Take the campaign against #JunkFees, which have ticketmastered every part of your life with "fees" for things like "paying your rent by check" and "*not* paying your rent by check":

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/30/military-industrial-park-service/#booz-allen

There is no broad constituency for junk fees. Scam artists (including scam artists in the C-suites of Fortune 100 companies) love them, sure, but junk fees make everyone else furious.

12/

White House Targets Junk Fees in Housing Rentals https://politicaliq.com/2023/07/19/white-house-targets-junk-fees-in-housing-rentals/ #JunkFees #Rental #Rentalproperty #Zillow #realestate #Apartments #Biden #WhiteHouse #BidenAdministration #HUD #politicaliq #news #politics

Biden Announces New Actions to Cut Health Care Costs https://politicaliq.com/2023/07/07/biden-announces-new-actions-to-cut-health-care-costs/ #Biden #Bidenomics #HealthCare #DrugPrices #InsuranceScams #JunkFees #CreditCards #ChamberOfCommerce #BigPharma #politicaliq #news #politics

Hidden last-minute online fees for live music, sports, theatre events and more could soon be a thing of the past. U.S. President Biden is cranking down on "junk fees" at checkout for online companies such as SeatGeek, DICE, Airbnb and the heavily criticized Live Nation.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/15/23762112/live-nation-ticketmaster-junk-fees-taylor-swift-eras-tour

#Ticketmaster #JunkFees

@rbreich
I'm still angry about a Ticketmaster "convenience fee", which is supposedly only charged when you're buying in a way, or paying with a method, different from the "customary" way of paying. (Sometimes made sense in the early days of online purchases, maybe.) 15 years ago, I drove 2 hours to pay, in person with cash, at the box office -- how much more customary than that can it be? -- and the ticket clerk still charged me the convenience fee.

#TicketBastard #ConvenienceFee #JunkFees

Majorities Support the #JunkFees Prevention Act and Raising the #DebtCeiling
https://navigatorresearch.org/majorities-support-the-junk-fees-prevention-act-and-raising-the-debt-ceiling/

What are junk fees and how might Biden tackle them? - BBC News
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64584826

"At least 85% of Americans have encountered such fees, according to a 2019 survey by Consumer Reports, and they can drive up costs far beyond what a consumer had expected to pay."

Such things should simply be illegal. Problem solved.

#Capitalism #PredatoryCapitalism #JunkFees

Presidential administrations can accomplish a lot even without signing legislation. Thanks for the efforts to eliminate #JunkFees @POTUS @CFPB #Truist

Good twitter thread by @BharatRamamurti@twitter.com, US National Economic Council Deputy Dir about one of Biden’s plans to promote fair competition. He posted a thread about the Biden’s push to get rid of junk fees from… hotels, airlines, credit card fees, etc.

https://twitter.com/BharatRamamurti/status/1623340538203078656

Whitehouse report on junk fees: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/blog/2022/10/26/the-presidents-initiative-on-junk-fees-and-related-pricing-practices/

#SOTU #Economics #Antitrust #JunkFees #USNEC

Not sure if everyone understands that ending cell phone termination #fees as part of the #JunkFees rules will radically change how many people pay for phones & service, at least on paper. The reason service providers can give away "free" phones is that they inflate their service prices and lock you to their service for 1-2 years, unless you pay the termination fee. That fee is what's left of the loan on your "free" phone.

The huckster fiction component is going away, not the cost.

@rbreich They are why I don't go to #Vegas anymore. #JunkFees

@rbreich They are why I don't go to #Vegas anymore. #JunkFees

The Biden Administration's tackling of "junk fees" are one of those initiatives that seem small but could be incredibly popular with the electorate. Those fees are abusive at best, predatory at worst, and no one likes them. Using regulations to limit or eliminate them is likely to be very good politics.

#BIden #ConsumerProtection #JunkFees #USPolitics

#Biden moves to limit #credit #fees to $8 for missed payments in latest “#JunkFee” crackdown

The Biden admin wants to #cap most #CreditCard #LateFees at $8 for a #MissedPayment, w/federal regulators set to propose a rule to that effect on Wednesday.

In addition, President Joe Biden will urge #Congress to crack down on "excessive" #JunkFees, or the additional fees ticket brokers, airlines & resorts tack onto customers' bills

#ConsumerProtection
https://stocks.apple.com/AtlOE1N5PQW2eCdSCHSTclA

But out of the remaining half, many of the results are Amazon's lookalike products: Amazon coerces sellers into shipping via Amazon warehouses (otherwise their products won't be #Prime eligible), and this not only lets Amazon extract 45%+ out of every sale in #JunkFees, it also lets them see the bills-of-lading that identify the manufacturers of products, whom Amazon can approach to make a knock-off.

4/

RT @doctorow@twitter.com

Search Amazon for "cat beds" and the entire first screen is ads, including ads for products Amazon cloned from its own sellers, putting them out of business (third parties have to pay 45% in #JunkFees to Amazon, but Amazon doesn't charge itself these fees). 16/

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1616821931054858241

Search Amazon for "cat beds" and the entire first screen is ads, including ads for products Amazon cloned from its own sellers, putting them out of business (third parties have to pay 45% in #JunkFees to Amazon, but Amazon doesn't charge itself these fees). All told, the first five screens of results for "cat bed" are 50% ads.

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/28/enshittification/#relentless-payola

9/

A consolidated sector has lots of ways to rip off the public: they can "directly raise prices, bundle different products or services together, or attach new fees to existing products." The epidemic of #JunkFees can be traced to consolidation.

Consolidators aren't shy about this, either. The pitch-decks they send to investors and board members openly brag about "pricing power, gained through acquisitions and high switching costs, as a key strategy."

27/

This thought-provoking article is on “#ClipTheTicket” “#JunkFees” (that are applied to a lot of things) that greatly enrich a few & add +++ to the cost of living

What's a ticket-seller “junk fee”? It's added cost but no added value that ticket sellers (and others) tack onto cost of what you buy, eg added fees for using a credit card.

Its not just tickets. Think of clip the ticket “junk fees” added to financial “services” etc

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/30/military-industrial-park-service/

RT @doctorow
#Ticketmaster's spectacular failure to sell tickets to Taylor Swift's first tour in five years revived scrutiny of the ticketing/venue/promotion/management monopoly, especially the #JunkFees the company sucks out of fans' pockets:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfPiqgLPro8 1/