Everywhere you turn these days you find another example of industries who are just out to stick it to the consumer.
Some of you are old enough to remember when you would buy a house or a car, or rent a hotel room, they used to give you a key. And it worked every time. In fact, it was a special moment when someone handed you the keys to your new car or a new house.
These days you still get house keys for the most part – though keypads are coming on strong – but the auto and hotel industries have long since taken away keys and replaced them with fobs and plastic cards. Which is all well and good for them, but not so good for you if you lose the dumb-ass fob or demagnetize that plastic card.
As opposed to a key, which would cost $1.29 to replace down at Lowes or Home Depot, a new fob will run you $400 to $500 down at the dealership, with an extra charge to re-program it, not to mention the towing charge if you’re away from home when you lose it!
And today’s hotels, rather than give you a key, they hand you one of those shiny plastic cards with advertising on the front and a magnetic strip on the back. And, of course, you put the thing in your pocket where it evidently got too close to your ostrich-skinned wallet or your cell phone which act like card-strip Kryptonite, meaning after you’ve timed your pee break perfectly to get up the elevator and into your room, the little light blinks red instead of green, meaning you have to rush back downstairs, holding yourself like a six year-old to stem the leak, in order to get the damn thing re-coded.
No wonder Trump is winning!
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WANDERING IN A RUNNING WORLD 
So true and when you rent a car in Hawaii of course you have one of those fobs & people forget they are in their pocket when they wade into the ocean which happens often. A big expenses & $600 isn’t uncommon so yes a big ripoff.
Huh?? What on earth does Trump have to do with technology (except that, like everything else, he doesn’t know anything about it)? And do you really think he would do anything to “solve” the problems you describe? He would be more likely to blame your losing your fob on a Mexican, and then charging you $600 to replace that fob, because all he cares about is making money.
Greg, it’s all about the strain of frustration running through the country. Doesn’t matter what the subject is, whether the Iranian nuclear deal or the high cost of replacing car key fobs, folks are frustrated. Hence the rise of the Tangerine Tornado who promises Easter Sunday and Christmas morning all in one.
Toni
Dead-on, Toni.