People Are Sharing Fees That Americans Should Refuse To Pay Before They Become The New Normal, And It's Time To Rise Up, Y'all
Morgan Sloss
Sat, February 14, 2026 at 11:31 PM EST
6 min read
In a world that's getting more expensive by the day, extra fees are killing us. Even with a budget, shopping sales, and using coupons, it's becoming harder and harder to make your money stretch. Plus, it's the principle of the thing. WHY are companies getting away with nickel and diming us to death?!
Well, Reddit user u/godot_lover recently posed the question: "What is a 'subscription' or 'fee' that has recently appeared in the US that people need to collectively refuse to pay before it becomes the new normal?"
Of the 6,000 responses, here are some of the top-voted ones:
1. "I wish we could stop 'online convenience fees' when there is essentially no other way to pay."
"They shouldn’t exist anyway because paying online isn’t just more convenient for the customer — it’s more convenient for the company, too!"
2. "Subscriptions for hardware features your car already has. BMW tried to charge a subscription for heated seats, and now other companies are watching."
"My 2015 Hyundai Sonata has remote start locked behind a subscription. You need their app to use it. It's 12 degrees right now where I live, and I'd love remote start. But I'm not paying a monthly fee for it."
3. "'Pet rent.' I already pay a deposit to cover the expense of any damage my pet does. The fuck is with them demanding a monthly fee for my pet??? You think kitty is going out to get a job so they can cover their portion? For extreme cases of damage, there are the courts and the main deposit! I'm not forking over an extra $50–100 per month so my cat can stay here, too!"
4. "You don’t need a subscription for home appliances like fridges, toasters, etc."
"My washer and dryer have a subscription available to tell us on the app that the machine has finished its cycle. Some dumbasses actually pay to have their washer ding an app to let them know laundry needs switching. Just set an alarm on your phone!"
5. "I still use my QuickBooks from around 2016 because I refuse to pay a monthly subscription for something I used to only have to buy once in a box at the store. I don’t care that I don’t get their extra services with the subscription. I never used it back then anyway."
Story Continues
"Subscriptions for formerly single-purchase software. LOOKING AT YOU, MICROSOFT."
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6. "Our school required us to use an app to deposit lunch money to our children's school accounts. Each deposit costs a $2.75 'processing fee' to the app itself, paid for by the parent. I started packing lunches. Fuck that noise."
7. "My apartment complex has a few fees tacked on to rent every month that kind of piss me off. The first is front door garbage pickup. If you don’t feel like walking your ass over to the dumpster, some company comes by and takes your trash from the front door of your apartment. The issue is it's an offered service, but if you don’t use it, you’re still paying for it. And our community online message board is filled with people complaining that their trash hasn’t been picked up, or there is trash all over the common areas because the service people let a bag break and never cleaned it up."
"I have to pay $20 per month for my front door lock. They replaced all the key locks with electronic pins that they can charge you for, as part of a 'smart home package.'"
8. "I bought a very expensive stand-by generator. They want a $75 subscription fee to use the remote features on the app, which would enable me to check on it when I am out of town. We should not need an expensive subscription to use an item for its intended purpose."
9. "Subscriptions to streaming services that show ads. Big media is getting two bites of the apple."
"Oh, and when you pay extra for ad-free, they stop showing advertisements from outside companies, but they replace them with ads for their own services and programming."
10. "Online ordering fees for restaurants, or to-go fees."
11. "I bought a $24 color-changing light bulb that, unbeknownst to me, required a subscription to change colors. It didn’t say on the outer package that you could only use the white light feature unless you paid a monthly/yearly subscription fee. That’s BULLSHIT. I took it back to Walmart and stated the reason why I was returning it. I refuse to normalize this."
12. "I would have said extra fees for airline luggage, but that ship has clearly sailed."
13. "Parking fees at suburban hotels. I don't have an issue obviously when you're in downtown Chicago or San Francisco, but charging $20 per day to park in a huge suburban hotel with a lot that holds 500 cars is obnoxious."
14. "There are heart monitors that you have to pay a monthly fee for. Why?!"
15. "Not new, but late fees. If I was late because of a lack of funds, why do you think I have an additional $35?!"
16. "All those random ass, nondescript hotel fees. Resort fees and shit like that."
17. And finally, "That 'personalized pricing' BS they are considering. The price should be the same for everyone, everywhere, and every time, from the same physical store or website. If I want to order in-store pickup from the website, it should be the same price on the shelf. If I use the website at home, in the store, or down the street from inside a competitor's store, it should be the same price. If I order online from my friend's PC, it should be the same price as ordering from my own PC. The entire idea that a store can change the price of an item arbitrarily to what they think YOU will pay for it compared to someone else should be absolutely illegal. Corporate greed is going to nickel and dime society into ruin."
Any other fees or subscriptions that you think should be banned? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
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