What my $30 hamburger reveals about fees and how companies use them to jack up prices
New fees are being tacked onto hotel bills, airfare, restaurant checks and pretty much everywhere else. It's another form of inflation and it's costing consumers $65 billion a year.
It started out innocently enough: lazy Monday, working late, nothing in the fridge. I decided to splurge and order a burger and fries for delivery.
Subtotal for my meal? $14.07. A little pricey, but it's a good burger and $14 seemed like a totally acceptable price for dinner, especially when it's delivered to my door.
Then came the fees:
Delivery fee: $5.49
Service fee: $3
Tip: $4
Tax: $1.25
Grand total for my delivery burger: $27.81
My lazy Monday went from costing me $14 to almost $30. The price
