Such a scheme would solve the problem of getting unsolicited, unimportant email. But I suspect that these kinds of messages are not the problem. The problem is that busy people are just getting too much good quality email. People are just overloaded: they have too many demands on their time, their energy, and their money. Email overload is part of the larger problem of too little margin.
Attaching prices to emails could help a person that is too busy if the recipient had to pay. A person has a limited amount of time and energy during a day to do email. If prices were attached to emails, it might be easier to recognize the cost of an email. Prices might help the email user to ask questions like:
"If I read and respond to this email, this will consume 10% of email budget for the day. Is it worth it?"
"This daily email that I'm getting from X is consuming 5% of my total email budget for the month. Is this the best use of my resources?"
Comments
Such a scheme would solve the problem of getting unsolicited, unimportant email. But I suspect that these kinds of messages are not the problem. The problem is that busy people are just getting too much good quality email. People are just overloaded: they have too many demands on their time, their energy, and their money. Email overload is part of the larger problem of too little margin.
Attaching prices to emails could help a person that is too busy if the recipient had to pay. A person has a limited amount of time and energy during a day to do email. If prices were attached to emails, it might be easier to recognize the cost of an email. Prices might help the email user to ask questions like:
"If I read and respond to this email, this will consume 10% of email budget for the day. Is it worth it?"
"This daily email that I'm getting from X is consuming 5% of my total email budget for the month. Is this the best use of my resources?"
"Where is my email budget going?"