The question for today is, “Are you satisfied with the service you are given?”

Is the businesses that I give my hard earned money to for products worth my patronage? They have been giving me good service for years. Then in the course of a weeks time, I started getting very bad customer service from two different businesses.

In the past week this happened to me. The local drive through coffee shop hired a new employee that after three attempts to get an order for two iced coffees, and a hot chocolate all wrong. We got a black iced coffee, a super sweet iced caramel, and hot chocolate with sour milk. By the time we got less than a mile from the establishment, we all agree never to go back again.

In this past week, I have seen the price of gas go up a good 15 cents per gallon. For many of us that are struggling in the Great Recession, this makes another obstacle we have to climb over to get out of the hole.

This week, I have found three more obstacles. Each of the three hidden charges were in my monthly bills. Things that I did not realize that I was being charged, then the money coming out of my pocket. When I questioned the charges, I was told it was written in to my agreement or terms of service.

Phone Bill – $15.61 in Other Charges, What is Other Charges? When asked for specifics I go the answer, “These include non-communications related charges such as Premium Handset Protection and communication-related charges, such as certain fees”.

While at a local coffee shop, I walked by a table where there a portion of the local newspaper lying on the table. The lead article on that page was, “More Local Programs to help you get healthy in 2010″.

As I walked away it got me thinking that about all the advertisements I have seeing around getting healthy. I know that every January millions of people flock to gyms, Weight Watchers and countless other get healthy resources. Then by March it is something that is being paid for, but not used.

About a week ago, a friend came up to me, with a big smile on her face. She proceeded to tell me that she had just came from the gym. She was feeling great. This was her first visit to the gym since she got the membership several months ago. Did I mention that she live four block from the gym!

That particular gym’s membership starts at $24.95 per month. So if she had not gone to the gym for say, three months. She had thrown away $74.85.

If you look at my key ring you would see 5 little plastic tags hanging from it. One is my membership to Gold’s Gym. The other 4 have bar codes for reward cards. I am enrolled into reward programs with several other business, but I just don’t carry their card or tag, because I don’t go their that often. You might say I use reward cards quite regularly.

I want you to note these are not credit cards. The cost of paying for things on credit my those credit card rewards to complicated and expensive to redeem. They are as bad as getting check back from some companies. I prefer to get my savings on the front end, as opposed to getting a check 60 or 90 days or maybe never later.

I have used the reward cards for years from when I buy the gas for our car. The 2 pennies per gallon of gas does add up. The grocery store off some really fantastic deals, for those who have a rewards card. 10% for at the chain department store helped with school supplies.

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Unlike coupons, reward cards are savings there week in and week out. Coupons are usually for those new or items that we don’t normally buy. Most places that have reward cards have savings on everything they sell, in addition to specials.

Below is a list of the reward card programs, that I use on a regular basis.

• Maverik Country Stores
• Fred Meyer
• Staples
• Shopko
• Albertsons

If you have notice that many of the places, I listed above also give you the option of credit card with rewards or just a plan rewards card. This seems to be a growing trend among businesses to increase their bottom-line.

I did not mention places like Costco and Sam’s Club. Our small family does not use a large enough quantity of goods to really pay for us to have their cards. Large families or small businesses are the ones who can really save big at these places. The average small family will not use 50 rolls of toilet paper in a year. Where a business could use that in a month.

Now there are stores that do not have reward cards, these are the stores who give you, “Everyday Low Prices”, or are continually “Rolling Back” prices. My spies and myself have notice that do keep their prices down to be in competition with those stores that have rewards cards.