Capitalism Bleargh

This is part of a continuing series wherein I insure that I can never be elected President because I post inflammatory anti-American statements on the Internet.

One of the most annoying business practices that I've ever run across--and something that, I believer, typifies the capitalist idea of profit maximization at all costs--is the policy of automatic denial.

This is used in a number of different ways, the most egregious being when an insurance company decides to immediately deny any/all claims that are made. Of course, in California it's illegal to do that (hooray for our industry-destroying regulatory system!) but when you deal with smaller insurance companies that don't have a need to put everything down in writing, it rears its fugly head.

But this post isn't just about insurance companies, who we can all agree are sort of jerktastic as a rule. This method is also used in business-to-business with depressing frequency. The idea there is that if you question line items in a bill (say, for completely random example that in no way relates to my life, bills to a company for legal services) every time you receive such a bill, at least a handful of service providers will simply accept your nonsensical or baseless reduction.

It's bottom-line effective, I'm sure. If you just "declare" that you're cutting all bills you owe by 15%, some will fight you and others will shrug and figure arguing is not worth their time. Some may not even notice the reduction.

The downside is obvious. Those of us doing legitimate work and having our billing questioned for no reason other than to bully us into taking a reduced amount--again, for no discernible reason--are demoralized. It's professionally insulting, and I'm betting that with less scrupulous service providers, it leads quite quickly to bill inflation.

I understand how services are rendered in business-to-business scenarios. You want the best work for the lowest cost possible. If you can find better service providers for lower, by all means hire them. But this (fairly commonplace) method of cost reduction is just slimy, no two ways about it.

Maybe it's unfair to blame this on capitalism. Perhaps it's just a pendulum, like so many things, and now it's nearing the end of its swing back in favor of the corporate clients. In years past--I've been told--insurance companies were routinely beat up by the law firms they employed, and billing spiraled out of control. The market corrected itself, but like every other time a market corrects a flaw in the system, it's now overcompensating.