The quiet way you're losing money (and how to fix it)
Catch sneaky increases and reverse them with one question
Hi there, my friend.
Ever heard the metaphor of the boiling frog?
The idea is this: If you place a frog in boiling water, it will immediately jump out, for obvious reasons. However, if you set the frog in lukewarm water and very slowly raise the temperature to boiling, the frog won’t recognize the danger until it is too late and will end up cooked.
Turns out that it isn’t really true, and that frogs really are smart enough to realize that they need to get the heck out of that water when it gets too hot. Still, it remains a useful metaphor for something that happens all the time in the business world.
And yep, you guessed it. We’re all the frogs.
One of the best examples of this is streaming services. This FoxBusiness.com piece brings up the “boiled frog” metaphor when talking about rising streaming prices, and for good reason.
According to data from CableTV.com, the price of a standard Netflix subscription has gone up from $7.99 per month in 2011 to $19.99 per month in 2026. That means we’re paying $12 a month more than we did 15 years ago, an average increase of less than $1 per month each year.
No biggie, right? We frogs definitely aren’t jumping out of the water for that, are we?
Probably not for just that one subscription. However, when you consider that the average person has 4 to 5 subscription services — and some, like me, have many more than that — the math changes.
You’re not just paying an extra $144 per year for Netflix ($12 increase X 12 months = $144). You’re also dealing with similar increases from other services, and those add up in a hurry. Increases of $144 per year on five subscription services add up to $720 a year in extra costs.
Suddenly, things get a little toasty for us frogs.
(Note: When adjusted for inflation, that $7.99 price from 2011 becomes $11.98, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ inflation calculator. That’s a significant difference, but it still means that Netflix subscription prices have risen far faster than inflation in the last 15 years.)
And of course, we know that we’re not just getting boiled by streaming services.
“I called, and they didn’t have a reason.”
My book, “Ask Questions, Save Money, Make More: How To Take Control Of Your Financial Life,” is filled with success stories from people who paid less, earned more and kept more of their hard-earned money by asking the right questions in various everyday situations.
In this story, author Marcus Garrett talks about price creep with insurance and a perhaps surprising truth behind it:
Just like phone bills, insurance bills tend to creep steadily upward.
Marcus Garrett, author of Debt Free or Die Trying, spotted that his monthly insurance bill had increased by $6. It wasn’t a hardship, but he wanted to know why he had to pay more. After six months, he decided to act. “I called, and they didn’t have a reason” for the increase. “They were like, ‘Oh yeah, you’re right. “ They credited the $36 back to his account and, going forward, reduced the bill by $6.
For many folks, $6 a month might not be worth their time, but there’s always value in asking why a bill increased without an obvious reason. “A lot of times, people assume they raised it for a reason, Garrett says. “I might not understand the reason, but there’s a reason behind it. That’s optimistic because the reason may just be that they can.” Also, remember that small increases add up. That one call saved Garrett $72 that year. For a tight budget, that’s a meaningful chunk of money. You probably have at least five to ten monthly bills:. house, electricity, car or transit, insurance, phone, Internet, gym, and more. Now we’re talking serious money for anyone. If a couple of three-minute phone calls can stop increases on just a couple of those bills, that’s definitely worth your time.
In truth, that business really did have a reason for increasing your bill, but the customer service rep just didn’t want to come out and say it: Sometimes businesses just raise prices because they can.
Sure, when inflation is high, businesses’ costs rise, too, and sometimes price increases are necessary. That’s fine. However, there are also times when a business just decides to reach for a little bit of extra profit, knowing that many of its customers won’t even notice. If they do notice, many won’t care.
It’s just an extra dollar or two. Meh.
You don’t have to take it, though.
What you can do about it
When businesses raise prices, they understand that a certain percentage of their customers will be upset. That’s true even if they only raise the price by a few bucks. It may not be a big portion of their customer base, but some of those upset customers are going to make themselves known, via email, social media, phone or elsewhere.
Here’s something you might not realize, though… At least some of those upset customers will get their old prices restored.
Or, to use another classic metaphor, some of those squeaky wheels will get greased. As Garrett found in the story above, often it doesn’t take much more than a phone call. They’re often happy to waive that extra $6 a month because they’ll ultimately make way more money on you in the long run if you stick around.
And talking to customer service doesn’t have to sound confrontational. If your bill went up recently, consider starting your conversation like this:
“I’ve been a happy customer for a long time, and I’d really like to stay that way. Is there anything you can do on the price?”
That’s it. No threats, no ultimatums, and it works more often than you’d think.
If you’re really nervous about making the call, consider role-playing the conversation with a trusted relative or friend a few times. The first time, have everything go as smoothly as possible. The second time, have your partner push back a little bit. Then, the third time, tell your partner to really let you have it.
It may sound goofy, but it can really help. I’ve heard countless coaches talk about wanting to make practice harder than the game, and the same concept applies here. Chances are very, very low that you’ll end up in some heated confrontation with a customer service rep. Most likely, you’ll end up thinking, Wow, that wasn’t hard at all. What was I so nervous about?