T.J. Prebil

$0.84 Saves $109.16

I’m always dismayed with fees and surcharges associated with improving the efficiencies of an organization, in particular when transacting online. Often referred to as “convenience fees,” these small charges rarely amount to more than a dollar or two. However, they are counterintuitive to the efficiencies of online commerce.

Of course, some fees are understandable. For instance, fees associated with purchasing movie tickets online, calling American Airlines to reserve a flight (when a flight can easily be booked online) or sending money through PayPal all have merit.

Ticketmaster, on the other hand – with convenience charges, service charges and processing charges – is notorious for causing angst among consumers. It’s not uncommon for fees to amount to 50-60% of the cost of a concert ticket.

Switching gears a bit, I’ve owned an S-Corp in the State of Illinois since August of 2000. As such, I’m required to file an annual report and to pay a nominal fee to the state. With August a few days away, the deadline for filing this year’s report is quickly approaching. Furthermore, I own an assumed name for my company so, every 5 years, I must re-register and pay a $150.00 fee. In my opinion, these costs are understandable!

Like many states, Illinois offers business and consumer services through a website, so naturally I began there (Cyber Drive Illinois). That was, until I realized the fees!

As you can see from the screenshots below, Illinois adds a $5.00 processing fee and an un-opt-out-able $50.00 expedited fee for 24 hour processing.

In other words, had I continued with each transaction, I would have incurred $110.00 in extra fees just for filing this year’s reports. That’s equates to an additional 44% for the “convenience” of filing online. No thanks! Instead, I slapped a stamp on each envelope and saved $109.16 in unnecessary government processing fees.

While I’m sure many business couldn’t care less about state filing fees, for a small businesses like mine, these costs are unreasonably high. I did have the choice to mail my applications – which I did – but unchecked fees like this can only occur in a monopoly. If the State of Illinois actually had to complete for these services, or Ticketmaster didn’t not have exclusive contracts with so many concert venues, there’s no way that consumers would tolerate these fees, especially for contributing to a more efficient process.

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