The staggering costs of waiting for the cable guy
Productivity is a tough thing to measure.
For instance, everyone knows March Madness, with its weekday afternoon games available for sports fans to watch on their computers, is a nightmare for employers, but what effect might it actually have on the economy? By one recent measure, the college basketball tournament could cost as much as $1.7 billion in lost productivity each year.
That sure sounds high, but wherever you stand on estimating such output, one new study has gauged how much money is lost each year by the one deed consumers love to hate:
Waiting for the cable guy, repair guy or delivery guy.
Yes, you’ve done it. You’ve taken off work. You’ve hoped that “between the hours of 12 and four” might be a little more specific than you thought. Which, of course, it is not.
*Bing: Check out Domino’s Pizza’s new GPS-fuelled order tracker
Indeed, it’s universal that waiting for the cable/repair/delivery guy stinks, but one consulting firm has done the math to see what it actually costs the economy.
According to TOA Technologies, Americans waste about the equivalent of two full working days waiting for a variety of in-home services or deliveries.
That works out to about $250 a year per person, which works out to a staggering $37.7 billion per year across the U.S.
This – certainly when compared with the above March Madness figure – seems like it’s much more likely to have some traction. During the NCAA tournament, workers are distracted but at least they’re at their desks.
Waiting at home on work day, though? Tough to find a larger, more complete example of lost productivity than that.
Posted by: dean | Nov 10, 2021 7:40:17 AM
How about the staggering costs of mindless surfing the web reading articles such as this? How about the costs of watching tv on the 1st place? paying too much fore the privilege of watching dumb commercials, an ever growing gut and ass from lack of exercise.