WESTMINSTER WEST-I recently got a flat tire on my rusty, '06 Subaru, which I needed to get to work.
I called every store in the area - according to my phone - and not one would sell me a single tire. Every one of the "associates" told me they were prevented - by law - from selling me a single tire: I had to come up with $800 for four brand new tires before I could get back on the road.
Then, driving on a donut, wobbling my way to work, I found a locally owned tire store that would do it. They sold me a single tire - "against the manufacturer's suggestion." For $150, I got that tire and drove that beater through the winter before the head gasket blew. I made it to my job long enough to save money to buy another car.
Thank goodness there was still one place not driven by modern corporate marketing policy. The corporate "tire associates" lied: They said it would be against the law for them to sell me a single tire.
But this tire tribulation is just the tip of the iceberg. I go to the dentist, and they want to sell me an insurance plan. I go for an arthritis shot, and they want to schedule "emergency" elective surgery.
Sometimes, doesn't it feel like everyone is lying?
The landscape of American business has changed. We are witnessing a tectonic shift in corporate sales and service, transforming every human need into a predatory trap.
Today, tech, telecom, and software companies are driving a new approach, in which an estimated 60% to 70% of customer service professionals are forced to demand upgrades and upsells just to keep their jobs.
When a customer reaches out for technical support - or with questions of any kind - they are no longer speaking to a human, they are dealing with a stressed-out associate who is struggling to keep a crummy job.
Corporate pay structures pressure workers to manufacture problems, withhold free advice, and aggressively push unnecessary upgrades in order to hit their corporate targets. The human relationships that once formed the bedrock of American business have been entirely commodified. We are no longer customers; we are opportunities for upgrades.
This exploitation is poised to get exponentially worse as companies weaponize artificial intelligence to maximize every single consumer weakness. AI will analyze our speech patterns, our facial expressions, and our past purchase history. If the AI detects a consumer is tired, technically illiterate, or desperate for a quick resolution, it will instantly feed the associate words and phrases to close the deal.
AI will identify exactly when a customer is at their weakest and dictate the precise language and price structure required to extract the maximum profit.
As a card-carrying Democratic Socialist, I say we must draw a hard line against this systematic greed. I strongly recommend that consumers actively boycott any business that enforces an upselling policy. It's ugly, and it's demeaning to the workers trapped in these jobs.
Before you sign a contract, get your teeth cleaned, or even buy tires for your car, ask them directly if their sales or support staff operate on any kind of upsell quota. If they do, walk away.
Ben Mitchell
Westminster West
This letter to the editor was submitted to The Commons.
This piece, published in print in the Voices section or as a column in the news sections, represents the opinion of the writer. In the newspaper and on this website, we strive to ensure that opinions are based on fair expression of established fact. In the spirit of transparency and accountability, The Commons is reviewing and developing more precise policies about editing of opinions and our role and our responsibility and standards in fact-checking our own work and the contributions to the newspaper. In the meantime, we heartily encourage civil and productive responses at voices@commonsnews.org.