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["Toni Hawryluk" <tonihawr AT msn.com>]

Supply and demand ?

Population control ?

Centuries of men-owned women's bodies ?

Back to 'supply and demand' ...



http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/SavingandDebt/P91802.asp?GT1=5809<http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/SavingandDebt/P91802.asp?GT1=5809>

 

29 things that used to be free

 

excerpt :

Water. Sarah Courteau, who grew up in Arkansas, sometimes has to pay for a 
glass of water. She's not the only one complaining about that indignity. In 
fact, Arizona had to pass a law making it illegal to charge a parched 
customer for a little H2O.

 

Remember when a salad came with your meal and you could talk to a bank teller 
at no charge? So do we.



The best things in life are free, or so pop songs and well-meaning 
grandparents insist. While love and sunlight and smiles still don't cost a 
cent, much of what used to be free isn't anymore. 

Part of this is just the usual pesky cost-of-living increase. "I remember 
when bread was 5 cents a loaf," says Ruth Rhoads of Iowa City, who is nearly 
80 and remembers cheaper times vividly. 

And some of the freebie evaporation might just be a tightening of belts and a 
scrutinizing of bottom lines. 

But asking people across the country what freebie they missed most, from 
butcher-shop generosity to full service at the gas station, yielded a 
fascinating snapshot of tight-fistedness run wild. Plenty of nostalgic 
consumers, it seems, are frowning at the bill and reminiscing about a kinder, 
cheaper America.

 

Food freebies that now cost you

  "Doggie bones" at the butcher. "Once it was OK to ask for them and the 
butcher would wrap them up for you, but now they call them soup bones or soup 
starters and they are $1.69 to $1.89," says Spider, a semi-retired artist in 
Mesa, Ariz. 

  Extra cheese at the pizza parlor. Forget having a little more cheese, just 
because you're the customer and it's the restaurant's job to make you happy. 

"Now everything is premeasured and instead of flipping an extra handful on 
the pie, they ring up another dollar and grumble about going to the 
refrigerator for it. Or worse, charge you for it, but 'forget' to put it on," 
adds Spider.

  Butter. Expect to pay for it at Bruegger's Bagels, in the Midwest, and at 
many Dunkin' Donuts outlets on the East Coast. The cheaper the restaurant, 
the more likely you'll pay for butter.

  Soup and salad. "They used to come with the meal in a restaurant," says 
Spider, who's 64 years young. "Now you have to pay through the nose or get 
the salad bar for the lukewarm soup and wilted lettuce."

  Parsley. "It used to be available in bunches at no charge," says Glennis 
McNeal. 

"It helped flavor the soup made from 'dog bones'-- also provided free by the 
butcher, who was kind enough not to ask for proof of dog ownership." 

Beverages - Where's the generosity?

  Coffee refills. The local diner may refill your cup for free, but don't 
expect the pricey coffee house to give you a second cup of java for free. At 
$3 or $4 a pop, Starbucks won't give up profits to be that generous.

  Water. Sarah Courteau, who grew up in Arkansas, sometimes has to pay for a 
glass of water. She's not the only one complaining about that indignity. In 
fact, Arizona had to pass a law making it illegal to charge a parched 
customer for a little H2O. 

  Paper cups. In the old days, a deli might give you a paper cup to take a 
pill or split a soda can between two kids. But a sign in a funky Des Moines 
coffee shop spells out the hard modern truth -- "We don't give out paper 
cups." 

  Bottles. The bottle your beer is in will cost you. "Returnable bottle 
fees, returnable wet cell batteries, propane tanks. If you don't return them 
when you buy new ones, you get fined, right?" says Owen Duff, who lives in 
New Jersey. 

Bags and gift wrap will cost you

  Gift wrap. "Gift wrapping in many stores is an extra-cost item now and 
that used to be the bachelor's salvation," says Spider. "The people wrapping 
them seemed to care and they had some real skill.

"Now it's plain paper and a stick-on bow that won't," he says. "You're 
supposed to pay for a fancy bag to put the gift in since everybody is too 
busy to even unwrap what your hard-earned money went for."

  Bags. Call 'em what you like -- sacks, bags, wraps -- they now cost money 
at many grocery stores. ALDI, a discount food chain with outlets in Illinois 
and Iowa, charges 10 cents a bag. 

  Supermarket carts. Remember when you could just take a cart and shop? At 
some chains, you now need to lend the store a quarter for the use of the 
cart. No quarter, and you'll be stuck carrying, not wheeling.

  Shipping. Von Maur, a department store in the Midwest, will ship your 
merchandise for free. But that doesn't happen too often anymore. 

Car service -- What service?

  Maps for the lost. "Highway maps at gas stations used to be free," says 
Dave Bertollo, a computer scientist in Orangeburg, N.Y. 

  Full-service gas stations. You pretty much have to pump your own gas in 
nearly every state, except New Jersey. That isn't the way it used to be.

"Going to get gas for the car meant somebody would check your oil and clean 
your windows -- all of 'em. And mirrors," says Spider. "Now you pay extra for 
'full service' and that just means some bored person will stand by the gas 
filler to make sure the tank overflows onto the paint."

Other gas-station freebies are gone, too.

"No windscreen cleaning, oil checking, radiator filling or tire-pressure 
checking," he says.

  Air for the tires. Free air for your flat or water for the overheating 
radiator was common, according to several older drivers. In fact, they point 
out that someone usually came out to help -- and that was free, too. 

Travel freebies -- gone, like childhood

  Free national parks. Dave Bertollo remembers when camping used to be free 
at our nation's parks. Now, it's waiting lists and escalating costs. 

  Airport check-in. These days, you're your own check-in agent, says Sue 
Futrell, who lives and works in Iowa City. "At the airport now you have to 
print your own tickets, select your own seats, check yourself in ... 
supposedly more convenient but not when the airline agents are 10 times 
better at it than you are!" Futrell says.

  Travel info -- like your ticket. "Information that used to come to you in 
the mail now comes in e-mail, so you have to print it out yourself," Futrell 
says. "None of these services has gone down in price but consumers now do 
more and more of the work themselves." 

Schoolhouse freebies no more

  School supplies. Kris Jones, a health economist in Orangeburg, N.Y., 
remembers free rulers and pencils. No more. 

  Copies for college students. The cost of copies used to be included in 
tuition. "Printing and copying at university libraries used to be free," says 
Brian Martin, who recently graduated from George Washington University in 
Washington, DC. "It's eight cents a page at GW now." 

And at the famed University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, a $12 "copy fee" is 
tacked on for many courses.

  Gym facilities for undergraduates. Despite all the flak about overweight 
Americans, some colleges now charge students for using the gym. 

Financial freebies…remember when?

  Cashing a check. "Banks are supposed to cash checks written by persons who 
have accounts with them," says Don Baumgart, a writer in Nevada City, Calif. 
"A free service, right? Wrong.

"A recent story aired by KCRA TV in Sacramento told the story of two workers 
who don't have checking accounts who (took) their paychecks to the issuing 
banks to cash them," Baumgart says. "And they were charged $5 because they 
were not customers of that particular bank."

Don't get consumers started about stingy banks.

  ATM use. "There used to be a state law in Iowa prohibiting ATM fees," says 
Laura Crossett, an Iowa native who now lives near Chicago. "Obviously, that's 
a thing of the past. I no longer have an ATM card, as a protest."

  Your balance. Go to an ATM and try to find out your balance, and you might 
be charged a buck for the privilege. 

  Talking to a teller. Yup, that pleasure will sometimes cost you. Skip the 
conversation and use the window, and it might be free.

  Free checking accounts. They're harder and harder to find. (For more 
information, read "Ditch all fees for online banking 
services<http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/Betterbanking/P38219asp>"
 and "Tips for cutting the high cost of 
banking<http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/Betterbanking/P38221.asp>.")

Technology freebies … gone like the gold rush

  Telephone info. Remember when you could call the operator -- and get a 
human operator, not a computer -- to give you a phone number, free of charge? 

  Free Internet. "NetZero used to provide free Internet service and now they 
charge; a similar free Internet service is long gone," says Yiyun Li, a 
writer in Iowa City.

Sometimes, it's still free
Even in this time of rising consumer complaints, great customer service is 
still free -- if you can find it. 

"I'm a bicycle commuter," says Marge Murray, a mathematician. "A couple of 
weeks back I brought my bike in to have them check an annoying, potentially 
ominous clacking sound in my bicycle crank. They took me right in, looked at 
the bike right away, made a couple of adjustments and sent me on my way, 
gratis.

"It's a curious contrast to how auto service is done these days," she says.

Aaah. Even conversations about freebies turn into conversations about getting 
milked. The bottom line: Some things are still free, but you've got to search 
for them. 

So walk outside, and look at the sky -- still there, and still free.