In America, they have the big profit margin, AND they still have up charges for everything else. It’s the American way.
Years ago, before everybody had a printer with a scanner, I went into an office supply store to have a document scanned. They charged me $10, scanned my document, returned my document, and said Thank You.
I asked for a copy of my scan, but that was another $15. I had assumed that the original $10 also included a copy of the scan on some form of media, but No, the $10 was just to scan it into their computer. It was another $15 to take it home with me.
BTW, I spoke with the manager, who acted like I was being totally unreasonable to assume that paying $10 for them to scan a document they have no interest in into their computer was a weird thing to sell, and that ANYONE would assume that it includes a copy of the item you scanned. He eventually refunded my $10, and I got it done somewhere else.
I know in the UK margins tend to be high on things like glasses and lenses but they lose money on even standard eye tests (it’s worse if they pick something wrong and need to do further investigation)
A long time ago, before car keys with buttons were common, I had a car with one key with buttons. They didn’t work well, so I went to the relevant dealership to get another key.
They charged me $80 and gave me another key, which admittedly did have functional buttons, but in so doing they further broke the original key - the buttons no longer worked at all. They then told me that I should not have expected to pay $80 and come out with more than I’d brought in.
I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. The first time I went to that dealership, I asked to test drive one of their cars … The salesperson to whom I spoke claimed that they didn’t have any license plates to spare while visibly holding one in his hands.
In America, they have the big profit margin, AND they still have up charges for everything else. It’s the American way.
Years ago, before everybody had a printer with a scanner, I went into an office supply store to have a document scanned. They charged me $10, scanned my document, returned my document, and said Thank You.
I asked for a copy of my scan, but that was another $15. I had assumed that the original $10 also included a copy of the scan on some form of media, but No, the $10 was just to scan it into their computer. It was another $15 to take it home with me.
BTW, I spoke with the manager, who acted like I was being totally unreasonable to assume that paying $10 for them to scan a document they have no interest in into their computer was a weird thing to sell, and that ANYONE would assume that it includes a copy of the item you scanned. He eventually refunded my $10, and I got it done somewhere else.
That’s how things are done in America.
I know in the UK margins tend to be high on things like glasses and lenses but they lose money on even standard eye tests (it’s worse if they pick something wrong and need to do further investigation)
A long time ago, before car keys with buttons were common, I had a car with one key with buttons. They didn’t work well, so I went to the relevant dealership to get another key.
They charged me $80 and gave me another key, which admittedly did have functional buttons, but in so doing they further broke the original key - the buttons no longer worked at all. They then told me that I should not have expected to pay $80 and come out with more than I’d brought in.
I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. The first time I went to that dealership, I asked to test drive one of their cars … The salesperson to whom I spoke claimed that they didn’t have any license plates to spare while visibly holding one in his hands.
Doctor offices used to charge a dollar per page to transfer records.
Circuit City used to charge a 25% restock free if you bought something and it wasn’t right.
Banks here used to charge a fee for writing too many checks, another fee for having not enough activity, or another fee for just having an account.
A family member of mine gets charged for sticking their own finger.
Wow.