BCBusiness

54 BCBUSINESS FEBRUARY 2017 "The suggestions comprise a rst tranche of ideas." (The Canadian Press, October 20, 2016) French for a slice of anything, in English tranche originated as an investment term for a type of security that's chopped up and sold in portions. Tranche invaded mainstream conscious- ness during the subprime crisis, via constant news reports on worthless tranches of mortgage-backed securities. Though still mainly a financial term, tranche is now being used to describe everything from polo demographics ("an exclusive tranche of China's society is taking a liking for the sport," Time, July 2016) to oil production in the Niger Delta (crippled by "a tranche of attacks by a variety of militant groups." Newsweek, August 2016). tranche JARGON WATCH [from tranche: slice (French)] dierent amenities and dierent line- ups for rst class and business pack- ages have always been a routine part of ying. Airlines have simply extended that philosophy to more and more aspects of air travel, via baggage fees, airport check-in fees and so on. But the pay-for-privilege approach is more likely to create resentment when used elsewhere. On the minor end of the annoyance scale are amusement parks like Six Flags selling special passes allowing holders to skip lineups. Will the water slide class system lead to a revolt of the general admission proletariat? Doubtful. But how about public roads? Atlanta, Georgia, created something called the Peach Pass. Instead of HOV lanes that reward virtuous behav- iour like car pooling, the Peach Pass rewards money. Buy a Peach Pass and you get to use the express lanes on the freeway. Encouraging good behaviour has given way to cold, hard cash. Anything can be monetized, even consumer dissatisfaction. Customer service lines are supposed to be a way to make things right. But why not pay to bypass them? EE, a U.K. mobile and internet company, allows custom- ers to pay 50 pence (roughly 85 cents Canadian) to jump ahead of others in the phone queue. Hypothetically this could spawn a moral hazard where a company creates more problems so as to generate more revenue from its cus- tomer service line. But EE insists that when serious systemic issues occur, the pay-for-priority system is suspended. Still, imagine how much money it could yield for cable companies. Where it really gets dicey is health care. In a 2016 lawsuit, two Calgary doctors alleged that the private Copeman Healthcare centres in Van- couver and Calgary urged doctors to give preferential treatment to patients who paid extra fees, a charge the Copeman clinics deny. Such a system would contravene the Canada Health Act. "Sometimes, market values crowd out non-market values worth caring about," writes Harvard prof Michael Sandel. He cites the example of child- care centres that institute nancial penalties for parents who are late picking up their kids. Instead of dis- couraging the behaviour, fees tend to encourage it—parents know they can buy themselves time. What's worse, Sandel says, is that even when such penalties are scrapped, the bad behav- iour tends to persist. Money corrupts, and the corruption lingers. As for new fees charged by air carri- ers, they seem less about survival and more about opportunism. RyanAir, the poster child for outrageous fees, actu- ally backed o a little a few years ago, reducing its airport check-in fee (for those who forget to check in online and print their own boarding pass) from a gobsmacking £70 to a merely outra- geous £45. And on a recent Air Canada ight from Montreal to Vancouver, with the cabin about half-full, the "premium economy" exit rows were conspicu- ously empty. Vive la résistance!

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