Your time, money, and patience might be valuable to you, but they mean so much more to the company’s bottom line.
A new study by the Groundwork Collaborative reveals that Americans are dealing with longer customer service wait times, paying billions in junk fees, and losing even more to healthcare hassles, setting the stage for what the group dubs the “annoyance economy.”
Junk fees for concerts, hotels, and food deliveries are costing Americans over $90 billion a year, the study found. By assigning a dollar cost to studies estimating the hours consumers spend on hold, researchers found Americans cough up over $21.6 billion in wasted time due to healthcare administrative hassles.
Companies are also getting a premium for your time. The time Americans spend on the phone with customer service has spiked by 60% over the last 20 years as companies pare back on customer service and make processes like getting a refund more difficult in the name of driving revenue.
These bogus fees and frustrating ordeals are part of the “vibes-based” tax companies are charging Americans to make every consumer interaction harder. Companies are relying on the lack of competition and onerous cancellation polices to trap consumers into services.
