Why are US consumers so angry? It's not just high prices [View all]

American consumers are angry. Nearly 80% of Americans had a service or product problem in 2025, and about two-thirds of those felt "rage" about it, according to the "National Consumer Rage" survey.

Many consumers feel they are constantly fighting against an onslaught of overcharges, customer service hassles, shoddy products and billing mistakes that always seem to go in the company's favor. All of this comes against a background of soaring prices and rising inflation.

There's a stew of factors at work behind the rise in consumer rage: company consolidation, regulatory rollbacks, years of court decisions that limit consumer power, tech-enabled cost cuts, private equity takeovers, Covid-era business model changes, a moribund media and the rise of AI customer service, to name a few. But there is hope, too.

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The annoyance economy

Lisa, a 60-year-old marketing executive who lives in Washington DC, recently battled three big corporations over just two days. She didn't want to give her last name for fear of retaliation from the companies involved.

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https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/why-us-consumers-angry-not-110005497.html