Good solution nowadays - tough economy, you know
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You are right.... it is a tough economy and if a customer splits a bill with his Uncle Bob and has a Dish receiver in two locations across town, it isn't all that different than the credit card companies upping your interest rate unless you opt out and close the card (which is happening to everybody, even with the best credit) or lowering your interest rate to $100 over your balance, which cuts your available credit on paper and raises your overall debt, lowering your credit rating. What about grocery chains cutting the size of yogurts by 1/3 and removing the plastic lid in favor of just an aluminum pull off lid, and then keeping the price the same. Hello Publix, you know what you are doing! What about Pepsi, who used to have various deals of 3/$10, 4/$12,etc, on a 12 pack of cans. Suddenly they are trying to trick you into thinking you are getting a deal with 5/$10 or 5/$11 deals. Only problem, they have reduced the packaging to 8 cans of pepsi, a 1/3 reduction. Then you have Coca-Cola, who every other week had sales on 12 packs. While they didn't deceptively change the size from 12 to 8 like Pepsi and then advertise as if you were getting a deal (wow, $5/10 on Pepsi products honey, pull into Walgreens). No, Coca-Cola has been stingier than ever with their sales. While the regular price on a 12 pack has now exceeded $5 in many stores, I remember when the regular price was $3.89 or less just 1 year ago, and that if the product wasn't on sale one week, I could stock up on Diet Coke (which I drink a ton of) the next week. You could count on a sale someplace, if not most stores, every other week, switching off with the Pepsi sales. My grocery chain, Publix, would often have deals like, buy 4/$10, get 1 free. I'd stock up. There was literally a 3 month stretch where they went without sales from like Jan-March this year. Obviously they are trying to help their profit in slow economic times, but you are killing us out here. We are living in this economy too! If I suck it up and switch to the generic brand diet cola, I'm not switching back!
Everything has gone up and the sales have dried up. I used to pay $1.00 for 15 live crickets for my lizards, now I pay $1.29 for 15. A 29% increase overnight. This is happening everywhere, while salaries remain the same (if you still have a job).
Maybe the Dish audit team should try a REVERSAL of their audit program, where they will leave you alone for the next 12 months and not try to nab you cheating them. They need a good layoff at Dish and what better department to let go! My God, you are right, this would be a good solution in these tough times. I am not saying it is good to cheat or steal, only that I understand why people are trying to pull this off. It is no different than the increase in petty theft, burglary, robberies, etc. People are striking back too.
Cost of living is going way up, while many people have no job. As a business owner in a service industry, I generally raise my rates every year or every other year. I didn't even consider raising my rates this past January. That would be ridiculous. In fact, I have been sending out much bigger coupons than I ever have, which hurts me. So I've scaled back my income predictions and the actual income has been surprisingly good in this economy. But what if I went after my customers and drained them of every last penny I could the way these other companies have? No wonder these people are fighting back with theft!
The companies, banks, and government we consumers deal with everyday need to understand economics start with us. If we aren't spending, or are pinched so hard we cannot spend, you the company will see your profits go down. Treat us right and it will benefit you in the long run. You don't squeeze us for everything we have and expect to maintain your profits. It doesn't work that way. Maybe temporarily, but not for long. So now we are getting ads by companies like Home Depot on TV saying they are cutting prices. WELL HELLO! I had a Home Depot card for years and wouldn't think twice paying for bug spray or weedkiller that was way over priced to begin with. They have been screwing consumers for years with overpriced goods and then they turn around and play good guy. Their prices are edging back a little closer to where they should have been anyway, back in the good economy. It is companies like that that helped ignite the credit card problem we have had in this nation. They helped break the system, it is the least they can do to fix it by lowering their prices.
Sorry about the rant.
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