The Real Cost of Unreliable Systems

Every broken system has a hidden tax. It's paid in wasted time, missed opportunities, and the mental energy spent navigating workarounds.

The Workaround Economy

In markets where formal systems don't work well, informal systems emerge. Need to send money quickly? Use an agent network. Need reliable power? Buy a generator. Need to hire someone trustworthy? Ask your network.

These workarounds work—sort of. But they come with costs that compound over time.

Calculating the Hidden Tax

Consider hiring a service professional through informal channels:

• **Search cost**: Hours spent asking friends, checking references
• **Risk premium**: Paying more for "trusted" referrals
• **Opportunity cost**: Projects delayed while searching
• **Quality variance**: No consistent standards or recourse

For a single hire, these costs might seem acceptable. Multiply them across an economy, and you're looking at billions in lost productivity.

When Systems Work

The alternative isn't perfection—it's predictability. When you can trust that a system will work reasonably well most of the time, you can plan around it. You can focus on your actual work instead of managing workarounds.

This is why building reliable systems matters. Not because they're perfect, but because they free up resources for more valuable activities.

FixOrFlex is a solutions and systems company. We build practical products for broken or inefficient systems across industries.