Freelancer Freebies–No Longer Free?

by Joe Wallace

I’ve done a lot of travel writing in one form or another–from half-hour long television scripts for the Korea Destinations series aired by the American Forces Network to quick little blog posts about road tripping across the USA, I’ve taken every kind of transportation imaginable.

Part of the trick to being a successful traveler, never mind being a good travel writer, is to take full advantage of every discount and price cut you can. You learn to pounce on frequent flyer miles, AAA, any and everything you can find.

But the times are definitely changing. Just ask the author of this ABC News post about fuel surcharges for supposedly free air travel purchased with frequent flyer miles. British Airways apparently tacked on a whopping $500 surcharge to an otherwise “free” flight.

It’s bad enough that flyers must pay to check baggage, eat overpriced food, and endure intrusive security pat-downs. Now this? In America it’s more isolated according to the ABC story, but it’s definitely an industry trend worth keeping an eye on.

The purpose of this post isn’t to rant about how unfair that particular surcharge is. Instead, I’d like to draw attention to the nickel-and-dime practices as a whole to raise some awareness about how much it’s costing you to do things directly related to the freelance life.

Gas prices are at an all-time high. Food prices are also climbing. Tolls, parking, and sales taxes all have gone up and will continue to do so. This isn’t meant as an alarmist screed. More of a call to do your arithmetic and count the costs before you wind up with a surprise at the end of the month. After all the invoices have gone out and your expenses have been added up, how much is left?

Are you saving cash in the right places? Changes in the banking industry including the Durbin Amendment, Dodd-Frank and other regulations the average person has no real awareness off are causing banks to consider charging debit card fees and eliminate free checking. Do you know if you’re being charged for such things now?

Add up those costs–do the math and make sure you know where your money is going, how much is going out, and where you can cut corners. All these little expenses? They all add up.