How Cell Phone Providers Suck Poor People Dry

I went with a friend of mine to pay her cell phone bill one day, and was shocked at what I learned. I remember thinking, "This would never happen to rich people. They only do it to poor people because they know they can get away with it."

So, what was the faux pas that opened my eyes to the fact that cell phone providers suck poor people dry?

Paying to pay. What do I mean? My friend, who is a MetroPCS customer went to one of their branches to pay her cell phone bill. They charged her a "surcharge" of something like $2 or $3 to pay "in-store."

I couldn't believe it. I piped up and asked the clerk, "Why are you charging her to pay? She's paying in cash, so it's not like you even have a "processing charge," which financial institutions are famous for adding onto just about any bill."

The clerk replied - with a straight face mind you, "It's a convenience charge for being able to pay in the store."

I about fell over.

I pay my bills online, so I was flabbergasted at this, at least to my mind, new phenomenon. Following is why this reeks of classism:

While we're all accustomed to paying for the use of our money - eg, ATM fees, bank transfer fees, etc., this reeked to me because of the type of customer this cell plan attracted.

I live in Atlanta, so don't know if this company is universal, but MetroPCS is a cell phone plan where you can talk and call as much as you want for one monthly charge, something like $50. There are no roaming charges, no pay-per-minute charges, no text charges.

So far, so good.

But, if you go to visit family in say, Virginia, you won't be able to use your phone. Hence, the name (MetroPCS). As long as you're in a certain geographic area, you can use your phone, but out of area, it's useless.

Still, it's a good deal if you don't travel a lot. Now, here comes the rub, how many people beyond a certain income level would have a phone like this? Who doesn't travel a lot? Who's more likely to pay their bills in cash?

The working poor.

I started asking my friend why she didn't pay her bills online and/or mail in the check, and she said she didn't have a bank account and paid most of her bills via money order, which got me off on another tangent.