03.23.26 SAVE MORE On Gasoline And Printer Ink

Summary

The Clark Howard Podcast — Episode Summary

Episode Title: Save More On Gasoline And Printer Ink
Date: March 23, 2026
Host: Clark Howard

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Clark Howard offers practical advice on how to reduce spending amid rising gasoline and printer ink prices. He discusses current trends affecting gas costs, brings questions from listeners about car purchases (including EVs), investigates the pricing structures of places like Costco, and calls out the massive markups in printer ink. The show follows Clark’s characteristic tone: straightforward, consumer-focused, and occasionally lighthearted.

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Main Topics & Key Insights

1. Gas Prices—Why They’re High and How to Save

(00:35–05:57)

• Context: Gasoline prices have surged nationally due to global supply-demand volatility and issues such as Middle East conflicts affecting oil supply.
• Price Gaps: There’s a wider-than-usual spread in local prices—Clark observed as much as a $1.75 difference per gallon within a five-mile radius.
  • Quote: “Normally in most areas...there’ll be about a dollar a gallon difference ... I was looking around and ... it was about a buck 75.” (02:28, Clark Howard)
• Strategy: Shop around—don’t just go to your usual gas station. Use GasBuddy.com or pay attention to prices along your route and fill up when you see a deal, especially at half a tank.
  • Quote: “When you're at half a tank and you see, oh, that’s a good price ... go fill up.” (03:45, Clark Howard)
• EV Advice: Don’t buy an electric vehicle (EV) just because of a temporary spike in gas prices. Used EVs, however, can be good deals due to declining prices—but always check battery warranties.

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2. Electric Vehicles (EVs) vs. Hybrids — Listener Mailbag

(05:59–08:00)

• Listener Question: Mark in South Carolina asks whether the supposed savings of an EV are outweighed by depreciation, insurance, repair costs, and charging challenges.
• Clark’s Take:
  • Charging reliability and speed have improved greatly, and home charging is generally much cheaper than fueling with gasoline.
  • Why drive an EV? “Because it’s fun.” Clark admits his choice wasn’t just financial: “For once, for me it wasn’t about the money.” (07:30, Clark Howard)
• Pure Savings: For the absolute cheapest new-car transportation, hybrids still win.
• Chinese Breakthrough: Clark noted that Chinese tech now allows a five-minute charge to 80%—he’s hopeful this tech will soon be available elsewhere.

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3. Buying Used Cars—Getting the Best Value

(08:00–10:16)

• Listener’s Dilemma: Richard in Maryland needs a reliable used car (<$10,000) for just 18 months—CarMax and Carvana or a traditional dealer?
• Clark’s Advice: CarMax and Carvana offer transparent pricing, warranties, and a no-questions-asked return window.
  • Key Tip: Always get the car inspected by your own mechanic within the return period, regardless of how “clean” it looks.
    • Quote: “During the time period with CarMax or Carvana that you have the right to return...have it inspected by a mechanic of your choosing...” (08:44, Clark Howard)
• Traditional Dealers: You own the car as soon as you sign, so always get it inspected before finalizing any sale.

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4. Costco Gas and Pricing Discrepancies

(10:16–12:59)

• Listener Inquiry: Why do two nearby Costcos have different gas prices, even when local taxes don’t account for it?
• Clark Explains: Costco does a five-mile survey of competitor prices and aims to be 20 cents lower than competitors, even though maximum markup is 15%. Price differences are thus driven mainly by the competition, not just cost or taxes.
  • Quote: “Each location sells gas based on what the competition is around it... But the most they’ll mark up is 15% above their cost.” (12:18, Clark Howard)
• Fun Moment: Playful banter about where producers live (“snobby” vs. “rundown” neighborhoods), ending with a running joke about naming their next dog after retail stores.

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5. The Printer Ink Rip-Off and How to Escape It

(17:07–22:12)

• Main Argument: Printer manufacturers follow the Gillette razor-and-blades model—cheap printers, exorbitant ink.
• Stats: Printer ink can be “potentially 2,000 times more expensive per gallon than gasoline.”
• Alternatives:
  • Epson EcoTank: Real price printers, super-cheap ink—but reliability can be an issue.
  • Best Value: For most, “buy a monochrome black ink laser printer” (especially Brother brand), which offers the lowest cost-per-page.
    • Quote: “For most of us, the best answer... is buy a laserjet, a monochrome black ink laserjet printer.” (19:19, Clark Howard)
  • Subscription Ink Services: Viable for very low-volume users who need predictable costs.
    • Producer Note: Savings possible using generic refills, but beware of DRM (digital rights management) blocks.
  • Clark’s Print Volume: “I print per month now, maybe five pages a month.” (21:01, Clark Howard)

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6. Listener Questions: Consumer Advocacy

(22:12–29:10)

StubHub Ticket Fiasco

(22:12–24:50)

• Eric in California: Bought Dodgers opening day tickets through StubHub, received “upgraded” (worse) seats, got a refund, but can’t afford new similar seats at tripled price.
• Clark’s Response: StubHub’s “guarantee” only promises a refund, not the tickets you purchased.
  • Quote: “StubHub’s guarantee ... is they give you your money back and wash their hands of the situation just like they did to you.” (23:16, Clark Howard)

Life Insurance as Potential Family Caregiver

(24:50–28:24)

• Jessica in Georgia: Nearing 40, single, could become primary caregiver for parents—should she buy life insurance?
• Advice:
  • Needs more than one times salary if the goal is to provide for parents.
  • Buy “level term insurance” (25 or 30 years), medically underwritten for lowest cost.
  • Primary issue: Set up a trust managed by a reliable person for your parents, ideally with help from an elder law attorney.
    • Quote: “You want to talk with an elder law attorney ... in this case it would be money very well spent.” (27:25, Clark Howard)

FedEx Tariff Invoice Dispute

(28:24–29:10)

• James in Wisconsin: Received a tariff bill and “disbursement fee” from FedEx many months post-delivery.
• Clark’s Guidance: Hold off paying; contact FedEx to see if the tariff was ruled invalid by the Supreme Court. Only pay if it’s valid; if not, contest especially the “junk fee.”
  • Quote: “Let them answer that first because I want you to imagine if you just paid ... you want to hold your breath that you’re ever going to somehow get that back.” (28:52, Clark Howard)
  • Clark’s Personal View: “I’ve always hated tariffs. Conversation for another day.”

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Notable Quotes

• “Even though [our newsletters] are free, they’re priceless. Where you learn ways to save more, spend less, and never, never, not ever get ripped off.” (30:55, Clark Howard)
• “Printer ink—2,000 times more expensive than gasoline per gallon!” (00:54, Clark Howard)

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Memorable Moments

• Listener banter about dog names inspired by warehouse clubs and retail brands—lightens up the financial discussions. (12:59–13:43)
• Real world gas price anecdotes make the advice tangible (“Krista lives in a really snobby part of town… your Costco has the highest gas prices of any Costco I know…”).
• Candid take on ticket marketplaces: Clark unpacks the “peace of mind” myth about StubHub’s guarantee.

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Key Timestamps

• 00:35 — Opening discussion on gas prices
• 03:45 — Clark’s strategy for saving on gasoline
• 05:59 — Listener questions: EVs, depreciation, and more
• 08:20 — Tips for buying a used car (CarMax/Carvana pros & cons)
• 10:59 — Costco gas pricing explained
• 13:43 — Transition to printer ink pricing
• 17:07 — “Printer ink is the world’s biggest ripoff” and alternatives
• 22:12 — Real-life ticket sale dispute with StubHub
• 24:50 — Life insurance advice for caregivers
• 28:24 — FedEx tariff charge guidance and anti-junk fee stance

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Final Takeaways

This episode delivers exactly what Clark Howard’s listeners expect: actionable saving strategies, myth-busting consumer advice, and a friendly, empowering tone. Whether you’re grappling with gas prices, deciding on car purchases, or tired of overpaying for ink, Clark has practical and well-explained tips to help you keep more money in your pocket.

Transcript

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[Clark Howard]

It's my pleasure to welcome you here to the Clark Howard show where our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you so you make better financial decisions in your life. And today I'm going to talk about how to deal with the crazy run up and gasoline prices is going on right now. And later, you know what's more expensive per gallon than gasoline? Printer ink. How much more expensive? Potentially 200 times more expensive. What do you do about it? I'm going to give you my suggestions. Actually I'm wrong about that. It's 2,000 times more expensive per gallon. Even worse than I said. We're going to talk about that ahead. Right now though, gas prices are moving up around the country much more other places in the world. We benefit from being the world's largest producer right now of gasoline. We don't have enough diesel production in the United States. And truckers and anyone who drives a diesel vehicle, you're feeling it big time right now with the shortage of available diesel the airline's feeling as I mentioned the other day and what they're paying for jet fuel. But for regular old gasoline, regular fuel, there's a pattern that always happens during times where the price of a barrel of oil and the cost of a gallon at wholesale moving very quickly up or down, the gap in price from one place to another is much wider than normal. Like let's say normally and I'm using round numbers here but there's normally in most areas within a reasonable radius of where you live there'll be about a dollar a gallon difference from the cheapest gas available near you to the most expensive gas near you. And I was looking what's the difference right now? And I was looking around me and then I looked at two other metro areas and it was about a buck 75 a gallon within a five mile radius from the cheapest to the most expensive. So right now what you have is you have stations that have not received a new load of fuel that's going to lead to a higher price or marketing decisions where A gasoline retailer, you might find this with supermarkets to sell gas or Walmart gas stations or the warehouse clubs, they are using this as a marketing opportunity and they're absorbing some of the increase leading to this much wider gap than normal. So what I like for you to do at a time of volatility like this is that you start paying attention to what prices are on your route. When you're at half a tank and as you're driving down a road and you see, oh, that's a good price over there, that's much cheaper than I've seen recently. Go ahead, go fill up. You know, also use GasBuddy.com and see what's near you that you didn't know because maybe it's not a route you normally drive, but a mile away there could be a place that's offering much cheaper gasoline. And I wanted to tell you that there's been story after story since this started with the higher gas prices. Well, is this when you should buy an electric vehicle? No. People don't make a decision to ditch a vehicle and buy another one just because of temporary price movements. Because once things are settled in Iran, however, that's going to be the cost of a gallon of gas. It'll take a while, but it'll trend back down. Because prior to hostilities beginning in the Middle east, the world had the opposite problem. We had production of oil exceeding what underlying demand was in the world. So it'll take a while, but we'll get supply and demand back in sync. And nobody's going to want that more than trucking companies and individual tractor owners because their cost of pulling that trailer down the interstate is so high right now on electric vehicles. So I wanted to say that if you're in the market for a vehicle, the cost of used electric vehicles, because electric so out right now, the cost of used ones is a deal. And they're so cheap to run versus a gas engine vehicle that if it fits your lifestyle, looking at one as an alternative, just make sure that the battery is covered for a sufficient number of years and miles still to come. Because you don't want to buy that kind of trouble if you're near the end of the warranty or a vehicle's already out of warranty on the batteries, the battery goes. That's a big number. Repair.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Okay, you ready for questions?

[Clark Howard]

Sure am.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Mark in South Carolina sent this one in. I'm wondering how a man that would be concerned about saving a dollar at the grocery store would ever buy an ev, even if it's to Save money on gas. It's common knowledge that rapid depreciation of an ev, higher insurance cost and the cost of repairs compared to a similar gas power powered vehicle more than cancel any savings at the pump. Then there's the cost of charging an ev. If you want rapid charging at home, it can cost thousands to have the equipment installed. If you can actually find a charging station, it could be expensive, time consuming and inconvenient. Just call me curious.

[Clark Howard]

Right, Mark, thank you. I'm going to take your question statements in reverse order. Charging has become much more reliable over the last 18 months in the US and the speed of charging at public chargers has gotten so much better. And I should mention the Chinese have had a breakthrough and they can now charge an electric vehicle in five minutes to 80% charge. And there's no reason, if the Chinese have done it, we won't be able to do that in the future. Charging at home is actually far cheaper than gasoline. But let's go to the core of what you said. Why do I drive an electric vehicle? Because it's fun. I mean, before I owned my first electric vehicle, I had always been a hybrid driver going back to year 2000. And I love driving a hybrid. You know, I was getting, depending on the model, I was getting up to 50 miles a gallon. And if you want the cheapest transportation today, almost certainly that remains if you're buying new a hybrid. But electric vehicles are just flat out fun to drive. So for once, for me it wasn't about the money.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Richard in Maryland says I need to buy a used car. Where does Clark suggest buying one? I only need the car to last me another 18 months and I don't want to spend more than $10,000. CarMax seems to be expensive, but they have really clean cars and a warranty. Is it wise to buy a used car at CarMax or at Carvana?

[Clark Howard]

Richard Carvana and CarMax are taking steadily more market share in used vehicles because they stand behind what they sell and they give you the right to return them for a full refund for a period of time. And I just have been so shocked that traditional car dealers have not seen what the marketplace is demanding, which is clear. No games, pricing and consumer protections built in the purchase of a used vehicle because you don't know what trouble you're buying because a used vehicle has a history. And many times it's not good. Even having said that during the time period with CarMax or Carvana that you have the right to return a vehicle for a full refund, have it Inspected by a mechanic of your choosing to make sure it's mechanically sound, especially with one you're trying to buy for 10k or less. Also there's a list that Consumer Reports has, you'll have to go to the library or buy one time access that lists older vehicles that they have found that as models, particular models have proven to be very reliable even with high mileage and older vehicles. And so if you follow that funnel, you start with that list of the vehicles that have proven as models to be the most reliable. You buy one of those, have it inspected after you purchase. If it's not in sound condition, take it back, get your money back and try again.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Have it inspected after from those places,

[Clark Howard]

but from a regular dealer. From a regular dealer where the second you sign the paper you own it. You have to have the inspection done before you take delivery.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Yeah. Or an individual Warren in Oregon says, I know inside Costco stores prices have a maximum markup over their cost. But what about at the fueling station? There are two Costco's about 10 miles apart on a particular day, one has higher prices than the other. Some have suggested local taxes, but ironically the lower priced station is in an area with a local fuel tax and the higher priced station is not. Others have said it's because the higher priced station got a more recent delivery. But some say, and I don't know if it's true, that both stations get multiple daily deliveries. So why would these two stations have such different prices? Is this cost plus like they do inside the store? Not the way they set the maximum fuel price.

[Clark Howard]

So I'm going to give you a real world example. Krista lives in a really snobby part of town.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Oh, whatever you do.

[Clark Howard]

And your Costco has the highest gas prices of any Costco I know in your metro area.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Oh wow.

[Clark Howard]

And the reason is the Costco that I go to is in an area with a lot of price competition.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Yeah, because you live in a really, really rundown neighborhood. Your.

[Clark Howard]

Well, well the Costco I go to is not, not right where I live. I have to drive further.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Okay.

[Clark Howard]

I mean you could walk to your Costco, right? Yeah, yeah. So I can't. So what Costco's do is they do a. I don't know who it's assigned to, an assistant manager or whatever. They do a five mile survey of what the competition is around them and the goal is to be 20 cents cheaper than the competition within that five mile sweep. Well, where you live, the gas stations available that compete with Costco are all like A million dollars. It's like, I mean, it's crazy how you don't look at prices, but they're really, really.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

I don't look at gas prices because I don't have to buy gas.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah, because you drive electric. So Costco, each location sells gas based on what the competition is around it. But the most they'll mark up is the 15% above their cost because their gas is sold as Kirkland Signature Gas. So 15 highest markup. But I assume they don't release this information. But they'll even sell gas below cost. If prices are really cheap around that store, they then price accordingly. So you know, you can go to Costco and you're getting the best price in your trading area.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Also, speaking of Costco, the naming your next dog thing continues and someone wrote in and suggested K Sig, but you do already have a dog named Kirkland Signature.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah, we already have Kirkland. So my wife.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

I like it though. K Sig.

[Clark Howard]

My wife wants our next dog to be TJ for Trader Joe's.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Oh, yeah. I thought she wanted Dyson.

[Clark Howard]

Oh, she did want Dyson too. Well, see, Lane, if she could, would be like the movie 101 Dalmatians. She'd have 101 dogs or more. And so anyway, she can have her time to talk about why we should have 101 dogs. I'm happy with two Noah's Ark rule. You have two, right?

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

I have two, yeah.

[Clark Howard]

Your dogs would eat my dogs in one second. Coming up ahead, if you think you know the biggest rip off out there, probably you don't. Because I think the biggest rip off out there is the way we get cheated with office printers or at home printers. I'm going to tell you how the game is played, what you need to

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[Clark Howard]

So one thing that I'm grateful for. We don't print like we used to think about how important printers were and now how seldom people even have printers. That's good because the companies that make printers had really come up with a business model that they mimicked. Gillette and I don't know if you know the Gillette thing, but Gillette. If you go to buy a New razor, Gillette sells you the handle for the blades at a huge loss. They'll sell you a really fancy handle for your blades because then they make the blades proprietary normally to fit that razor. So you're paying basically nothing for the razor and a markup beyond your imagination for the blade. And so that's the way the game is played. So years ago, Hewlett Packard was like, this is brilliant. This is how we're going to do printers too. So Hewlett Packard, which was, I don't know if they still are, they were the largest seller printers in the United States. Hewlett Packard came up with this business model that was just imitation. The greatest flattery, they didn't care how much money they lost on the printer because the ink, they sell for like $6,000 a gallon, supposedly. I mean, it's really expensive. So that's the way it's been. But the reality is there are a couple of things you should know. First, started by Epson, that came up with the Ecotank, Ecotank, whatever they call it, where you pay an actual real price for the printer and then the ink costs like nothing. And so for people who need to print and color, that became a great alternative. Except a lot of the Epson ecotank printers were not very reliable. So you'd end up with a lot of really cheap ink and a dead printer potentially. But some of the other inkjet kind of companies started offering both options where you could buy a printer at a real price and the ink really cheap, or you could buy the printer at a fake price and get clobbered on the ink. But for most of us, the best answer of all is buy a laserjet, a monochrome black ink laserjet printer. If you don't need color printing, laser is so much cheaper per page with most any brand. But the best deals seem to be historically from brother on the cartridges for the laser printers and you can hold down your price. We've had a couple of people write in with comments that why do I never talk about the subscriptions for ink? So I will. There are programs now where you pay so much per month and it buys you so many prints. And if you are a low volume user, even though the cost per page may be high, if you're doing really low print volume, the subscription gives you a set price that can be overall very affordable access to printing for a very low volume print use. I print per month now, maybe five pages a month. How much printing do you do?

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Well, I recently did a lot because of tax Season. I always print everything out so I have copies, even If I'm sending PDFs to my accountant.

[Clark Howard]

Okay.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

So it just depends. I also print out. I also do a ton of scanning with my printer, which doesn't count, but sometimes I have to print out contracts and stuff for your business that I sign and then rescan. So I do quite a bit. Not like I used to, of course.

[Clark Howard]

Are you using a laser?

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

No, I have a. I have to get ink. And recently I did have to refill it. And I. I went to an office store where they do sell generics for most of the big brands. They didn't have the one I needed, so I went on Amazon and I found in generic that said it would work with my printer because you have to worry about the digital rights match with the DRM and they work. So I was able to get a generic and save money and just did it that way with the subscriptions. Do they make you get it at a regular time, though? Like every month or every two months?

[Clark Howard]

They charge you per month?

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Yeah.

[Clark Howard]

That. So many copies. So that's got to be. That's why. But we've had the question.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Yeah.

[Clark Howard]

And the reality is it's for a very thin sliver of the market for very low, low volume printing.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

All right, we'll go to questions. This one's from Eric in California. A timely one. Do you want me to say the name of this ticket seller?

[Clark Howard]

Yeah, you say all.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Okay. Eric says I bought two tickets to see the Dodgers opening day game from StubHub. I bought wonderful seats in the field level behind the dugout. I got a very good deal on these tickets. The order went through and I received the confirmation email for the sale. The email had my correct seats listed and said I would receive my tickets soon. A few days later, I got an email that said I was being upgraded and here were my new seats. The seats were on the third level out past the foul pole.

[Clark Howard]

Those were the new, better seats.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

I immediately contacted StubHub via their chat box and later over the phone, I explained my situation. They offered a refund, but that doesn't help because I would now have to pay three times as much for the same tickets. I just received an email that they have refunded my credit card. I am now stuck. Do you have any suggestions on how I can get them to live up to their end of the deal and provide me with similar tickets to my purchase at the same price?

[Clark Howard]

Eric, you are gonna hate me. Don't shoot the messenger. Right. StubHub's guarantee that they tout in big letters. Have you ever read the StubHub guarantee? No, I did the last time I had this on tv. So I read the thing. The guarantee that is supposed to give you complete peace of mind is they give you your money back and wash their hands of the situation just like they did to you.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Because they're only a third party seller, right? Like, they don't sell directly. It's other people. They're a marketplace. Right.

[Clark Howard]

But if you as a seller or a buyer get cheated, all they basically do is say, okay, here's your money, Bye.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

So the person selling those tickets maybe didn't actually have them or who knows?

[Clark Howard]

I mean, you don't find out. And you know, usually StubHub doesn't even know. And they feel like, hey, we lived up to our guarantee. You're not going to the game, but you didn't lose your money. And that is their deal. And that's something that when you're buying tickets to a concert, when you're buying tickets to a sports event, you got to know that StubHub's guarantee that the best you're going to end up is back where you started, which is you have your money back and you're not going to opening day. And that to me is not a peace of mind guarantee.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

I feel really bad for Eric in this case for sure. I also do know that with I know. I think StubHub and SeatGeek, a seller can upload their tickets to the third party seller to get. I think there's like a higher guarantee if they have possession of the tickets and then they send them to you. And then there's also the option of them just listing their tickets without sending them through. So I've done that before and I've sold tickets. I've actually uploaded them to StubHub and then they sent them to the buyer. Jessica in Georgia says I'm nearing 40 and I'm single and I don't have any kids. It's likely that even with my siblings help, I will be the main caretaker for our parents when they reach the stage of their life where they need assistance. I currently have life insurance that's provided through my employer 1 times my salary, currently 117k. However, up to 8 times is available with a medical evaluation. In the past, I've put off getting any other life insurance as I have not had dependents. Now that I might be the primary caregiver for my parents in their older age, should I consider getting a policy to assist in case of My passing, and if so, what kind of life insurance should I get? Would it be better to get it through my employer or outside of my employer?

[Clark Howard]

Right. We got a lot to unpack here. Jessica. First of all, you have such a good heart. You recognize up front you're the one who's going to be the main caregiver. It's going to be money needed to take care of your parents. And this is more complicated than just the life insurance, because who are you going to make the beneficiary of the life insurance? And how do you know they're going to do with it what they should? And I'm going to make two suggestions to you. First of all, as long as you're healthy, which you'd have to be to buy more than the one time your salary, you need a policy. If the purpose is to provide for your parents, you need substantially more than one time your salary anyway because of what it will cost to provide that care. And I would say that you're soon going to be what they call insured age 40, that you buy what's known as a level term insurance policy and buy 25 years, maybe 30 years. And what it does is if you medically underwrite, you have this policy that's really dirt cheap. It only pays in the event of your death. It's not any kind of savings or investment or anything. And it will provide the funds needed to provide care to your parents. And we've got a guide to how you buy level term on clark.com that'll walk you through the steps to do so. But that's not the first step. First step is you got to figure out who's going to who you're going to trust with this money, what are going to be their responsibilities, where they're going to be expected to do. You're going to want to talk with a lawyer who I would say in your circumstance, what you're trying to accomplish, you want to talk with an elder law attorney, not a trust attorney. An elder law attorney is a subspecialty of the law that deals with issues with aging parents. Just so you know, they're not cheap to hire, but in this case it would be money very well spent. And then you would figure out what kind of trust you need to have and you fund that trust with the term life insurance policy.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Co-host]

Okay. And James in Wisconsin says, Clark, I received an invoice from FedEx for a tariff on an item that was delivered months ago. The total is $10.80 with a $4.50 disbursement fee. I understand I owe the tariff portion of this invoice. I don't understand why I owe their junk fee. I did not enter into any kind of contract with FedEx. Well, this is not life changing money by any means. It's the principle of it that I don't agree with. What should I do?

[Clark Howard]

I mean the tariff mess is the gift that keeps on giving. And this has been a nightmare for FedEx and UPS. Disaster for both of them. I've stated from I don't know how many decades ago how much I despise tariffs. And now the tariff they're trying to collect is probably under the the stuff that the Supreme Court outlawed anyway. So I would first start with whether FedEx is trying to collect tariffs from you on a tariff that they are going to get a refund from because of the Supreme Court decision. So I would not pay anything yet. And I would write FedEx back and say is this one of the tariffs that was invalidated by the Supreme Court? Let them answer that first because I want you to imagine if you just paid the 1080, forget the 450 junk fee and you pay it. You want to hold your breath that you're ever going to somehow get that back from FedEx after you paid it if they then get a refund of it. Can you imagine the nightmare for FedEx and UPS dealing with these? So for one thing, I would not pay it right now until you know it's not one of the tariffs that was invalidated by the Supreme Court. And if it is one that was invalidated by the Supreme Court, send them the 1080 since you object to the 450 and let's see what they do. Tariffs. I'm not going to get into the whole tariff thing. Just know I don't care who's in the White House. I've always hated tariffs. Conversation for another day. Just look at economic history. You'll see why. And I want to thank you so much for joining us today and I look so forward to being with you again this Wednesday for more empowerment for your wallet. Because what we're about every day, every way, whether you live in a market that you see me on tv, hear me on radio, read me in a newspaper, go to our websites, watch something we posted on social media, our newsletters are the best. You can see how they work. Go to clark.com newsletters. They're free. And we make it just as easy if you find it not useful in your life to can your subscription as we make it for you to sign up for it and remember again, even though they're free free, they're priceless. Where you learn ways to save more, spend less, and never, never, not ever get ripped off. See you Wednesday.

[Don McDonald]

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