XPost: talk.politics.guns, talk.politics.misc   
   From: pothead@snakebite.com   
      
   On 2026-02-21, c186282  wrote:   
   > On 2/20/26 14:10, Broke & Blue California wrote:   
   >> 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.   
   >>   
   >> “We became very interested in how specifically a tax on time translates   
   >> into both dollars and cents,” said Alex Jacquez, Groundwork   
   >> Collaborative’s Chief of Policy and Advocacy. Jacquez said the report   
   >> shows a “vibes-based analysis of the economy” in which “every consumer   
   >> interaction is just harder than it used to be.”   
   >>   
   >> Using existing studies to measure how much time consumers spend on   
   >> frustrating tasks like staying on customer service or trying to cancel a   
   >> subscription, researchers converted those times into dollars and cents.   
   >> Calculating both direct financial losses and the monetary value of   
   >> wasted time, researchers found Americans fork over $165 billion annually   
   >> in the “annoyance economy.”   
   >>   
   >> Wasting your time and money   
   >> Corporations are intentionally turning simple tasks into lengthy   
   >> procedures to extract more profit, most obviously by renting services   
   >> rather than outright ownership.   
   >>   
   >> “One thing we want to talk more about is how the economy is becoming   
   >> increasingly subscriptionalized,” Jacquez told Fortune. Driving a car   
   >> means “you’re paying monthly to be able to unlock the full features of   
   >> your car. It just feels like they’re trying to shift you into models   
   >> that are guaranteed revenue streams, rather than just kind of buying and   
   >> owning things.”   
   >>   
   >> Making these subscriptions difficult to cancel can boost corporate   
   >> revenue by more than 200%, the report found.   
   >>   
   >> https://fortune.com/2026/02/19/americans-paying-over-165-billion-   
   >> annually-vibes-based-taxes-annoyance-economy/   
   >   
   >    Look, "companies" will do whatever Makes Them Money and   
   >    What They Can GET AWAY WITH. That's always been the plan.   
      
   Indeed.   
   It's why the trickle down theory of economics was and is a miserable failure.   
   Not much trickled down to the consumers but up to the shareholders and   
   executives.   
      
      
   >    So - don't like crappy ticket prices/access - DON'T BUY.   
   >    Encourage everyone else to NOT BUY. Use the net to   
   >    organize a big boycott.   
      
   I've been doing this for decades.   
   If people refuse to pay ridiculous prices for items or services then the price   
   will eventually go down.   
      
      
      
   >    THIS is how you leverage a 'company' - not via 'govt   
   >    action/law/regs'. The instant they start losing profits   
   >    they will CHANGE things.   
      
   Gotta keep those shareholders and investors happy.   
      
      
   >    There's a new phone carrier with TV ads ... they   
   >    promise USA HUMAN agents/help, no AI, no rip-off   
   >    complications and such. The bigger carriers have   
   >    PISSED-OFF EVERYONE so expect this new corp to   
   >    do well.   
      
   I think it might be Consumer Cellular?   
      
      
      
   --   
   pothead   
      
   Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views,   
   but then are shocked and offended to discover that there   
    are other views.   
      
   William F. Buckley, Jr.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)