Experts argue that market consolidation and corporate power have resulted in consumers paying higher prices for inferior service.
How do people in the US describe customer service in 2026?
When Delta Airlines charged Marie Duggan, an economic historian visiting Oaxaca, Mexico, $1,200 to change a scheduled flight to the United States, she was so angry she cancelled and booked a cross-border night-time bus ride instead.
Duggan thought Delta’s price increase to fly to Phoenix instead of San Francisco, at twice the price of a one-way flight to Phoenix, was an insult and a rip-off. So she took a $250 flight on Aeromexico to Hermosillo, in the north-western state of Sonora, and then a $59 bus across the Mexico border.
Sonora is on the US state department’s ‘reconsider travel’ list because of terrorism and crime, Duggan acknowledged, and she was “exhausted” after the trip. But she was also pleased not to have to pay Delta the money. “I thought, ‘Ha! You think I have no choice, but I know that there is a bus,” she said in an interview. “So I will slip out of your grasp.”
A Delta spokesman said that, like the rest of the industry, it relies on “dynamic ticket prices” with “clear rules that determine pricing based on objective details”.
For the past century, the US economy has been driven by consumers and their $21tn in annual spending, historically underpinned by the business environment. Decades of mergers have restricted the number of choices available to buyers. Corporations have grown so large that they can influence industry-friendly regulations and set prices as they please, confident that frustrated customers have no
It is no surprise that consumers feel exploited, disrespected, and squeezed. Consequently, they are becoming “reactive,” a marketing professor at Northeastern University who researches consumer anger. People are beginning to view brands as “a rival or an adversary” and are attempting to outmaneuver them
However, the power imbalance is so extreme that boycotts and risky bus travel are not sustainable solutions. A more comprehensive remedy may be required if the United States hopes to restore its reputation for quality customer service.
“Asking why [companies] went ‘bad’ is like asking why a company that sells reasonably priced goods on the near side of the TSA checkpoint is charging $15 for water on the far side of the TSA checkpoint,” at an airport, said Cory Doctorow, author of Enshitification:Why everything suddenly got worse and what to do about it. “It’s not because they’re evil, it’s because you can’t go anywhere else to buy your water.”
Trapped consumers, soaring profits
The persistent feeling of being cheated helps explain why consumer pessimism is at an all-time high, even as the US economy continues to show strong performance metrics.
Consumer sentiment in the US, which has been monitored for over 60 years by the University of Michigan, has reached a record low, driven by rising living costs that many claim are damaging their personal finances.
Simultaneously, complaints regarding goods and services have reached unprecedented levels, climbing 16% during the first quarter, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, which has tracked this data since 1994.
Yet, dissatisfied customers often remain with their current providers, either because they assume other companies will offer similarly poor service or because they lack other options. “Paradoxically, and contrary to what occurs in efficient markets, customer retention has increased,” noted the index’s founder, Claes Fornell.
With customers trapped and competition diminished, companies are able to hike prices without the need to improve customer satisfaction, Fornell added.
