How the ‘annoyance economy’ is costing you
Spam calls, customer service chatbots and uncancelable subscriptions
Sure, you may know that being annoyed costs you mentally and emotionally. It could be costing you financially as well.
The so-called annoyance economy refers to the web of spam calls, customer service chatbots and impossible-to-cancel subscriptions, among other aggravations, that Americans have to navigate in their regular financial lives, whether it’s to rebook a canceled flight or to stop paying for a service they are no longer using. All these small tasks, and the time and headaches they can involve, add up to a real financial cost.
What’s the annoyance economy?
To boil it down, it includes the “everyday interactions that should be simple but often turn into fraught ordeals,” said a report from Neale Mahoney, a Stanford economist, and Chad Maisel, a policy fellow at Groundwork Collaborative, per The New York Times. Common examples of these interactions include customer service calls, spam calls and texts, wait times, junk fees and health insurance paperwork.
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Take this relatable scenario: “You call your insurance company about a nixed claim, get routed through a phone tree, wait 40 minutes, explain your problem to a chatbot that can’t help, then start over with a human agent who asks for the same information. By the time you hang up, you’ve burned an hour on what should’ve been a two-minute fix — and you might have to call again,” said Investopedia. Repeated over the course of the year, this constitutes the overall framework of annoyances that is costing Americans big, both in money and time.
How can it impact your bottom line?
Per one estimate, the “accumulated cost” of the annoyance economy “adds up to $165 billion a year in lost time and wasted money for American families,” said the report. Some of its costs are a little less quantifiable, such as “delaying needed medical care because of overwhelming paperwork,” said The New Republic.
The annoyance economy’s impact can be starker for those surviving on tighter budgets. For families “living paycheck to paycheck, the burden of excessive overdraft fees,” for example, can “add up and mean the difference between affording enough to eat or not,” said The New Republic. For others who “fall through the cracks of the complex healthcare system, it can mean tens of thousands of dollars in unexpected medical bills.”
Is it possible to avoid falling victim to it?
While it may be tough to opt out entirely, there are steps you can take to mitigate the impact. For one, pay attention to junk fees. Often, these fees are designed to slip by unnoticed, but you can save by keeping an eye out. When a “charge doesn’t match an advertised price, contest it” by filing a complaint with the FTC, said Investopedia.
Also, know your rights when canceling. “Several states now require businesses to make canceling as easy as signing up,” said Investopedia. So if the process seems tougher than it should be, document and report it.
Finally, be proactive about blocking spam. Cut down on fielding pesky calls and texts by exploring options to block them. You can register your number at DoNotCall.gov, and some carriers also offer tools for filtering calls.
