Americans Continue Cutting Back to Save Money
Consumer Attitudes
July 21, 2010 -- With the economy not yet turning around, a Harris Poll has found that American consumers continue to cut back on everyday things as a means to save money. For example, almost two-thirds of U.S. (65%) adults say they are purchasing more generic brands to save money, slightly up from February 2010 (63%) and almost half of Americans (48%) say they are brown bagging lunch, also slightly up from 45% six months ago.
Looking at changes to media habits in these economic times:
-
Three in ten U.S. adults (31%) have canceled one or more magazine subscriptions in the past six months
-
Nearly one in five (17%) have canceled a newspaper subscription during this time
-
One in five (22%) have canceled or cut back cable television service.
Phone service has also changed as 15% have canceled their landline service and are only using cell phones. Cell phone usage is also changing as 15% say they have changed or canceled cell service to save money.
"Have you done or considered doing any of the following
over the past six months in order to save money?"
|
Have Done |
Have Considered |
Have not done nor considered |
Not applicable |
||
|
Purchasing more generic brands |
% |
65 |
13 |
15 |
7 |
|
Brown bagging lunch instead of purchasing it |
% |
48 |
7 |
12 |
32 |
|
Switched to refillable water bottle instead of purchasing bottle of water |
% |
39 |
9 |
21 |
30 |
|
Going to the hairdresser/barber/stylist less often |
% |
38 |
7 |
29 |
26 |
|
Canceled one or more magazine subscriptions |
% |
31 |
4 |
24 |
41 |
|
Cut down on dry cleaning |
% |
24 |
3 |
13 |
61 |
|
Canceled or cut back cable television service |
% |
22 |
22 |
40 |
16 |
|
Stopped purchasing coffee in the morning |
% |
22 |
4 |
18 |
56 |
|
Canceled a newspaper subscription |
% |
17 |
10 |
27 |
46 |
|
Changed or canceled cell phone service |
% |
15 |
17 |
51 |
17 |
|
Canceled landline phone service and only using cell phone |
% |
15 |
22 |
42 |
22 |
|
Begun carpooling or using mass transit |
% |
12 |
8 |
32 |
48 |
Base: All U.S. adults
About: This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between June 14 and 21, 2010 among 2,227 adults (ages 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.
Sources: MarketingDaily, Survey Finds Ever More People Cutting Back, July 22, 2010, and Harris Interactive news release, Americans Still Cutting Back on the Little Things to Save Money, July 21, 2010.
