The Annoyance Economy Is Costing Americans $166 Billion a Year

Over the last month or so, I have been flooded with robocalls trying to get me to talk about a loan I supposedly applied for. I block the numbers, and they keep coming. Oh! And spam text messages have started up again.

What Is the Annoyance Economy?

I probably spend a few minutes a day dealing with these calls. Between the disruption, the blocking, and the clearing of the garbage voicemails they leave, I'm burning serious TV-watching time. I'm joking, but those little annoyances add up. And like everything else today, there's a name for it: The Annoyance Economy.

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The Real Cost of Junk Fees

If it's not spam marketing or scam phone calls, it's junk fees. The thing that was only going to cost $50 is suddenly $100 because of convenience fees, and looking at the screen fees, and 'hey, it's Tuesday fees.'

Another part of the Annoyance Economy is all the waiting we still do. In a world where communication across the globe is instantaneous, I still have to wait days for a transaction to show up, or a file to be found, or a question answered. It's like half our days are spent re-entering data that we've already entered.

Why Are We Still Waiting in a Digital World?

And this is coming from someone who loooooooooooooovs dealing with robots and not people. Give me an automated menu and robot voice for most things. But why do I have to wait days for the thing my robot buddy and I did to show up? Did the bill I paid have to go through Bob Cratchit's office for personal approval before it's official?

USA Today reports that the Annoyance Economy costs $166 Billion a year. We lose time and money because many systems are now designed to discourage the consumer from interacting or trying to get money back or end subscriptions.

Breaking Down the $166 Billion Impact

USA Today breaks down the Annoyance Economy's impact like this:

• 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

To me, it's not just the lost money and time that grinds my gears the most. It's that we all know that we have the technology to make all of this easier.