Care for a Top Up?
Pay-as-you-go has been supplemented by the term “topping up” here in the UK. And people here top-up everything. You can top-up your cell phone, your train pass, your internet, your stocks in James Bond products… kidding about the last one. But still, isn’t topping up implying both a lack of responsibility and promoting a throw away culture?
My girlfriend’s mom is in London for about 5 days. We immediately bought her a cheap cell phone and a cheap train pass. Both will never be used again after Sunday, but came so cheap that it was the clear choice for use. We had to pay a three pound deposit on the rail card, which encourages you to turn the card back in when you’re done, but no such program exists on a popular level for cell phones, especially the cheap ones.
Ads on the tele claim that if I send in my old cell phone I could get 50 pounds, but then the advert shows images of iPhones, Blackberries and other hi-tech products. My low-tech phone that I bought for a fiver (5 pounds) is a complete and utter waste once I’m done using it. And bey enabling me to use it without specific usage requirements, I can stop at any time. Therefore, it promotes the idea that I can just get rid of it whenever.
Don’t get me wrong, topping up is a clever idea, especially because you can top-up in practically every store in the UK. But we must be careful not to allow the craze to spread. What happens when you can top-up your spouse? “We’ve been married for three years, John, but I’ve decided not to renew our marriage once this current lot is all used up.”
Crazy, I know, but is it the wave of the future?
(Probably not.)
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