Small price to pay

Dothan Eagle editorial
Published: August 6, 2008

What would you pay for convenience? There are innumerable instances of anecdotal evidence, easily more than enough to conclude that the answer would be, “Plenty.” The simplest examples can be found in the grocery store. A package of fresh or frozen chicken breasts can be purchased for one per-pound price, but the rate for the boneless breasts is markedly higher. Modern agricultural science has not engineered a boneless chicken; someone somewhere removed the bones from the chicken meat before it was packaged and shipped to the store. The procedure has likely been refined so that it adds only seconds to the dressing of the poultry, but the market measures the higher price by what consumers would be willing to pay to not be troubled by boning chicken in their own kitchens, not what those few added seconds cost the processor.

Fresh peas really enhance a good chicken dinner, and they’re reasonably priced, too. If you’re willing to make the short drive into the country, you’ll quickly find a sign, usually hand-lettered, with the word, “U-Pick.” They’ll lend you a hamper and a bucket and let you spend an hour or so in the pea patch. After you fill your hamper and pay the vendor a few bucks for the produce, you must take the vegetables home, shell them, wash them, cook them and serve them.

Or, you can buy them already picked and shelled for a few dollars more, rinse them off and cook them without breaking a sweat or your back.

It’s simply human nature to pay for all the convenience we can afford.

That’s why it’s difficult to understand why anyone would oppose the Houston County Commission’s decision to have a private firm handle credit card transactions for property tax payments for a 2.5 percent fee for property owners. In the past, the county has absorbed the cost of credit card transactions.

With an outside firm handling the transactions and dealing with credit providers, the county’s revenue office will receive all the property tax it is owed.

No one is holding a gun to anyone’s head. Money can be used or the revenue office will take checks, but rubber ones will cost quite a bit more in the long run.
Those who want the convenience of using plastic or plan to carry the balance on their card over time, should be more than willing to pay an extra 2.5 percent.

Otherwise, there’s always cash.