Underneath the Rug

There seem to be but three ways for a nation to acquire wealth. The first is by war, as the Romans did, in plundering their conquered neighbors. This is robbery. The second by commerce, which is generally cheating. The third by agriculture, the only honest way, wherein man receives a real increase of the seed thrown into the ground, in a kind of continual miracle, wrought by the hand of God in his favor, as a reward for his innocent life and his virtuous industry. - Benjamin Franklin

Have you ever really look at your bills closely wondering is that the real amount of services you used? No matter what kind of bill..electricity, water, broadband, mobile or anything else. Did you ever sit down and put the bills under a microscope questioning everything?

I'm sure its hard to find even a person who do that. Most of the time we just read at the total amount and paid whatever that is due. The only time we will start scrutinizing is when the amount is so much it almost made you had a heart attack.

Take me for example, I rarely question my phone bills (first because I am under the family plan and I don't pay my phone bill myself...although I manage the payment). Secondly since we are in a business, we talk and send massages to lots and lots of people. So no point trying to read all those long numbers on the bill. Got the bills, pay them and shut-up.

Well not so simple, yesterday when I read those bills, it almost gave me heart palpitation. The amount was staggering. Okay..we've been out of the country for almost 3 weeks but the total was ridiculous. This is the time you start opening those bills and read all the numbers you called.

Suprise!...suprise!, more heart palpitation. It seems that my sister's phone had been using GPRS service almost constantly everyday. The twist was no she wasn't. So who on earth is using them? A question I'm afraid belongs to the 'Misteri Nusantara' category. So right now our only option is to deactivate the GPRS service and hope for a brighter looking bill next month.

The question aside, it got me thinking. Do those numbers really represent the services you used? Do we really count how many SMSes we send every month. Yeah..sure, it's 1 cent per SMS but at the end of the month is that truly the number of SMSes you send? I'm not trying to make the mobile company look bad, it just something that cross my mind as a very lucrative opportunity to make money.

1 cent is a pittance but it still make a million. I mean who would question it if they add a couple more SMS on you bill. Nobody.... You get to make extra money without any cost at all. Remember the guy who swept all the 1 cents from peoples' account and put it in his book instead because he knew most people won't ask about the cents in their account book. He got rich...really rich.

Imagine being rob right under you nose. Anyway... maybe it's time we pay a little bit more attention to those bills. It might not turn you into a millionaire, but it can fills your piggy bank.

Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery.-Calvin Coolage