Bills, bills, bills: In 2023, American wallets are feeling the squeeze from fees, fees, fees

Fees — service fees, convenience fees, transfer fees, delivery fees, bank fees — are ubiquitous and, more and more, a standard part of commerce in the gig-age of the 21st century.

Despite the pervasiveness of fees, they can still give consumers sticker shock. After clicking Apple Pay to buy that $25 late-night Grub Hub order, it turns into nearly twice that once tip is added — or when those $100 tickets to see that up-and-coming band quickly turn into $200 tickets.

The impact on consumers’ wallets isn’t small.

Take credit card fees and interest. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimates that, from 2018 through 2020, Americans paid around $364 billion for just those two types of extra charges. And to keep their money in checking accounts, almost 30% of Americans are forced to satisfy monthly fees, paying an additional $24 every month on average — or $288 annually, according to a survey by consumer financial services company Bankrate.

Consider that, last year, the average annual expenses for U.S. consumers amounted to almost $73,000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s a 9% jump from 2021. Among the different spending categories, housing claimed the biggest share at 33%, followed by transportation at 17% and food at 13%.

In Colorado, the cost of living exceeds the national average by 6%, with housing, food, goods and services all priced higher, according to nationwide apartment listing service RentCafe. Only monthly utilities and transportation fall lower.

“For the last 15 years, (businesses) have done fees of some kind,” said Lani Langton, a business adviser in Lakewood. And “in the last year, a lot more fees have been tacked on.”

She predicted that companies will begin to incorporate the extra fees into the total cost presented to their consumers, instead of breaking the fees down into line items because “people are gawking at it.”

“And, yet, that’s a cost of business that they have to pay,” Langton said.

The fees run the gamut. Convenience fees, also known as as pay-to-pay fees, are levied by companies when payments are processed online or on the phone, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reports. Meanwhile, the Colorado Department of Revenue refers to a service fee, or a vendor fee, as “a percentage of the sales tax collected that a retailer is allowed to retain in order to cover the expenses incurred by collecting and remitting state sales tax.”

For bank services, a customer may pay a monthly maintenance fee on their checking account, a minimum balance fee, an overdraft fee, an ATM withdrawal fee and more.

For example, a Capital One customer with its “essential checking” services puts down a $50 minimum deposit to open an account, and pays a $9 monthly service charge if they don’t keep a minimum daily balance of $300. They also shell out $2 to use non-Capital One ATMs in the U.S., on top of additional fees that the ATM owner may require. The overdraft fee is $35 — same as the non-sufficient funds fee.

Extra fees breakdown

Over one month, this Denver Post reporter tracked the additional fees paid on both necessary living expenses like monthly rent and recreational expenditures, such as concert tickets. The total: $167.

• Falling in line with the U.S. average, the bulk of that amount was related to rent. To pay October and November rent with a credit card and earn points, I forked over an additional $108 in convenience fees.

• The runner-up for most expensive fees also aligned with the No. 2 spending category: transportation. Barring the required transportation taxes, I spent $30 in extra fees to purchase airline flights, which my carrier, United Airlines, broke down as the U.S. passenger facility charge and the U.S. passenger civil aviation security service fee.

The former is used by airports for upkeep and maintenance, while the latter goes to the Transportation Security Administration to secure air travel. In fiscal year 2023, the TSA collected the highest amount of annual fees in 21 years — almost $4.3 billion.

• Between Denver’s Oriental Theater and ticket outlet AXS, I paid $15 in additional charges related to concerts: $8 to buy a last-minute ticket to yacht rock band Yachtley Crew at the Berkeley neighborhood venue and $7 to sell two tickets on AXS for a Halloween DJ set at The Mission Ballroom.

Fees, along with shockingly expensive ticket prices, are at the center of debate among Colorado’s music fans, who can sometimes pay extra charges that amount to one-third of the overall price of a ticket. State lawmakers aimed to address the fees issue through Senate Bill 23-60, by mandating sellers disclose the tickets’ total price, but Gov. Jared Polis vetoed it this past summer.

But the fight isn’t a new one. In 1994, American rock band Pearl Jam sued ticket sales and distribution company Ticketmaster for monopolizing the market, the Foundation for Economic Education reports. The tension between artists and Ticketmaster continues to this day.

• Although I cook the majority of my meals at home, I still forked over $8 in service fees for food delivery.

Online food ordering and food delivery platform DoorDash maintains a notorious reputation for stacking on additional charges. When I ordered $28 worth of sushi from Taki Sushi for an anniversary meal, that didn’t include the $4 service fee described on the app as a 15% fee (a minimum of $3) that “helps us operate DoorDash” — or the $0.28 retail delivery fee, separate $0.49 delivery fee, $3 in taxes and $3 driver tip.

On a different day, even when I went directly to the source — the website for Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant CAVA — it still saddled me with a $3 service fee.

• To use mobile payment service Venmo, I paid $5 in charges, including transfer fees and cash advance fees.

Similar to platforms PayPal and Cash App, Venmo is commonly used to request and send money between friends as an alternative to using cash. Almost 40% of American adults use the service, with the majority of users at 57% falling into my generation: ages 18-29, Pew Research Center reports.

• Finally, at the bottom of the list, Xcel Energy lumped in an extra $2 service fee for me to pay my monthly utilities bill.

“We seem to be paying the price”

Other Coloradans have noticed that their wallets are taking hits on fees, too.

Shelby Lien, a Dacono resident, planned to pay $300 for three tickets to SIX, a musical comedy, at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. However, at the online checkout, an extra $45 ticket fee — $15 each — was tacked onto her total.

“I don’t have a real job, so $15 is pretty big for me personally,” Lien, 32, said. “I still paid the fee because I really want to go to the show.”

She ultimately hopes the money went to the center and not a third-party service provider.

In Colorado, some retailers are allowed to keep service fees to help them collect and remit the state sales tax. At restaurants specifically, service charges “can be allocated within the business however ownership sees fit,” including to pay owners, manager and supervisors, the Colorado Restaurant Association reports.

Over the past year, Michael MacLauchlan has paid around $3 more each month to set up automatic payments through his bank for his homeowners association fees in Denver’s Cherry Creek East.

“I feel as though I’m being squeezed as a retiree on a fixed income to pay not only for recently high inflation, but miscellaneous charges,” he said. Still, “it’s more of a nuisance, rather than a hardship.”

Since the financial squeeze of the COVID-19 pandemic that impacted most Americans, “we seem to be paying the price over these past couple of years,” MacLauchlan said.

And with the continued development of automation, robotics and even artificial intelligence, he often wonders if the country will ever return to pre-pandemic prices and affordability. In particular, MacLauchlan worries about “food and housing for many of the next generation who are finding it extremely difficult for home ownership.”