But politicians and economists who want to mark lockdowns as economically successful don’t talk about the downside we’ve experienced in the interim between lockdowns and the imminent recession: how miserable the consumer experience has been. This experience isn’t as acutely painful as the oppressive lockdowns and mandates themselves, but it should nevertheless remind us that the economy can’t be “switched off” without consequences.
The
employment rate may have technically bounced back, but other parts of the economy’s complex machinery, like supply chains rattled by lockdowns in other countries and
trucking shortages, haven’t operated smoothly since before lockdowns. Going by a plethora of anecdotal evidence, quality of service has declined across many sectors, probably in part due to
the Great Resignation that saw millions drop out of the workforce and take their job competence with them. Not only that, but the high number of remote workers feel
disengaged from the mission and purpose of their companies. Apathy adversely affects performance.
Think about the customer experiences you’ve had in the past week, month, year, three years. We are paying much more for most things and buying from organizations that are harder to work with. In many cases, products are of lower quality and smaller than they were before (mentions of
shrinkflation have been steadily rising in Yelp reviews). We wait far longer for all of it — often just to find out our orders or service requests were canceled, were replaced with an inferior product from another brand, or somehow slipped through the cracks.
Inconvenience is nothing new, but it seems to have been a particularly common affliction these last few years. We all have stories: suffering on the phone with the bank for an hour after getting put on hold by a remote worker who couldn’t care less whether your problem gets solved, only to have the call dropped at 4:59 p.m.; Holiday Inns having broken dryers, broken vending machines, broken Wi-Fi, and front desk “help” that is anything but; and automated offers to have you talk to a real person who might be able to help you solve a problem that are never fulfilled. Being a “platinum member” of this or that no longer seems to guarantee you anything in terms of service, much less perks.
Grocery stores still have fewer choices than before the Covid-19 panic. It wasn’t until just this summer I finally saw dark brown sugar at the store again, after not being able to find it for three years. At one point all the eggs were gone from the Walmart. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve gone to the store to get a very normal household item and come back empty-handed. I’ll bet you have, too.
Yesterday, Fox News ran a story headlined, “Biden nixed goal of getting kids back to school post-COVID to avoid conflict with teachers' union boss: book.”
