We’ve lived long enough in the convenience economy for it to become a definitive term. Life today is all about getting things made or done or delivered with the least possible disturbance to our schedule or the minimum possible mental or physical effort. As Box.com CEO Aaron Levie said,

The last 100+ years of economics taught us that price drives demand. Now we’re learning that convenience drives it even more.

The advantages of this approach to life are many. The most touted is, of course, the time saved. Another is the checks and balances brought into product or service quality by organized convenience service providers. For instance, the palak I order online from Bigbasket arrives washed, trimmed, free of discolouration or insect-bites, and ready to use, while what I buy from the local sabziwallah needs to be carefully chosen and thoroughly cleaned before use.

But what is the true price we pay for this convenience?

The Myth Of Time

The most touted benefit of the convenience economy is how it frees up your time otherwise spent in searching, finding, waiting, and followup. But is this really the value addition it is supposed to be?

The time thus saved is valuable only if we make use of it for something meaningful or productive, and unfortunately, this is often not the case. Until last year, we used to do our grocery shopping at the supermarket or the local street market, an activity that would take about 3–4 hours of our Saturday. When we switched to ordering groceries and vegetables online, I thought this would be time that I save. What I ended up doing instead was sleeping an extra hour, being online, or watching TV, none of which brought me any meaningful pleasure.

What I also did not realize that during the process of physical grocery shopping, we were inadvertently getting lots of exercise. Walking up and down the aisles, standing in queues, carrying reasonably loaded shopping bags to the car…all of it added up to a considerable bit of physical activity that we were now completely losing out on. In an age where sitting is hailed as the new smoking, this is not inconsiderable.

The second thing I had not realized was that Saturday shopping had become a ‘thing’ for my husband and me, something more than a chore. It was time that we spent engaging completely with each other without distractions. Deciding the household’s shopping needs, exploring new brands and products, exclaiming over prices, people watching…all of these were aspects that had made the whole process more enjoyable.

But now that we were ‘saving time’, we were either sleeping late or sitting on two ends of the couch thumbing through our phones.

Costs That Creep Up On You

When I started using Bigbasket over a year ago, their delivery charge was only Rs.20 but it has quietly and without hullabaloo, gone up to Rs.30. Online travel booking portals like Makemytrip and even the websites of major airlines charge you a convenience fee of Rs.200–250, something we take for granted. And like Uber, Swiggy too now charges a surge fee of Rs.20–25 on holidays and weekends. At first glance, these numbers seem rather nominal, but when you multiply them by the number of times you use their services, the final sum is certainly not.

Some of these providers waive the convenience charge when the order value is more than a certain amount. Many beginners believe that they would do this each time to beat the system. But it does not work quite that way, as I found out soon enough.

The Pitfalls Of Minimum Order Values

When I used to go my friendly neighbourhood beauty parlour, the lady who ran it used to have me threaded and waxed and out of there in under an hour and Rs.300, and I didn’t even realize I was missing anything. But when a couple of colleagues swore by at-home beauty services you could book online, I decided to give those a shot and downloaded YLG’s On-tap salon services app.

The beautician arrived on time with all the accessories she needed and proceeded to give me a great grooming session. It was only after she left that I had the time to reflect on what had happened.

• At-home services come at a minimum order value of Rs.800. So I let myself be coaxed into a pedicure and a facial, both of which sounded perfectly reasonable and necessary at the time, and which bumped the bill up to Rs.2600.
• The whole session lasted over 3 hours, also because unlike in a salon, the beautician did not have a line of customers waiting and took her own time over things.
• An additional 30 minutes was spent tidying up the house before and after the beautician’s arrival.

The Convenience Habit

Online food delivery startups have changed the way we eat. More and more households that used to previously eat simple, home-cooked meals end up ordering exotic, expensive meals more frequently. It all stands to reason — just the hassle of getting dressed and going out to buy something used to serve as a deterrent and one used to choose to not do it at all. With these hurdles removed, more frequent purchases have become commonplace.

And once you do something the easy way, it is next to impossible to go back and do it the hard way. Like Ubering. Two years ago, I used to walk 1km and take two buses to work every day, a circuit that cost me Rs.40. Once UberPool was launched, I became an early adopter. I was getting to travel in an air conditioned car at only Rs.30 more than the bus and I was saving about 15 minutes in commute time — what was not to like? But as more and more people started pooling, my travel time increased because I had to wait for my fellow riders or go out of my way to pick them up. The day came when I realized that pooling was taking me longer than my bus hopping circuit.

But instead of switching back, I upgraded to UberGo — aided by the timely cashback offer Uber dropped in my wallet. This meant that I was now spending Rs.120–140 (not to mention the surge pricing that applied during peak hours) for every ride — a 3x jump — just because I had gotten used to the ease of traveling by cab.

There were also non-economic consequences. During my bus commute, I used to observe my fellow passengers, talk to street vendors, and generally noticethings, many of which became the subjects of my articles. I knew when mango season was here, where to find the perfect boiled peanuts, and which new eateries had popped up along the road. But traveling in an air conditioned box with windows raised and engrossed in cat videos, I was losing touch with reality.

Doing A Cost-Benefit Analysis

But does it mean that convenience services should be shunned? That would be a lose-lose situation for everyone involved.

To make intelligent use of these services (or in other words, to not be suckered), we must use our discretion in deciding when convenience is really necessary and not merely, convenient. For instance, getting at-home beauty services makes a lot of sense if there’s a wedding happening and a large number of people at home who need a beautician’s services. In this case, the minimum order value would have been easily met getting only essential services and you would still save on transportation costs and waiting time.

Ordering groceries online on a particularly hectic weekend or booking an UberGo on a day you absolutely need to get home early are all perfectly ‘legitimate’ reasons to choose convenience.

But most importantly, make sure that you completely utilize the benefits that such convenience services bring. Like using the time saved standing in grocery lines to do something personally meaningful or value adding, be it hitting the gym, cooking a healthy meal, or playing with your dog. (And if watching reruns of your favourite shows falls in the ‘meaningful’ bucket, then so be it. After all, time you enjoy wasting is not really wasted.) It is only when you reinvest the time so saved that the benefits will truly outweigh the cost and make your choice worthwhile.