It Will Cost You to Pay

I finally had the experience I knew was coming when digital money first arrived.  I walked into a Sprint store to pay my bill and ask a few questions, and they told me they would charge me to pay in cash.  Banks, of course, have been charging for what used to be standard banking practices (like talking to a teller), right after ATM's came out and they charge for them.  Ooh, ooh, a new revenue stream!  But seriously, charging for taking a cash payment?!?

In January, when my old phone crapped out (planned obsolesce after 2 years), I went to the Sprint store and found the iPhone 4S on sale for $99.  Cool!  The monthly fee was more than I was paying Virgin Mobile, but I was expecting that anyway, so I bit the bullet and ponied up.  When I pulled out my credit union debit card, the helpful saleslady told me that I got a discount for being a credit union member! 10% discount on the phone AND the service.  Holla!!

Sadly, she didn't input the information correctly, so Sprint thought I was a credit union employee (which would have been a 25% discount for anyone who knows a credit union employee) and I couldn't get verified (not surprisingly) and they took the discount away.  After a couple of phone calls, they said I should take my credit union statement into the store and they would fix me up with my promised discount.  Score!

So Sunday, I finally got around to taking the printout of my statement (with all the numbers blacked out, thank you very much), and it turns out that no, actually, they can't do this administrative detail in the store.  But they gave me a form to fill out and fax along with said bank statement.  *sigh* 

So I pulled out my bill, and said I'd like to take care of this, and he told me they don't accept payments by credit card at that location (my local mall).  No problem, I said, whipping out cash.

Folks, there is a $3 charge to pay my bill by cash at this store!  W.  T.  F.??

So, I'm at the retail location, where they can't clear up the mistake that was made At That Store, and they can't take my debit card to pay my bill, and they will charge me to give them cash.

As I was leaving, another patron asked to see my iPhone because none of the phones in the store were turned on, so she couldn't get a sense of what it looked like and how it worked.  I spent a few minutes enthusing over my phone and assuring her that her battery life would NOT be the advertised 15 hours, even if she turns off all the app push notifications.  I explained how I solved this problem with a quick trip to Amazon for cheap car chargers and extra power cords and have no problems keeping the phone up and running. 

THIS is why Brick and Mortar Stores are dying -- they are outposts of corporations that are not able to do anything except an initial sale.  And they're not even doing that well.