Bundle Up

With a mom and pop establishment just around the corner from my childhood home, I was often tasked with purchasing a half gallon of milk or a loaf of bread. When I stood at the counter to pay, I handed over $.31 for the bread, a quarter for the milk. If I wanted a treat and had a cent or two to spare, I paid specifically for the strawberry laces, or for the piece of adding machine tape with rows of candy dots or a wax bottle filled with an ounce of flavored water. In those days, I got what I paid for, and I paid for what I got. I grew up thinking that’s how the world worked.

But perhaps not. I recently discovered that if I wanted a junior bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a Coke at a certain fast food establishment, I could pay for them separately, or else order a four for four “deal,” with my three items plus chicken nuggets, available for less money than my three preferred selections. I didn’t want the nuggets, as I don’t eat chicken nuggets, but it cost me less money to get them and throw them away. Go figure.

The practice is a marketing ploy called bundling. Growing up in Buffalo winters, I was used to bundling up, hat, scarf, mittens, and even the Wonder Bread bags in my snow boots. But that’s not what bundling means in marketing. Instead, a product bundling strategy is a marketing approach where multiple products or components are packaged together into one bundled purchase.

I encountered this with a cell phone, as a package deal provided a “free” tablet and some kind of contraption for my car that I had no desire to use. It popped up again with Spectrum, the new name for Time-Warner, the cable provider in Stark County. Larry made the arrangements for our cable and internet service, and when I received our first bill, I was surprised to find we were paying $29.99 (plus taxes and fees) for a home phone line. Now we haven’t had a home phone for years, and have no need of one now. We don’t even have a phone to plug into the service. So why a home phone on our bill? Well, chalk it up to product bundling.

I tried to cancel the service on line, but there was no way to delete service, only to add more channels to our package. When I called, I spent time on hold, and finally the customer service rep explained that the product was bundled, and that we would get the best price if we took all three services. “But I don’t want a home phone!” Yes, but we give you a discount on your other products when you sign up, and when you have our home phone, you can call Puerto Rico for free (that’s what the small print said, so I could check on our friends who’ve been without electricity for months without paying extra on my cable bill – if I bought a phone). In frustration, I finally terminated the call. I’ll try again when I’m at a better place mentally (smiley face).

Bundling is not limited to sales and service. It’s even how our federal government works (or doesn’t, given our history with government shutdowns). Want a spending package? Let’s see if we can convince the American people that bundling in CHIP funding, DACA, and money for “the wall” is the best deal. Why don’t they just pass a separate bill on CHIP funding, a bill on immigration, a bill on border security, and a budget? Why bundle them together? Bargaining power, leverage, manipulation? Whatever happened to congressional hearings, floor debate, and voting on individual issues?

In the 2016 election, the term “draining the swamp” resonated with many people. But like the fast food server or the cable company representative, the problem doesn’t lie as much in the swamp-dwellers (people) as in the swamp itself (process). What if we allowed the governing process to concentrate on what the people of our country need, one issue at a time, instead of loading up the swamp with unwanted chicken nuggets? Seems to me it’s worth a try.