Planet Money complains. To learn.
Apr 30, 2025•26 min
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Summary
Annoyed consumers on the Planet Money team complain about petty frustrations, from excessive store emails and lack of free coffee refills to appliances not designed for easy repair. They explore the business reasons behind these issues, diving into the high return on investment of email marketing, the economics of the repair industry versus buying new, and the psychology of customer satisfaction and hedonic adaptation.Episode description
On today's show: we're ... venting.
We at Planet Money are an ensemble show – each with different curiosities and styles. But we recently realized many of us have something in common: We're annoyed consumers.
So we're going to get ranty ... but then try to understand the people annoying us. Like stingy coffee shops, manufacturers that don't design things for repair ... and stores that send way to many emails every day.
Along the way, we learn a very sad thing about satisfaction and the future of skilled labor in the U.S.
(Also, we should all just stop using umbrellas. They have negative consumption externalities. Come on people.)
This episode was produced by James Sneed. It was edited by Marianne McCune, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by James Willetts. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.
Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.
Listen free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.
Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
We at Planet Money are an ensemble show – each with different curiosities and styles. But we recently realized many of us have something in common: We're annoyed consumers.
So we're going to get ranty ... but then try to understand the people annoying us. Like stingy coffee shops, manufacturers that don't design things for repair ... and stores that send way to many emails every day.
Along the way, we learn a very sad thing about satisfaction and the future of skilled labor in the U.S.
(Also, we should all just stop using umbrellas. They have negative consumption externalities. Come on people.)
This episode was produced by James Sneed. It was edited by Marianne McCune, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by James Willetts. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.
Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.
Listen free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.
Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
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