It never ceases to amaze me when I’m driving down the highway and I see one of those exits with four gas stations, one on each corner of the interchange, and one of them has higher prices than the other three. I mean, they’re all within view of each other. They can all see what the other stations are charging. Doesn’t it stand to reason that they’d try to compete with each other by making their prices the same? Better yet, that one station would be lower than the other three? Does that fourth station with the higher price not get how marketing works? The wireless industry is much like those four gas stations. They all sell basically the same thing, and they can all keep track of what the others are doing. So why, when Verizon is encouraging its landline customers to sign up for paperless billing, and giving away a Toyota Prius to one lucky customer who complies, is T-Mobile about to start charging its wireless customers a fee for paper bills?
A fee for a paper bill might not seem like that big a deal. The proposed fee, set to go into effect on September 12, is just $1.50 per account, per month. That’s in addition to the $1.99 the company already charges for a detailed paper bill. The $1.50 will be charged whether a detailed bill or just a summary is selected as a billing option. So those customers who elect to receive a detailed bill every month will now pay $3.49 per month for their bill. Less than five bucks, so why complain? There are a few issues to take into account.
First, charging any fee to send a bill to customers is a crock. You’re already paying for the service the company provides, and in order for you to be able to pay for that service every month, you need a bill. Without the bill, you may not know how much to pay the company every month, unless your bill never changes and you never use more than the number of minutes allotted by your plan. But it’s just standard procedure to receive a bill from a vendor. For them to charge for what is essentially a cost of doing business is ridiculous. It’s akin to banks charging customers monthly fees to hold their money, which, in my mind, is like a store charging me an entrance fee to come in and buy a shirt, or charging me for the receipt the cash register prints out when I pay. You’re already giving the store, bank, or wireless carrier money for the service or goods they’re selling. It’s up to them to charge you enough for those goods and services to cover their business expenses and still make a profit.
Also, who will be affected most by an extra fee for paper bills? T-Mobile’s less affluent customers, such as seniors and other people in financial straits. The wireless industry has created a situation where it’s less expensive to have just a cell phone rather than a landline, and definitely rather than both. More and more people every year get rid of landlines in their homes and opt to have cell phones only. Instances of this have increased quite a bit over the last year with so many people having lost their jobs, or just trying to save money wherever they can in case they do.
Cell phones are a great thing for seniors to have. Think about the older people who live alone, or have chronic illnesses. Having a mobile phone they can use anytime, anywhere, especially in emergency circumstances provides a lot of peace of mind to those seniors, and their families. Many seniors also live on pensions or social security. In other words, they live on very little money, and with health care costing what it does, if they can save money by giving up their landline for cell phones, it’s a wise choice.
Anyone can use a cell phone. Not everyone can use a computer. For many older people (not all—there are plenty of older people who are quite computer literate), using a computer is a daunting task. It can be confusing to navigate browsers and Web sites, much less pay bills with them. Some people still don’t trust providing personal information over a computer. And still others just like to do things the way they always have, including getting paper bills in the mail and writing out checks to pay them.
In addition, there are still a lot of people out there who don’t have home computers. Those of us who do tend to forget that not everyone can afford a computer. A phone is a necessity. A computer is not. There are also a lot of people who do have computers, but no Internet service at home. For those struggling financially, if it comes down to a choice between paying for Internet access or buying groceries, it’s not a touch decision to make.
Any T-Mobile customers who fall into these groups—seniors, jobless, indigent—will now be penalized by the company for wanting or needing to receive paper bills in the mail. Still, you may say, $1.50 isn’t much, so why get all huffy about it? Well, for some people, that’s one less gallon of gas they can put in their car. It’s half a gallon less of milk they can buy for their kids. It may be a toll they have to pay to drive to work every day. The point is, no company should charge customers to be billed. Whether it’s $1.50 or $150, it’s just wrong.
T-Mobile could have taken a totally different tack with this. Verizon’s promotion to go paperless cites the environmental benefits of doing so. Yes, the company will save millions of dollars by not having to print and mail as many bills, but there will also be a tremendous reduction in the amount of paper used, thereby saving a lot of trees. This is Verizon jumping on the green bandwagon the way Sprint did with the Reclaim handset, which is made from recyclable materials. On top of the environmental aspect, customers who sign up for paperless billing are also entered in a drawing to win a Toyota Prius Hybrid, one of the most environmentally friendly cars manufactured today. That’s quite an incentive.
The obvious difference is that Verizon is running the promotion for their landline customers and not their wireless customers. It’s probably an attempt to hold onto some of those customers who are considering giving up their more expensive landlines in favor of cheaper cell phones. But if this campaign is successful, Verizon might just bring it over to their wireless division. They’d be fools not to, really.
The real point is, they’re not charging anyone more to keep receiving paper bills. T-Mobile needs to take a lesson in marketing and customer service from Verizon. All they’re doing now is giving customers another reason to switch carriers.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree with you completely. How dare they charge for billing for a service. I have already written them a letter of complaint and intend to cancel my account the minute my contract expires. I hope others will join in.
You compared T-Mobile to verizon. Do some research and find out the average bill at verizon vs. T-Mobile and see if you’d rather pay verizons bill or pay an extra .1.50 a month. T-Mobile makes almost 20 less per customer per month because their plans are more inexpensive so its not a fair comparison. Also, T-Mobile has the renew which is “green” but its not too popular. You should at least show the good sides of a compnay before slamming them like a huffy kid on the playground.
It’s not just about the cost, it’s about the principle. Businesses shouldn’t charge customers for the bills they need to receive to maintain their accounts. Period.
Sure, some T-Mobile bills may very well be lower than some Verizon bills. It all depends on the calling plan, how many lines are included in that plan, and what features are added to it. It’s irresponsible to make the sweeping generalization that one wireless carrier is less expensive than another without taking those details into account, and such a claim doesn’t stand up without citing valid sources rather than simply relying on personal opinion.
If you had read this site more thoroughly, you would see that we do, from time to time, “show the good sides” of the companies we write about. I encourage you to do a little more reading before commenting and invoking any playground analogies. I would also recommend you use spell check before posting a comment, and have the courage to leave a real url and/or e-mail address.
Um where did you get your info? I just got my bill and there is no charge for the bill, nor have they slipped any other extra charges in. Bill is The same as the day I started the account (4years now).
I forgot to mention I have T Mobile.
Hi Stacy,
You won’t see a charge. T-Mobile changed their position before they actually started charging for the bills due to public outcry, threats from state attorneys general, and a class action lawsuit.