Research reveals how much time people are willing to spend to find a good deal
The average person thinks their time on a task that feels like work is worth $15.63 an hour ‒ that’s more than double the federal minimum wage ($7.25 an hour).
A study of 2,000 Americans over the age of 25 examined how they value their time and four in 10 think “time is money.”
Unfortunately, not all tasks earn respondents money — and even of the 73% of respondents who are employed, two-thirds are living paycheck-to-paycheck.
The survey — conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Compare.com — found that might be one of the reasons two in three (65%) confessed they get the “balance blues” after checking their bank statement.
Seven in 10 wish they could save more for the future, but they don’t have the money to spare. It would take the average respondent eight months to save $1,000 without changing their spending habits.
Still, many want to see big returns if they’re going to take the time to research different prices. Compare.com CEO Allie Feakins said this is largely due to consumers having less time on their hands, even though many of them are working tirelessly to make ends meet.
“More and more Americans are finding themselves falling behind financially,” Feakins said. “This is leading to an increasing number of people looking to work multiple jobs or find secondary income elsewhere, which gives consumers even less time on their hands to research big purchases and find the best deals.”
The average person would have to save more than $100 on a big-ticket item to make it worth spending an hour comparing prices.
One area many respondents believe they’re leaving money on the table is their recurring expenses, and half of those surveyed confessed they haven’t reevaluated their recurring expenses in six months or longer.
Seven in 10 admitted forgetting to check out those frequent expenses for potentially better deals.
The average respondent thinks they could save more than $200 if they got the best deals on all their recurring expenses.
The top expenses respondents suspect they are currently overpaying for include car insurance (38%), cable (36%), streaming services (34%) and cellphone bills (33%).
“Consumers now have more recurring monthly expenses than ever before, but many of them don’t realize how much money they’re leaving on the table” Feakins added.
Of those respondents with car insurance (71%), the average person has had the same insurance for more than five years.
Over a quarter of respondents who currently have insurance confessed they wouldn’t know how much they’re paying without looking it up.
Still, two-thirds want to save more on car insurance but think it’s a lot of work to find a better deal.
The average person thinks they could save more than $175 if they took the time to shop around.
More than 80% would want the shopping process to be quick and said they’d look at insurance options for only 24 hours before purchasing a policy.
These figures echo those found by United Way in its most recent ALICE report (ALICE is an acronym for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed), which focuses on individuals and families who live above the federal poverty line, but still cannot afford all of their basic living and household necessities each month.
According to the report, more than 40% of American households fall beneath United Way’s ALICE threshold. Compare.com — who recently joined United Way’s National ALICE Advisory Committee — has seen the effects of these statistics firsthand, Feakins said.
“For these groups of Americans, every dollar can make a difference,” she said, “but they are either not aware of the money they’re leaving on the table each month or they simply don’t have the time to spend shopping around for the best price.
“That’s why comparison platforms and similar tools are so important — it streamlines the process and allows customers to find the best prices quickly and easily, without forcing them to waste their time or money, or in some cases, both.”
TASKS THAT FEEL LIKE WORK
Cleaning my home 51%
Laundry 42%
Washing the car 39%
Cleaning dishes 38%
Paying the bills 33%
Food shopping 33%
Gardening 32%
Cooking 30%
Researching a big-ticket purchase 28%
Making appointments 23%
RECURRING PAYMENTS RESPONDENTS THINK THEY COULD FIND A BETTER DEAL FOR IF THEY LOOKED
Car insurance 38%
Cable 36%
Streaming services 34%
Cellphone bill 33%
Health insurance 30%
Internet 30%
Home/rental insurance 28%
Subscription services 24%
Gym memberships 21%
Financial system/apps 20%
Utilities 20%
Online subscription to news 18%
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