The High Price of Annoyance

by Lilly Gioia

USA Today recently reported on a new study by a think tank called Groundwork Collaborative. They looked into what they call the "high price of annoyance."

I don’t know about you, but I think the list of annoyances we’ve accumulated in recent decades has an impact of the quality of our lives every day. First, I am sick to death of TV commercials about medicines. Anyone watching TV coming to America from somewhere else, must think our entire country is sick, sick with itchy rashes, or constipation, or allergies or every disease under the sun.

But the Groundwork Collaborative attempted to quantify what it called “a torrent of small abuses” familiar to most consumers. They include the time we lose dealing with unwanted robo-calls, junk emails and scams. It was estimated that collectively this costs us $166 BILLION a year in lost time and money.

Waiting on calls with health insurance companies is bad for our wallets too costing $216 billion a year. Junk fees tacked on to bills from ticket providers, hotels, and other transactions add another $90 billion.

Here's how much the 'annoyance economy' costs consumers:

• Junk fees: $90 billion a year 
• Phone scams: $25.4 billion 
• Calls with health insurance administrators: $21.6 billion 
• Waiting for medical services: $19.4 billion 
• Robocalls: $8 billion 
• Waiting for government services: $1.6 billion 

According to the think tank this is getting worse. Over the past two decades, for example, time spent on the phone with customer service agents has increased 60%.

Personally I believe these frequent frustrations are a result of business consolidations and monopolies. A few mega corporations control too much. With reduced competition, customer service has so deteriorated. These huge companies don’t care how much our time is worth or how long we sit waiting on hold because they won’t hire adequate staff. What we really need is trust-busting, and corporate reforms, but I’m not holding my breath.

America’s ‘annoyance economy’ is booming. Here’s how much it’s costing you. USA Today

Taking on the Annoyance Economy  Groundwork Collaborative