Free Republic

In an effort to make it easier for customers to pay bills they receive by mail, the Pennsylvania Turnpike is linking with a national network that will accept cash at hundreds of convenience stores, drug stores and other outlets. The turnpike is partnering with the KUBRA Cash Payment Network to allow motorists to pay tolls or other turnpike fees at places such as 7-Eleven, CVS, Dollar General, Family Dollar, Sheetz and Walgreens, among others. The program — which includes a $1.50 surcharge for each transaction — is an attempt to make it easier for customers to pay and reduce the...

Under ObamaCare, insurers have the option of charging smokers up to 50 percent more to cover the associated higher costs of providing them with health care — but the District of Columbia, along with several other states, have decided that any plans being sold within their exchange are prohibited from adding tobacco surcharges. That simply wouldn’t be fair, you see: On Monday, the D.C. exchange’s executive board voted to prevent insurers from charging higher premiums to smokers than to nonsmokers — meaning nonsmokers are likely to pay modestly higher rates than if smoking surcharges were permitted. The District joins three...

Canandaigua, NY--Local shoppers have been watching their grocery bills increase for months, but some relief is on the way. In anticipation of lower fuel and production costs, Wegmans has cut prices on hundreds of items, with reductions ranging from 10 to 30 percent. Signs will go up today and over the weekend pointing customers to the lower-cost items, said spokeswoman Jo Natale. In a message posted on the company Web site, owners Danny and Colleen Wegman said the price cuts were made in anticipation of Wegmans’ costs falling in the future. They said they don’t mind making a little less...

Cellular subscribers are paying hundreds of millions of dollars each year to subsidize land-line telephone service, enriching big telecommunications companies while providing little or no benefit to cell-phone users. The subsidies are intended to reimburse the companies for providing traditional phone service in rough terrain and rural areas where stringing lines can be costly. But rampant development has transformed some of these backwaters into booming subdivisions, with no real adjustment to the distribution formula; others, such as the oceanfront celebrity playground of Malibu, are receiving subsidies simply because of their difficult topography. Outdated formulas for tabulating the surcharges -- coupled...

Call it "fee creep." We're paying fees for a lot of things that once were free. In the automotive, electronics, banking, telecommunications and other industries, services that once were provided as a courtesy are now raking in millions of dollars. For years, credit-card companies have been imposing an "over-limit fee" when customers exceed their credit lines. But other fees have the acrid tang of novelty. Some credit unions charge $15 for a copy of a disputed check. A few companies have actually penalized customers for paying bills early. Some banks these days charge customers who exchange rolled coins for paper...

While campaigning to get to where he is now, Jon Corzine boldly promised to increase property tax rebate checks for all eligible New Jerseyans. We've been told the Governor is mulling raising the sales tax from 6% to 7% as well expanding the sales tax include items not currently subject to the levy. Corzine is also said to be considering imposing an income tax surcharge and hiking the cigarette tax a whopping 60-cents a pack. Is the Governor poised to renege on his campaign trail property tax pledge? It is possible. Asked if still intends to fully restore the rebates,...