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Is rate request a gimmick?

After reading “Panel OKs Avista plan to hike rates” (Nov. 26), I could not help chuckle at another flood of gimmicks we are drowning in daily. Avista asked for $18 million and $12 million, respectively, annual rate increases in electric and natural gas. The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission approved $12 million and $9 million.

Does this remind you of, say, a workers union asking for a $2-an-hour wage increase knowing they will get $1, which is what they realistically were after?

It is not my intent to question the validity of the Avista rate increases or how businesses choose to advertise their products. There are bogus bargains in most manufacturer’s suggested retail price discounts, percent off sticker prices and free trials. With extremely rare exceptions, they are all gimmicks that turn customers into consumer zombies, and distort real value.

I realize it’s the thrill of a bargain that makes a purchase exciting. The question is: Who really made the bargain, even while someone supposedly lost some and the other won some?

No wonder hardly anything is left that is not tinged with mistrust.

Phil Zammit

Spokane



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