I am disgruntled

Ah technology, how I love thee! So many things are easy an convenient these days: maps at the touch of a button, weather for the same, food purchased and delivered to your home, goods and services of every kind, and most impressively… online bill payment. Glorious, glorious online bill payment.

Almost every credit card company has this option, as well as cell phone bills, utilities, and the like. And now, the much derided California DMV has enabled us humble citizens to pay our registration online! Awesome! Not only do I not have to stand in never-ending lines at the actual DMV, nor write a check to them in the comfort of my own home, but I don’t even have to interact with the most hated of all state institutions for more than 5 minutes max. What could be more perfect?

And all this electronic happiness comes at the mere expense of a $4 convenience fee!

Excuse me, wha?

A four dollar convenience fee for the state to sit there and let technology reap profits without the added trouble of buildings, people, paper records, or non-instant transactions?!

A four dollar convenience fee because, I don’t know, I’m so fucking grateful that They’ve found a faster and easier way to take my money from me that I just can’t wait to throw more at them?

Extraneous ATM charges, though evil at best, are at least somewhat understandable. The banks incur an expense when they have to interact with other banks and exchange our records. Granted, the actual cost to them is most likely $.0001 of the $1.50 they charge you, but at least there’s something that they can hide behind. But this? This is just simple highway robbery (pardon the pun).

Well fuck you very much, I’ll choose snail-mail everytime.