this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2024
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Boring but sensible answer to lots of versions of the same basic question (ISP/telephone line quotes, retail prices, etc):
The US is made up of tens of thousands of mini-jurisdictions, each with their own unique rules and regulations. Sometimes taxes, permits, fees, etc change from place to place and the price is going to be different from one place to another. When you have a national-level marketing department, it's easier just to quote the price you know applies everywhere, and let the locals add the rest on top.
For phone service it's really crazy. I used to work for a phone company, and there were outlier counties that charged $12/month in fees (50 cents is closer to normal) to each phone line for access to 911 service on what was nominally a $15 landline service. We couldn't just honor the $15 price and eat that $12 on top of the rest of the local fees and taxes - we'd have been losing money with each additional customer.
So the result was the national advertised price was still $15, and depending on your jurisdiction your out-the-door cost was going to be between $20 and $40.
but that's no excuse for the price seen / shown inside the store to not be the price you pay - especially with electronic display screens now.
Also even before that it's not complicated to set the price including tax then deduct the tax from the listed price at point of sale, as it had to be calculated at that point regardless...
Because that is the price of the item. The tax is on the sale. Some states do not allow you to advertise the post tax price. It's incredibly stupid.
At least that is somewhat reasonable. Internet companies regularly advertise one price and then add a bunch of fees on top that can add another 20% to the cost. The FCC is forcing them to cut that out and they are bidding that they cannot be expected to know what all of the fees will be on each location as if they do not have all that info on their fucking database.
Fyi that was a rhetorical question.