T-Mobile Bumps SIM Starter Kit Price to $20 (from $15)

I think it is a pretty bs charge... The sim card costs next to nothing to make. But all carriers have bs charges. If it isn't a sim card charge then it's something else.
 
Although I am now on Metropcs, I'm glad I got a couple of free ones when I had the chance.
 
You could always start with the Walmart $30.00 sim kit which gives you 100 minutes talk and 5gb data once the talk is gone its .10 minute. You can switch to any of t-mos plans whenever you want.

T-Mobile Complete SIM Kit - Walmart.com

Luckily, whenever I try T-Mobile, that's the plan I always use, so I'll just pick it up from Walmart instead from now on.

But I've seen T-Mobile offer kits for $1 and even free every now and then, so always good to pick up one at that time just in case.