I believe it’s alt.binaries.fetish.shoppingcart and not alt.sex.fetish, although it has been a while… 
I just wanted to report an example of this phenomenon NOT occurring. I got a letter today which began:
In order to continue to bring you the level of service we are proud of delivering, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is implementing a $1 monthly E-ZPass account service fee beginning in May, 2004.
Why they’re doing this is a question for another thread. But at least they didn’t put in the “in order to serve you better,” bullshit–even though they genuinely are serving me better these days.
I guess we’re just used to being shafted for service payments here in Northern Ireland - they are much higher here for things like gas, electric, rates etc. My brother lives in Plymouth, in a much larger house than mine, and this increase meant that his monthly payments went up from £6 to £11!!
Since we’re all part of the UK, I don’t know why we have to pay 3 times more for services. As for the premium rate phone calls - I changed from telephone banking back to an ordinary bank account when they introduced premium rate lines for some services.
I guess businesses think we’re more gullible in Ireland - and also the Electricity providers and Pheonix Gas have no competition here to keep the prices down - they know they can charge what they like and people have to pay up.
That’s a relief. I thought I had missed a memo from Webster’s. Just this morning I was reviewing a paper that used waist for waste, and now you used waste for waist, and I figured someone had switched them recently.
Real sign I saw on a Bank in Princeton quite some time ago: Closed for your convenience.
My personal favourite example of this:
My first year of university, the laundry room in my dorm had washers that took 1.50 and dryers that took a dollar. The second year, the price on the washers was raised to two dollars. The signs posted read:
“For your convenience, we’ve changed the washers to accept two loonies in place of quarters.”
For my convenience my freaking ass. They raised the prices and then tried to pretend it was so that I didn’t need quarters AND loonies to do my laundry.
Our cable provider came up with an online “Customer Care Centre”. When it started out, the only thing you could do there was pay your bill. Thanks for caring. :rolleyes:
Although they did and more functionality later.
I really hate it when people raise prices like that - with a con trick. I used to buy own-brand vitamins which were 60 in a bottle, 1 a day, from Superdrug. One week I went to buy them and it said “NEW IMPROVED” on the bottle, which had been redesigned.
When I read the small print, the only thing that had been changed was that the quantity of the vitamin/mineral in each tablet had been halved, and you now had to take two tablets a day. The price stayed the same - so the customer was actually paying twice as much for the privelege of taking 2 tablets a day instead of one.
I guess that was an improvement for Superdrug though - a very easy way to double their profits.
That’s nothing. My local gas provider not only does not allow online payments, they charge an 8% surcharge for paying in person.
Robin
Shit, the University of New Orleans charges students a $10 “convenience fee” for paying their tuition using an automated phone system or over the internet. Let’s see, I call in and put my information directly into a computer so the university does not have to pay a person to do it and I’m charged extra. Not only do you get fucked up the ass but you have to pay for the vaseline.
Well, the good news is that the SDMB will continue to be available for at least another year, instead of being shut down, which is the alternative.
Hey, Lynn, does that mean that there’s still some uncertainty about SD carrying on, and you’re all going to rethink it again next year??? Please say it ain’t so - and that I’m just being unduly paranoid this morning - I’m writing this before being properly caffienated 
First off, I have no problem with paying a small fee for a message board second to none. But, I still think it was a strangely formulated e-mail. It didn’t say “Excuse the spam, but we’ve got some good news for you: The Straight Dope Message Board will continue to be available for another year. However, the bad news is that we have to charge you for it.” which I think maybe would have been a better way to formulate the e-mail. Just my 2 cents.
Oh, yes, I just recently went in to the email to which they sent that message. After reading it, I still think that the tone of the email was in the familiar somewhat sarcastic tone of the Straight Dope staff and writers.
IMHO, their saying “we’ve got some good news” and then reading all that came after that, it seemed as though that was meant pretty “tongue in cheek”.
But I could be wrong. Don’t know as I read very little of any of the “complaint threads”.
And I’ll shut up about it too, since I know we’ve been asked to keep complaints to the remaining complaint thread
{b]ZombiesAteMyBrain**, heck, I don’t like the sound of your gas company OR your ISP very much. Next time I feel inclined to whine about my ISPand my slow dial-up, I promise I’ll think of you, OK?
Ooh! We got a “better service” phone call!
Thursday evening…
Phone Dude: “This is AT&T, your long-distance provider. We’re calling to make sure that you are getting the best rates you can for phone service.”
MrValley: “Um, ok, what are your plans?”
PD: …blah blah blah…
MV: “No thanks, we’re not interested.”
Friday evening…
Phone Chick: “This is AT&T, your long-distance provider. We’re calling to make sure that you are getting the best rates you can for phone service.”
MV: “You called us last night and I listened to your spiel and I told you we’re not interested.”
PC: “Yes we did. We’re calling you again to serve you better…”
MV: …
I most certainly hope that the SDMB will be around for many years to come. However, the future of the SDMB all depends on whether or not we get enough people subscribing to the message board in the first place, and then enough people who will keep subscribing on a regular basis. So far, it looks like we’ll get enough subscribers for this year, but only time will tell whether or not we’ll continue to get subscribers, especially new subscribers.
Thankyou, Thankyou Thankyou!!! I really shouldn’t have written about the Gas company, though, as I think they’ve hexed me - woke up this morning and my boiler seems to have gone kaput - freezing cold water and no central heating- Yuck!!! On a Sunday morning, too!! I think someone from Pheonix Gas must be reading this board, and has been sticking pins in a plasticene model of me before placing it in the freezer.
Writing this with frozen fingers and my coat on :mad:
About a year ago my local Tesco took the scales out of the produce department and replaced them with signs saying “To save you time all produce is now weighed at check-out”.
How the fuck does it save me time if I get up to check-out only to discover I haven’t enough of what I need for my recipe and have to go back to get more ???
Fortunately there’s a saner Tesco not much further away.
Ominous, or what? 
Folks, if the next posting from the soon to be Zombie says anything along the lines of “I am just going out. I might be some time”, could one of the many Dopers from across the water dash up to Belfast with a St. Bernard and some brandy?
Yeah, I know the doggy and the brandy don’t help, but, well, Celyn never studied First AId.
Brandy, yummy!!! The Saint Bernard could perhaps lick the icicles off me and my two doggies - if we haven’t succumbed to the cold already - today must have been the coldest day for weeks - or maybe I just noticed it more. Could you send some thermal undies and a warmer coat, too???
Still sitting with my coat on and a mug of hot chocolate to warm my fingers on