AmiSight 4/20: The Hidden Tax Economy

Ami Kassar
1 day ago
1 min read

This isn’t just inflation, it’s pricing strategy. According to the Wall Street Journal, companies are keeping headline prices low and quietly adding fees at checkout. And it works because of one simple truth: once customers are committed, they rarely walk away.

What matters:

Surcharges are deliberate. They preserve price optics and shift blame (“fuel,” “processing”) instead of raising base prices.
Timing is the trick. Late-stage fees (“drip pricing”) convert better, even if they annoy customers.
Temporary = permanent. Fees show up during cost spikes and rarely disappear.
Consumers are fatigued. People adapt, but there’s a limit to how much optimization they can do.

My take: This is a slow erosion of trust. The companies that win long-term will be the ones willing to say: the price is the price, even if it’s higher upfront.