While writing the previous post about T-Mobile taxes, fees and surcharges, it began to really sink in how powerless an individual consumer is when it comes to being taken advantage of by the big companies. So how can a consumer become more powerful, where they can force companies to act instantly to consumer issues? Could grouping together in the form of simple consumer unions be the answer?

The concept of consumer unions is nothing new. There are already consumer groups like Consumers Union and Consumer Federation of America which work as a group on behalf of the consumer. But these are larger groups, more into advocacy, research, reporting, and usually very passive in their approach to representing the consumers.

What is needed is something simple, lean, efficient, more targeted, produces quick results, and hits companies in the pocket books if they try to sideline the consumer. So here are some of my thoughts on how a Simple Consumer Union could make a difference:

Let’s take T-Mobile for example. It has approximately 25 million subscribers in the US. Out of those let’s say 10 million subscribers are part of the T-Mobile Consumer Union. For a union to be powerful it not only needs strength in numbers, but it also requires capital. So, to keep things simple, let’s add a membership fee of $1 per year, which gives the union about $10 million per year to work with and flex its muscle on behalf of the consumers it represents.

Now, that we have the union in place, let’s put it to work. What we need now is an issue, so let’s use the taxes, fees and surcharges issue. If I went to T-Mobile as an individual and asked them to address the issue, some customer service rep. at the lower end of the food chain, would simply explain to me the various taxes, and fees, and expect me to just go away, and nothing would get done.

If instead we let the established consumer groups handle the situation, well they have been trying to solve this issue for a while now, and as you all know, we all still pay the lame taxes and fees.

Instead, let’s use our newly formed T-Mobile Consumer union. If a 10 million member strong union went to T-Mobile with the same grievance, I can only imagine how promptly the problem gets taken care of. For kicks, let’s say just like the individual, T-Mobile ignores the union. Unlike a regular generic consumer union, this is a more targeted union of 10 million T-Mobile subscribers, so that in itself should worry T-Mobile, but if that does not then as a next step, the union alerts T-Mobile that if within ten days this issue is not resolved, 5 million T-Mobile customers will be switching over to a different carrier.

An alert like that would make any company take it’s consumers seriously. But for this to work, members of such unions need to be committed to the union. When the union issues an alert like that and when it comes time to act, the members will have to take action, no backing down. There is power in number only if others perceive the group as serious and one that does not back down when it comes time to act.

Well, that’s the basic idea, and all from a couple of hours of thought. How feasible is something like this, and what are the logistics involved in making it work, I don’t know, but more targeted and simple consumer groups can give more power to the individual consumer.