What is skimpflation? How is it affecting you every day?

Skimpflation is a situation when customers have to pay the same amount for a product or service that has worsened in quality over time. Since this situation arises from a company's need to maintain margins and reduce staff to cut costs, it leads to unsatisfied customers and employees. 

I have been using Airtel's postpaid services all my life. The one thing that I would always appreciate a lot about Airtel was that if I ever called their customer service helpline 121, the maximum time I would have to wait to talk to a customer service executive was 2 minutes. If the wait time was longer than 2 minutes, a recorded voice would tell me the expected time within which I could talk to an executive. 

But of late, Airtel has become way annoying. Annoying to the extent that as a customer, I feel like I am being taken for granted. I feel like a one-sided lover, desperately waiting to be received by the entity that I want to connect with. They never answer my calls unless I have waited for a good 10 minutes. Worse, there is no recorded voice anymore that will tell me how long I am supposed to wait. Though they might have saved money by cutting down on the recorded voice, my bills haven't gone down. In fact, they have increased. 

How did this multi-year loyal relationship turn toxic? 

Say hello to skimpflation

Though skimpflation may seem similar to inflation where you pay more for the same goods and services, skimpflation is a situation when consumers get less for their money. How? Customers pay the same amount for something that has worsened in quality over time. 

Just like Airtel in my case.

Why does this happen? During the pandemic, companies had to lay off employees to cut costs to maintain some margins. This caused companies to work with understaffed, overburdened employees which affected their quality of service. Once companies got through Covid, they had to deal with soaring energy and materials prices and the staff shortage continued. Though companies who value customer loyalty will not opt for skimpflation, firms are making tough choices between:

• Passing on their increased expenses
• Taking a hit to profits (if they are making any)
• Replacing parts or services with something cheaper
• Removing components of services entirely. 

How is it affecting people? As consumers get lesser quality goods and services for their money and work with overburdened staff, this leads to a lose-lose situation for all. Workers have to talk to dissatisfied customers while they themselves are annoyed with their employers.

How is it affecting us every day? 

1. Long waiting time downgrades quality: If you want to complain about poor products or services, or are facing a genuine problem, you might have seen how airline officials and network service providers take a really long time to answer your calls. If you are an Amazon Prime customer, you might have noticed how you waited for a longer time (than the pre-pandemic levels) to receive delivery of your goods, even though you paid more for faster delivery. Amazon changed its delivery policy from ''two-day arrival'' to ''two days from shipping''    

2. Experiencing too much crowd at the grocery store: If you remember, grocery stores would always be well stocked late in the night so that when customers would walk into the store in the morning, they could shop with convenience and with a lesser crowd. But in the last few years, no matter when you shop, you will bump into store workers filling the shelves. This is because companies have cut down the costlier ''night staff'' now and the work is usually distributed among the day workers, leading to a crowded experience for shoppers. 

3. No complementary breakfasts at hotels: In 2021, The Wall Street Journal reported about how hotel guests are missing their promised perks. Elite-level lounges, complimentary breakfasts, happy hour receptions, and even free drinks have disappeared. Worse, hotel chains like Hyatt and Radisson even advertised about it, but when the customers came in, there was a no-show.   

Cautiously celebrating our anniversary in a favorite #Hilton ... restaurant is closed so they gave us a “breakfast bag” in lieu of our complementary breakfast at the restaurant. Guess who will be having an early lunch tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/NTf8eW0B2N

— Jeff Conner (@ae4445t) June 27, 2020

4. Fast food restaurants aren't fast enough and take wrong orders:  In 2021, when a customer in the US drove through fast food restaurants like Mcdonald's, KFC, Burger King, and Taco Bell to order food, he had to wait for an average time of 6 minutes and 22 seconds. The same customer would have waited for 5 minutes and 57 seconds in 2020, thus increasing order time by more than 25 seconds. The survey also noticed an increase in wrong orders, thanks to the overworked staff.

@McDonalds your Jean Crossing franchise is the pits. A drive through with 5 cars takes 30 min to place an order? How! Even when you go inside to buy, you have wait 3 business days for the staff to serve you. No ways! All the damn time!

— Kylie_Hanger (@Kylie_Hanger) November 12, 2021

5. The frequency of housekeeping has been reduced to once every two days:  If you have been to a Club Mahindra property, once this year and once about a year back, you will have noticed two things:

We were delighted to plan a royal and beautiful candle light dinner for our guests at Jeeman restaurant. When are you planning to visit Club Mahindra Kumbhalgarh with your loved one? pic.twitter.com/3G10H10QCU

— Club Mahindra (@clubmahindra) December 3, 2020

• One, the housekeeping staff only comes once every two days. Earlier, they would clean the rooms every day.
• Second, each table in the restaurant would have sets of cutlery that would be presented in paper envelopes. The paper envelopes have now disappeared. Though it is not a matter to complain about and a good way to reduce paper wastage, it's noticeable.