Topic: From The "WTF" Desk....

[shemps#1]

I paid my monthly Verizon bill online and they offered me a free month of a program they call Paper-Free Billing or something like that. It seems that for a monthly fee I can have them stop sending me the paper bill in the mail. That's just as stupid and greedy a concept as charging someone to keep their phone number out of the White Pages.

[Dunrobin]

LOL!  I missed this when you posted it.  They want to charge you a fee to not send you a paper bill in the mail?  WTF indeed!   

[Signor Spumoni]

Sounds like Verizon took a page from the farm subsidy book, get people to pay you for not doing something. 

[Larrys#1]

I got a better story.... my buddy from New York told me that mass transit fares there are going to increase and if it does, they are cutting down on service. Meaning NYers are paying more for less service.

[Dunrobin]

I got a better story.... my buddy from New York told me that mass transit fares there are going to increase and if it does, they are cutting down on service. Meaning NYers are paying more for less service.

Well, it's a government "service" so that goes without saying.   

[Larrys#1]

Well, it's a government "service" so that goes without saying.   

What makes it more odd is that subways are already jam packed. How many more people need to take the subway before they make enough and don't need to increase fares anymore? And also, why cut down on service if it's so crowded? Talk about going from bad to worse...

[Dunrobin]

What makes it more odd is that subways are already jam packed. How many more people need to take the subway before they make enough and don't need to increase fares anymore? And also, why cut down on service if it's so crowded? Talk about going from bad to worse...

Yep, that's government service for you.  There's no incentive to save money, or provide good customer service, when you can get away with stealing whatever you want to spend and can force your "customers" to use your service by preventing anyone from competing with you.  I can't think of a single thing that the government does that can't be done far more efficiently and decently in a free market - which is why politicians don't like free markets.

[locoboymakesgood]

I do paperless billing for everything and have never seen a company charge for it. That's asinine if that's the case. Then again, I don't have Verizon as a phone or utility company where I live.

[metaldams]

I can't think of a single thing that the government does that can't be done far more efficiently and decently in a free market - which is why politicians don't like free markets.

They create better drones.

[Dunrobin]

They create better drones.

Touché, Doug.  There are two things that government is better at than anyone else: Stealing money and killing people.

[Whoa Moe]

I too had the paper billing for all my utilities, and I loved it.....UNTIL I lost my job and could not afford to pay my cable bill. Like a good guy I called them and told them to go ahead and disconnect me until I found another job. (this was in '08 and jobs in my field were scarce)

The sonofabitch told me that they would TAKE the money automatically from my bank, whether or not I was disconnected, which would have left it short for the more important bills like light and heat!

So I was forced to close my bank account, and open another. If that wasn't bad enough, when I finally got back on my feet, I called them to pay the bill and instead of owing them 1 month, I owed them $1,200.00 for the cable box!!! Apparently, the guy that came around to collect it KEPT it, as he was an independent contractor and not a Cox Cable employee.

The bastard told me I should have returned it personally, and should not have trusted the guy they sent to get it! As absurd as that sounds, get this: the cable box by now had been obsolete for 2 years, and had NO WORTH. I saw them in pawn shops marked @ 20 bucks just collecting dust.

[curly b]

My company went "green" and put all inventory on spreadsheet, although we keep daily inventory on paper and transfer it to spreadsheet weekly.    knuk knuk knuk