a private school that just started some new third party service to pay tuition. (A not cheap tuition.) This new company allows you to pay by mail but you can pay immediately online via credit card for a mere $42.00 "convenience fee". What a joke. Some convenience. When I raised this with the registrar she said "yeah. . . . nobody is using that on line option." Yep, a lot of rich people who didn't get rich pissing away $40 for no good reason.

This "convenience" fee has become de rigeur...esp when paying the city/state. You now have to pay extra to pay online/phone.

[ValKehl]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

This "convenience" fee has become de rigeur...esp when paying the city/state. You now have to pay extra to pay online/phone.

Not so everywhere yet. I just received my VA driver's license renewal form - the license renewal fee is:
- $35 if done in person at the local DMV office.
- $32 if done via mail.
- $31 if done online.

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by ValKehl

Not so everywhere yet. I just received my VA driver's license renewal form - the license renewal fee is:
- $35 if done in person at the local DMV office.
- $32 if done via mail.
- $31 if done online.

mn isn't so "nice!"

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by ValKehl

Not so everywhere yet. I just received my VA driver's license renewal form - the license renewal fee is:
- $35 if done in person at the local DMV office.
- $32 if done via mail.
- $31 if done online.

This makes most sense in that on line payment requires so many fewer man hours than processing in person or mailed payments. That said, SF charges some nice convenience fees to pay parking tickets on line.

Seems fees are becoming a pretty important source of revenue for a lot of entities... United Airlines is one of the biggest violators.

BELOW RANT FOR THOSE WHO FLY REGULARLY
I'm gonna ramble because I fly a lot for work. I expect others who do will know where I'm coming from.. and those who don't, please feel free to ignore me. Anyway, I typically use SW (AirTran too) or Alaska, both of which are great. United on the other hand is a total joke. At the automated SW kiosk there are maybe 2-3 steps for check in, none of which involve fees. United on the other hand has about 8 steps, all but maybe two (enter your confirmation # and print your boarding pass) involving fees. They go something like this---- "are you checking a bag for $40?", "do you want more leg room for $40", "do you want to sit in an elite (forward) area $40?", "do you want upgrade to window or aisle for $40?", "do you want to upgrade your boarding group for only $40?". Once on the flight, the TV screen is running a continual commercial trying to get you to swipe your card to watch TV. On a flight last week, I tried throughout the flight to turn the screen off, but could not.

At SFO, United also has a little contracted baggage policeman at their TSA security gate (this security gate only goes to United gates) who flags people down for having an extra hand bag, or if their bag looks too big. Anyone they grab is gonna get stuck having to go back, stand in line, check a bag and pay because almost no one's bag really fits in that little baggage size checker/thingo (I'd guess that fewer than 1/2 the carry on bags actually fit that thing, yet almost ALL will fit in the overhead once on the plane). ALL other airlines at SFO do not have this person at the security screening station, they just do what they're supposed to do--- screen/X-ray your bags. I'm certain United only stations this person there in order to augment revenue via bag fees.

Back to cards
I posted similar in another thread and totally agree with earlier comments about PSA (or other TPG) graders potentially being tempted to collude amongst themselves (or a lone person acting with outside people) to upgrade 9s to 10s, sell them and split the hundreds of thousands' profit.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by itjclarke

This makes most sense in that on line payment requires so many fewer man hours than processing in person or mailed payments. That said, SF charges some nice convenience fees to pay parking tickets on line.

Seems fees are becoming a pretty important source of revenue for a lot of entities... United Airlines is one of the biggest violators.

BELOW RANT FOR THOSE WHO FLY REGULARLY
I'm gonna ramble because I fly a lot for work. I expect others who do will know where I'm coming from.. and those who don't, please feel free to ignore me. Anyway, I typically use SW (AirTran too) or Alaska, both of which are great. United on the other hand is a total joke. At the automated SW kiosk there are maybe 2-3 steps for check in, none of which involve fees. United on the other hand has about 8 steps, all but maybe two (enter your confirmation # and print your boarding pass) involving fees. They go something like this---- "are you checking a bag for $40?", "do you want more leg room for $40", "do you want to sit in an elite (forward) area $40?", "do you want upgrade to window or aisle for $40?", "do you want to upgrade your boarding group for only $40?". Once on the flight, the TV screen is running a continual commercial trying to get you to swipe your card to watch TV. On a flight last week, I tried throughout the flight to turn the screen off, but could not.

At SFO, United also has a little contracted baggage policeman at their TSA security gate (this security gate only goes to United gates) who flags people down for having an extra hand bag, or if their bag looks too big. Anyone they grab is gonna get stuck having to go back, stand in line, check a bag and pay because almost no one's bag really fits in that little baggage size checker/thingo (I'd guess that fewer than 1/2 the carry on bags actually fit that thing, yet almost ALL will fit in the overhead once on the plane). ALL other airlines at SFO do not have this person at the security screening station, they just do what they're supposed to do--- screen/X-ray your bags. I'm certain United only stations this person there in order to augment revenue via bag fees.

Back to cards
I posted similar in another thread and totally agree with earlier comments about PSA (or other TPG) graders potentially being tempted to collude amongst themselves (or a lone person acting with outside people) to upgrade 9s to 10s, sell them and split the hundreds of thousands' profit.

The United baggage policeman is the greatest thing ever. It always pisses me off when getting ready to board and half a dozen businessmen are there. They have their suit jacket, a heavy coat, a laptop case, briefcase, and a carry on that is twice the size allowed. They usually all set together and take up every overhead storage bin within several rows. I have one carry on that is the proper size and usually get stuck sitting by those entitled A-Holes. I love the baggage police but agree with everything else.

[pokerplyr80]

I agree with you guys on avoiding extra fees when possible. I have paid cash at a gas station because I refused to pay a debit or credit card fee of a buck or so. Also mailed in a check to pre pay a year or so worth of water bills because of an online convenience fee. Easier than writing a check every month.

[ValKehl]

"A dollar saved is a dollar earned" that can be spent on cards!

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by bnorth

The United baggage policeman is the greatest thing ever. It always pisses me off when getting ready to board and half a dozen businessmen are there. They have their suit jacket, a heavy coat, a laptop case, briefcase, and a carry on that is twice the size allowed. They usually all set together and take up every overhead storage bin within several rows. I have one carry on that is the proper size and usually get stuck sitting by those entitled A-Holes. I love the baggage police but agree with everything else.

Those are the dudes that have elite status or have paid for boarding upgrades and I'm pretty sure they're given near immunity with respect to bags at the gate.. that said, the United bag checker person at TSA doesn't consider that.

Funny, I SW I am typically one of those guys (perennial A-list preferred with companion pass), and do often take one extra thing That said, it's always a folding garment bag and I stuff it with my overhead so that it takes no extra space in the bin. If the flight is 1/2 empty, I'll lay it in a more wrinkle free manner.

I'd say it's maybe 1-50 times that they stop me, and only at certain airports, so it seems those at front of line get preferential treatment.. but given that SW doesn't charge for bags, you don't get every single passenger trying to carry every single item. I'd say it's probably 1-10 flights that they end up needing to stop people and check those final carry on bags... whereas United is virtually each flight.