I was learning about charging yesterday, and we were talking about how charging for IT services can act as a demand management mechanism, which changes user behavior.
After incurring an enormous phone bill last month, I've decided to control that by purchasing a local prepaid number here. I thought, ok so now people can still call me and I won't have to pay that ridiculous amount. But since I've purchased the line, I have received zero calls, since people don't want to pay extra to call me international. I guess it's always expected for people to be more careful when it's their own money on the line instead of another person's. Behaviors change when money is involved, whether we like it or not. The sensitivity of that depends on how much money is involved, based on the different personalities we have in the world. Some people leave it until they foot a 600 dollar bill before they do anything, some are more prudent and take more preventive measures.
Let's calculate the total cost of me answering calls on roaming and on my local mobile:
Roaming
For me: RM 3.00/min (roaming charges)
For caller: RM 0.20/min (local rate)
Total: RM 3.20/min
Local
For me: Free
For caller: RM 0.40 - RM 1.50/min depending on what service is used
Total: RM 0.40 - RM 1.50/min
The cheaper option is obvious.
Apa aku membebel pagi2 ni. It's only 6.30 AM here...I'm up early because of the 1 hour difference.
Ok I better get ready to get to Dusit Thani.
La gorn kaa!
