Can we just admit it? Everything costs extra now.

In South Africa, where consumers are already watching every rand, the constant stream of small charges is becoming impossible to ignore.

You don't simply buy something anymore. You buy it, then pay to pay for it. You order something online, then pay for delivery.

You book a ticket, then pay a “convenience fee” for the convenience of using the internet. You make a payment and discover there's a transaction fee attached, then there's an administration fee.

Because apparently administering the transaction requires its own transaction.

The amounts are usually small. R3, R5, R10, R15. Nothing that seems worth fighting about. And that's precisely why they keep getting away with it.

South Africans are already dealing with expensive groceries, petrol, electricity, rates, bank charges and increasingly stretched household budgets.

So when another R5 disappears, people don't necessarily notice. Until another R5 disappears. Then another. Suddenly, you're hundreds of rand lighter and wondering where the money went.

Image: Supplied

It wasn't one massive expense. It was death by a thousand little charges.

Businesses can argue that these fees cover legitimate costs, Fine. But consumers have legitimate costs too.

And there's something particularly irritating about being told something costs R100, only to discover at checkout that R100 was apparently just the beginning.

You search. You compare. You commit.

Then comes the fee. “Just R12.”

What are you going to do? Walk away and start the entire process again over R12?Most people won't. That's the problem.

Nobody expects South African businesses to operate for free. Consumers understand that services cost money.

But if the real price is R117, say R117!

Don't lure people in with R100 and reveal the rest once they're already at the checkout. Because South Africans aren't asking for handouts.

They're asking for prices that actually mean what they say.

In a country where every rand already has somewhere to go, another R5 isn't always just another R5.

Eventually, those little charges become a bill of their own.