Why oh why do we have to pay charges to pay bills? If we want to pay Business Post online (for example), they charge us extra. Why? Is it cheaper then to pay someone (or a machine) to open envelopes, and process cheques. I don't think so. Some suit has figured it may be cheaper for most companies to pay online, even with the charge (£1 for a Debit Card...), than post cheques. So the charge can only be another way of screwing extra dosh out of us. Well not us matey. You can damn well pay someone to open our bloody envelopes.
BT though want to charge us extra for not being on Direct Debit - but have trouble understanding that maybe we want a bill first (a little battle we have had with them, which may now be over). So we pay them extra for the privilege for not allowing them carte-blance to take what they like, when they like, from our account. Perhaps not surprisingly the latest bill tells us that the line rental is increasing from November 1st. The bill was dated November 9th, so thanks for the advanced notification. If we pulled a price rise on our customers, but only told them a week after invoicing, they would, quite rightly, be a little peeved. Even BT.
Now we supply a product - we make it (which is rare enough these days), sell it, and distribute it. We then take payment for it, and stick it in the bank. We make a charge for the product - we are after all a business, and so here to make money. The charge we make for the product covers all the above. And that is how businesses have run since Ugg & Prescott first stepped out of their caves and did an honest days work (well, Ugg anyway). Now though we have this increasing trend, as highlighted above, of adding additional charges. Why? Do Business Post charge visitors to their head office for 'wear & tear' on the carpets. Don't smirk, it's only a matter of time - in the 1950's the thought of having to pay to pay an invoice would have met the same derision. Unless of course you a bean counter, in which case you'll be nodding sagely at my idea - consultancy fees apply, and of course a payment processing fee, as will Keyboard Wear Expenses & A Chair Fabric Abrasion Surcharge.
Of course when it comes to charging, the banks are the masters. You'd need the time travelling skills of Dr Who just to work out what may or may not be charged for - that quick phone call, the review meeting demanded by the otherwise elusive 'Business Manager'. And I suspect not even the Daleks have the power to force the banks to actual fully itemise their charges (although it might be worth trying to enter the bank with a sink plunger on my head, and see if it works).
So the bank charges us to deposit our money, then charges us to take it out again. Now of course this is, at the end of the day, a service, and of course it costs money, and I won't pretend that we have a huge bank balance that earns the bank huge sums in investment returns. This is because we don't have a huge cash surplus, and if we did, I'd like to think we would have a better use for it than propping the fat cat shareholders who run our financial institutions. I'm no communist, but I think a fair days hard graft is not too much to expect, and nowhere can I see the words 'hard' & 'graft' connected with wearing a suit, having meetings or taking caviar with your Cornflakes. I do know an almost communist though - but he has a holiday home, so probably doesn't count.
Now to be fair to banks, we have recently switched to Barclays (Royston branch), where there is a Business Manager (who knows everyone it seems), with an assistant, who has a working mobile and an open door policy. And he has (so far) been very happy to help us in any way. True, he likes our beer - but then an understanding of your customers is important. Our previous manager (who has yet to notice we have hardly touched our account with him in three months) once commented, on seeing the brewery "I like Stella. Is that what you do?". Well, bully for Stella, whoever she may be....
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