A Telemarketer and My Willingness to Pay

I recently received a call from one of the largest telecommunication companies in the U.S. It went like this.

Telemarketer: Hi, this is. . . calling from. . . How are you today?

Me: Good. Thank you.

Telemarketer: Glad to hear that. I have a few questions about your internet service. I am wondering whether you have a cable internet service at home.

Me: Yes, I do.

Telemarketer: Do you get your service from your cable TV company?

Me: Yes.

Telemarketer: Is it. . . or . . .?

I identified the cable TV company I received the cable internet service from.

Telemarketer: They must charge you a lot for your service. Is it $49.99 a month?

Me: No. Not really.

Telemarketer: Oh.. how much are you paying for it then?

Me: Well.. Instead of me telling you how much I'm paying, why don't you tell me what you would offer? What are you offering then?

[Silence. The line is hung up from the other end.]

I was quite stunned. I didn't expect a telemarketer to so easily budge and so quickly hung up on me. A friend of mine and I suspect that the telemarketer might not be accustomed to people being on the offense or aggressively asking questions. I was just too far off her script.

Why didn't I tell her how much I'm paying then? I view this conversation as one in which the phone company would like to know my willingness to pay monthly for internet service. And, if they know my willingness to pay, then they would charge fully up to my willingness to pay and be unwilling to reduce price. They would be able to extract all my joy of paying less than what I am willing to pay. In economics, we term this joy "consumer surplus". Although you don't know what it's called, I'm sure you have experienced it before.

Every girl must remember how good it feels to pay only $19.99 for a blouse which she is willing to pay $39.99. Or, she might find a pair shoes priced at $59.99 and think that the shoes are attractive enough for her to pay $49.99 but not $59.99. One must remember how great it feels to be able to knock $100 off the flight one would have flown anyway. And, remember how victorious it feels to win something on Ebay below the maximum price you are willing to pay?

By the way, I told another friend about this phone call. Knowing that I am an economist in training, he asked what I would have said to the telemarketer, had she not hung up.

My friend: Were you gonna explain to her that you gain more utility staying with the same company?

Me: No. I was gonna explain to her that.. if I give out my willingness to pay, her company will charge me so much that my consumer surplus will be reduced to zero.

My friend: hahahaha.. good for her that she hangs up.

Well.. thank you for read it this far.