TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: MCI Now Charging Extra on Payphones When Using Phone Card!

Re: MCI Now Charging Extra on Payphones When Using Phone Card!

Robert Bonomi (bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com)
Thu, 09 Jun 2005 09:57:45 -0000

In article <telecom24.257.3@telecom-digest.org>, <hizark21@yahoo.com>
wrote:

> MCI now charging extra payphones when using their phone
> card!!!

> MCI has started charging a 65 cent surcharge on calls using their phone
> cards ...

> I have a MCI phone card and it is a pretty good deal, because you can
> make calls from a payphone for 3 or 5 cents a minute.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Where they get you is that a person
> near a landline phone or with a cell phone would not need to use a
> payphone. I would think the main reason for using _any_ calling card
> would be to avoid dropping coins in a payphone box. So although they
> _claim_ a decent rate of 3-5 cents per minute, they know the actual
> rate will be 65 plus 3-5 cents (or 68-70 cents) for one minute. PAT]

That 65 cents _looks_ like a lot, but it is close to 'break even'.

Remember, you use those cards by dialing a toll-free number first.
That means that the toll-free number operator has to pay the COCOTS
operator 30-some cents for that call.

In addition to that, there is the cost-accounting nightmare associated
with keeping track of those charges -- for *every* mom-and-pop coin-op
phone operator out there. And sending that check for $1.35 for three
month's worth of calls. Figure postage, plus the $0.10/check that
banks typically charge business accounts, a few sents for handling,
and you've got a 'check writing' overhead of $0.15/call, for that
4-call check. Plus the cost of all that 'un-necessary' accounting
software, and the *auditing* cost to make sure that that software *is*
doing things right.

It wouldn't surprise me if they were realizing a 'profit' of less than
a nickel -- and likely _far_less_ than that -- out of that $0.65
charge.

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