California AG and state senators introduce bill to ban hidden fees

Re:California AG and state senators introduce bill to ban hi... by acdha on Monday February 20, 2023 @02:45PM (#34872012)

I wouldn’t read the claim as “consumers secretly do like hidden fees” but rather “people say they don’t like them but don’t actually care enough to stop giving money to companies which use them”. It’s like how people might say they want to eat better food if you ask them directly but when you record what they actually eat it ends up looking quite different.

On HN you’ll see a similar dynamic with privacy, business ethics, etc.: people say they don’t like being tracked but won’t even try using a browser other than Chrome or worry about local businesses but won’t consist paying +-10% more not to buy through Amazon.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:California AG and state senators introduce bill to ban hi... by yamtaddle on Monday February 20, 2023 @02:49PM (#34872063)

People who've already wasted time getting to the point where they can see the fees, and are confident that all your competitors do the same thing anyway, aren't likely to bail over them.

That's probably the most accurate way to state the "preference".

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:California AG and state senators introduce bill to ban hi... by acdha on Monday February 20, 2023 @03:16PM (#34872348)

Exactly: there’s a ton of psychology research around that effect and businesses use these techniques because they work. I applaud California for trying to make this illegal since something reliably profitable is not going to stop otherwise.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:California AG and state senators introduce bill to ban hi... by brigade on Monday February 20, 2023 @04:50PM (#34873425)

Incidentally, California mostly [1] already bans hidden fees for cars, and IMO the car-buying experience in California is better for it compared to other states.

[1] the current workaround is dealers listing the MSRP on their websites and arguing that that isn't an advertised sale price... but at least that only works for new cars.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:California AG and state senators introduce bill to ban hi... by 8note on Monday February 20, 2023 @02:59PM (#34872168)

Yeah, it's that people can be successfully tricked.

People don't like being stolen from, but if you can get away with it, it must be a good thing

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:California AG and state senators introduce bill to ban hi... by acdha on Monday February 20, 2023 @03:13PM (#34872314)

I think the problem is that it’s not actually stealing but something in between, like how we might say a salesperson is pushy and not like it but we wouldn’t refer to them as a thief.

[ Parent | on HN ]