Not really surprised. The n3DS was never meant for their casual audience anyway. I doubt families and little kids care about better 3D, double the graphics power, and a C-stick. They're more interested in the 2DS as that's the cheapest model. A regular n3DS would saturate the lineup and they probably make more money off the XL. In Canada they can make the nXL their high-end model due to the exchange rate.
Companies nickel and diming are nothing new either. Amazon used to send full-page invoices with packages. Now it's on a piece of scrap paper. Some companies have even completely abandoned shipping invoices. It's chump change to go online and print one off, but it adds up for them. Battery-powered devices that don't come with batteries, electronics that don't come with cables, phones that lack a wall adapter (or a headset), etc.
Yeah it sucks but Nintendo isn't re-inventing the wheel here. The DSi removed backwards compatibility, the original 3DS came with a charging cradle, etc.