Tactic 36 of 99
The Painless Pay
When paying stops hurting, spending stops stopping.
What it is
Handing over cash hurts a little. Drazen Prelec and George Loewenstein called this the “pain of paying,” and it’s a useful brake. Tap-to-pay, one-click buying, saved cards, buy-now-pay-later and casino chips all remove the pain. Remove the pain and the brake goes with it.
Spot it
Payment so easy you barely notice it. Tokens, credits, points or chips instead of real money. Prices shown “per week” or “per month” instead of in total.
Counter it
Before you tap, say the full price out loud in cash terms. “That’s a $300/€300 jacket.” Check your spending weekly. Delete saved cards from apps you overspend in.