The Importance of Avoiding Hidden Fees in Business

Don’t Let “Nickel-and-Dime” Expenses Sink You

Nickles and dimes

It isn’t always the big-ticket expenses that end up undermining a business. Whether small or large, oftentimes that which is most detrimental to operations are tiny expenses that continue to crop-up. Rent increases on a building, additional offices accrue additional utility expenses, new taxes cull previous profits. There are no shortage of little expenses that, in aggregate, become a big problem.

The key is consolidating expenses and eliminating as many of them as you possibly can. Like addiction, the first step toward eliminating the problem involves admitting there is a problem—or, in the case of a small business, identifying from whence comes the loss.

Look at your budget. How much are you bringing in every month, how much are you spending, and what can you eliminate? Marketing, rent, utilities, production costs, and employee payment are options that are part of your overhead. Certain benefits packages are as well. Then there’s insurance, and tax.

Beyond these expenses, there are sure to be some that you can curtail. Cleaning, for example. Instead of having the cleaning services you use come once a week, have them come twice a month. This cuts that cost in half for the year. Granted, messes may accrue with greater frequency than before; but remember that not all cuts are permanent. Following are several other ideas on cuttable expenses.

Merchant Services

According to Dharma Merchant Services, merchant services aren’t “…just about the bottom line — happy merchants make for a happy workplace. By cultivating a culture of commerce with compassion, we benefit our community of customers and partners as well as our employees.” Part of that compassionate community involves cutting processing costs.

Look for groups like Dharma who offer flat margins that are fixed, but don’t include long-term contracts or hidden fees. Oftentimes the costs that such organizations use to “get you”, as it were, involve procedures that are semi-regular, but unlikely to be broached during an initial consultation.

Hidden fees are never really “hidden”. It’s more an issue of: “if prospective customers don’t ask, we won’t tell.” It’s almost a game some merchant services play with vendors. And it’s a game that hurts the dishonest merchant services group more than the clients they cheat. If businesses tank because they’ve been nickel-and-dimed to death, that certainly doesn’t help a dishonest merchant services operation!

Solar Technology

Solar panels

Solar technology can increase your property value while decreasing your utilities cost. This is a way of substantively eliminating a necessary overhead expense over time.

A 3.1 kWh system, or that requisite to powering a conventional household, will increase property value $18,000+. Get a solar system that fits with your organization, and you stand to save money, be grid-independent, and increase the value of your operational property.

Cut Unnecessary Payroll Costs

Did you know it’s possible to curtail your expenses in payroll through simple internet-enabled software? There are now options (like those at ClockSpot.com) which allow employees to jump “on the clock” any time, anywhere. Additionally, their exact hours can be more securely monitored. You won’t have any clock-milking on the backend; and that adds up quick!

One hundred employees who log an additional two minutes per day will deplete 4,000 minutes’ worth of expense from your business every month (given a 20-day work month with no overtime or weekend shifts). That’s over 66 hours a month, or 800 hours a year. At only $15 an hour, that’s $12,000 a year.

Cut costs

Save Money By Curtailing Unnecessary Spending

From community-centered merchant services to the solar switch and more cohesive timekeeping, there are quite a few ways you can ensure steady operations despite the regular exigencies of business. Go through your budget and see where you can save a little money!