Big Take Podcast

Weary Consumers Pay Extra to Save Time and Companies Are Taking Note

On today’s Big Take podcast: As tired Americans look for ways to offload some of life’s drudgery, new goods and services promise to buy back time.

A customer inspects a washing machine at a John Lewis department store at Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, U. K.

Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

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Tired Americans are increasingly willing to pay a premium for items or services that save time or ease their fatigue: a laundry machine that both washes and dries, a grocery delivery service that puts the groceries away for them, a high-tech closet that steams their clothes.