The Annoyance Economy – Those Hidden Taxes Impacting Our Lives
Catalyst Campaigns’ Scott Goodstein recently collaborated with the Groundwork Collaborative in their effort to define what millions of Americans experience every day: the Annoyance Economy — a system of junk fees, endless hold times, spam calls, and bureaucratic friction designed to wear people down.
The report, Taking on the Annoyance Economy by Groundwork Policy Fellow Chad Maisel and Stanford economist Neale Mahoney, quantifies how much time, money, and patience Americans lose just trying to get basic things done — from sitting on hold with customer service, to dealing with insurance paperwork, to dodging spam calls and getting hit with surprise junk fees. Meanwhile, corporations profit from these headaches; as the report notes, making it harder for consumers to cancel a subscription can boost corporate revenues by more than 200%.
According to the study, these frustrations cost Americans $165 billion each year in wasted time and money. That includes wading through more than 130 million scam and illegal marketing calls every day and nearly 20 billion spam texts each month. Americans also waste $21.6 billion worth of time annually dealing with administrative hassles in health care alone — from waiting for doctor appointments to navigating insurance paperwork — with nearly 80% of Americans reporting frustration with burdensome coordination.
Companies profit when cancellation is difficult, refunds are delayed, and customer service becomes a maze. What should be simple — canceling a subscription, disputing a charge, accessing care — becomes a battle of endurance.
This isn’t just bad service. It’s a structural imbalance that shifts power away from people and toward systems designed to extract more time, more data, and more money.
“When systems are designed to wear people down, it’s not just bad service — it’s a power imbalance. Reducing friction isn’t a tech fix; it’s a democracy fix.”
— Catalyst Campaigns’ Scott Goodstein
Fixing everyday frustrations — banning junk fees, requiring click-to-cancel, reducing robocalls, and modernizing services — delivers tangible relief people can feel immediately. In a polarized era, making life simpler may be one of the few reforms that restores trust across the board.
The Annoyance Economy is a hidden tax on modern life. Ending it is a chance to prove that systems can work for people again.
Learn More
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Groundwork Collaborative: Taking on the Annoyance Economy.
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Groundwork Collaborative: Hidden Fees and Wasted Time Report Summary
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Federal Trade Commission: Consumer Protection & Junk Fee Enforcement