What is it with all those add-on fees?

Since about 2005, many service industries have generated additional revenue from their customers by unbundling their pricing to off-set their rising cost structures.

Airlines, reacting to steadily rising fuel prices, are famous for charging for any “extra” you may desire to make your travel more comfortable. More than one carry-on bag? That’ll cost you. Priority seating? How about a snack or an adult beverage?

Those have become accepted ways for airlines to add more money to their bottom line. Even since the pandemic, nearly every U.S. airline has increased their add-on flat fees for services that used to be part of the base price.

Hotels aren’t far behind. The resort or facility fee you now see on your hotel bill is no longer found just at a resort. Early check-in and late check-out fees are also things you can expect to pay more for these days.

Banks may be the most egregious offenders in add-on fees. During a pandemic, U.S. banks generated over $12 billion in overdraft fees in 2020 and $30 billion in overall add-on charges from their customers.

The pandemic also led to widespread office shutdowns around the world. In the document shredding industry, this affected the largest shredding companies most, since most of their revenue comes from regularly scheduled services at business offices. While they had long ago started charging add-on fees for delivering containers or an extra container key to their customers, the temporary office closures in 2020, along with rising fuel and labor costs, combined with the collapse of the paper recycling industry last year. This caused the large shredding companies to introduce several new add-on fees on their customer invoices.

Most shredding companies now charge Trip Fees in addition to their service fee. There is often an extra charge if your office is located downtown (Metro Charge), or in a distant area (Distance Charge). A monthly variable fuel surcharge is now added to all locations, along with a variable recycling recovery fee.

Their shredding service contracts allow the provider to add fees and increase their base rate at will, and the cumulative effect of these add-ons have increased their service revenue by 15% to 20%, compared to what most business clients were paying just a year ago.

Proshred Security does not charge extra fees. We believe it’s our responsibility to manage our cost structure. We’re aware that our customers are also struggling to emerge from the global health crisis, and we are doing our best to control our costs and pass along consistent pricing, while delivering the high-quality On-Site shredding and responsive Customer Service that we are known for. We charge flat rates, and you can expect no add-on fees.

As businesses of all sizes reopen throughout metro-Atlanta, many are reevaluating their operating costs, including their regularly scheduled shredding service agreements.

Call us for a no obligation quote.

For more information, contact Greg Gálvez at [email protected] or 678-580-1155