The slightly limp grilled chicken sandwich you get from the cafe near the office each day might not be the best you’ve ever had, but it’s quick, convenient, and most importantly, easy.
Lunch and a coffee normally sets you back $17, and then one day, you hear the woman in front of you order the same thing and get charged $10.
The person at the counter tells you the deal is for new customers, and while that doesn’t feel fair, it’s only when you threaten to play traitor at a different sandwich shop they offer you the better deal.
Your year-long allegiance to the sandwich shop is not being rewarded, and if you hadn’t overheard the other customer, you would never have known you were paying more.
This is a loyalty tax, and while it may not be playing out at your local cafe, it is almost certainly being applied to your electricity bills, phone plans and insurance policies.
A loyalty tax is the hidden premium that customers pay for staying with a provider or brand, where the extra money they shell out is spent on savings for new customers, and the cycle repeats.
Last year, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) found 79 per cent of households were paying higher power bills than they needed to be, and in September a report from comparison website Canstar found households who fail to shop around for home and contents insurance miss out on an average of $819 a year.
In New South Wales, where the average home and contents insurance premium has ballooned to $2210 (up 14 per cent since 2023), Canstar found families could save an average of $644 on their annual premium by switching.
In Queensland it’s even more, with an average saving of $1072.
“Even five years ago, Australians were an incredibly loyal bunch,” says Sally Tindall, Canstar data insights director, “and that’s probably to our detriment.”
With the financial rattling of the pandemic, and more than a dozen RBA rate rises, previously loyal or perhaps complacent households are looking for new ways to make do.
Ms Tindall said consumers were getting better at haggling, and it’s paying off.
“This is money for jam,” she said.
“[Australians] just aren’t taking things lying down anymore.”
Households who negotiate save more
Savings savant Steph Thompson from Melbourne’s west is a good example of little effort, big reward.
Earlier this year, she dedicated 30 minutes to looking at better deals for car insurance, and by changing providers saved $600.
“And that was even though we upgraded our coverage,” she said. “It’s kind of crazy how much it can fluctuate.”
“$600 is a pretty good hourly rate.”
Set and forget is an expensive luxury, Chris Barnes, from consumer website CHOICE, told the ABC.
“We get a loan, or we get a set up with an energy company, and we just stay with them because we think it’s too much trouble to change,” he said.
“As long as you flick the switch and the light comes on, you don’t tend to think too much about it”.
The onus is not on providers to tell customers that there is a better rate available, despite attempts to regulate some industries.
“It’s pretty rare that they’ll actually get in touch and say, hey, look at your plan. We can do better. We’ll give you a better plan,” Mr Barnes said.
How to switch or haggle
For most people, it is a despairing thought to consider spending hours on the phone to a power company or internet provider.
However, there are a number of free tools online that can do the heavy lifting, including energy comparison website Energy Made Easy, or if you live in Victoria, Victorian Energy Compare.
Consumers can upload a PDF of their current bill and the system will run the comparison.
Next is negotiation. It can be worth calling your provider up to see if they can do a better price, now that you know what the market is offering.
Mr Barnes said it paid to be a tricky customer.
“You may find that if you’re really willing to put in a bit of time on the phone, they might be able to pull out some discounts that are nowhere mentioned on their website,” he said.
Ms Thompson now dedicates an hour or two every few months to make sure she isn’t paying a premium.
Sometimes it is even a little fun.
“Start somewhere, take baby steps, it all adds up in the end,” she said.
“It’s just a little bit of up-front time investment, and it goes a long way.”
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