06/27/2005 03:53:00 PM 
While certain aspects of this maybe increasingly true is this technological age, it's clear that when it comes to dealing with companies over service fees and service in general, one group clearly has the upper hand. Companies are selling consumer empowerment, but only on their terms. The old idea that the "customer is king" has fallen by the wayside.
A recent article in USA Today talks about wireless mergers brought this issue clearly to life. It mentions a whole host of additional merger related fees that carriers want to charge consumers.
The CEO of US Cellular is even bold enough to state "We effectively purchased the rights to those customers." The phrase "purchased rights to those consumers" doesn't really connect with an age of consumer empowerment and the new flat world.
Consolidation isn't going away. In fact, many on Wall Street believe there will be lots of M&A; activity this Summer. With greater power in the hands of fewer companies, consumers are really going to have even less power over them.
So we are living in a world where corporations conveniently promise us more control over aspects of our lives, but increasingly expect us to help them cut costs by making us navigate complex customer service centers and look to extract additional service revenue from fees.
This situation simply isn't sustainable. Companies are looking to create subscription services models that allow them to add on fees and grow revenue this way- look at wireless, cable and radio. The consumer can't afford them all and are going to start dropping them when the additional fees mount up.
Clearly companies know there are some things that we just can't live without; finance, communication and entertainment, but if a supermarket was to charge extra fees for buying milk at a certain time of the day or charge extra for the last loaf of bread, there would be a public outcry.
There lies a real opportunity for some players to break out of the pack and to take a stand. To be honest, transparent and recognize their consumers as fair and equal partners in a business relationship, not simply numbers they purchase rights to.
Where is the Southwest of the wireless industry?
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