Setting the Tone...

We are conscientious Capitalists...

Or rather, we should be...

But we really aren't...

Now this may sound bad (Especially in the current political climate), but bear with me for a moment or two, and I'll try to clarify my position.

You see, I travel on a regular basis to the local mall where I get molested quite often by the wireless phone folks... I don't blame them, really- they are likely paid on commission- which means that should they want to feed their children (And I presume they do), they need to attack every hapless individual who happens to have a phone visible...

Which unfortunately, is me.

However, I become quite an issue for them... see, I simply do not approve of the traditional Wireless company business model. It is built around making money off of their customers mistakes. They intercept me as I walk to my favorite book store... they want to sell me on their plan, but I stop them before they start... I tell them of my reservations and they get perplexed...

So I explain:

Wireless companies are built around the concept of minutes... in the early days, cel-tower time was a precious commodity, and thus customers needed to be discouraged from overusing the networks with their cel phones (As if the size of the bricks in those days weren't discouraging enough). When the networks grew in size, the need to discourage traffic lessened... with the advent of digital encoding, the need disappeared altogether.

But minutes didn't.

Wireless companies discovered that a certain percentage of customers went over minutes every month, which allowed them to present their customers with a bill for sometimes as much as 400% its normal value. Since the customer "made the mistake" they were completely to blame... This is a really impressive racket. So, my fellow conscientious capitalists, next time you are talking to a wireless salesfolk, ask a very important question:

"Can the phone display my remaining monthly minutes?"

No. The customer can't be allowed to see how many minutes they have left in the month... though phones could certainly present that information (A little countdown that tells you how many minutes you have left this month is a simple proposition... heck I could program my calculator to do that...) but they don't... why?

In fact, to get a listing of minutes, you have to disconnect the call and call another number. Something no average teenage girl is about to do.

I'd hate to be the father of a teenage girl these days...

Cellular companies are designed around the concept of you -their customer- making an error and then they get to charge you for it.

This is bad business. And a lousy way to capitalize on your customers.

I can put my vote in against them, I can refuse to allow them to have my money... and so I will...

Thus, I become a conscientious Capitalist.

Whether I like it or not, my money is my vote.

---Me.