connector at bottom doesn't always work

I bought my iTouch from my daughter's boyfriend, who upgraded to an iPhone, so I only have about a six-month history with this thing. Since I got it the connection at the bottom (the wide connector with the USB cord on the other end) has been inconsistent. This is true on all the things I plug it into -- I use an iTrip in the car, I connect to my laptop with the USB wire, and I also have a little speaker set (inMotion) to play the iTouch at home. When I use the USB cord to sync from iTunes I usually have to plug and unplug 3-4 times before it will make the connection. I finally gave up on the iTrip in the car because going over a bump would cause me to lose the connection. (Also I recently moved into an area where a bunch of loud local stations interfere with the transmitter, so I bought a new radio that allows me to use the headphone plug.)

Can this be repaired at a reasonable cost? I'd really rather not buy a new iPod because I may get an iPhone at some point.