Exit costs of lock-in: Anticipate or it’s too late!

“Once I needed to go to the region of Zeeuws Vlaanderen, through
Antwerpen. There are two ways to do this, and one involves a
toll-tunnel. Not wanting to be accused of Dutch thrift, I decided
to take the toll-tunnel. The tollhouse was at the other side of the
tunnel, which meant, only after I passed the tunnel and had to pay,
I found out I didn’t carry any cash.

“So I had to pay €5 to leave the tunnel, which I didn’t
have. I couldn’t turn around at the freeway, so the only way to
‘exit my current situation’ was paying. Apart from the money, it
involved more efforts: handing over my driver license and ID card,
driving to the ATM, retrieving cash using my ATM-card, reclaim my
ID card and driver license after paying, and continue my route.

“After the tunnel, it was only 40 km to my destination. Now
here’s the question: The €5 spent and the efforts included,
were those related to arriving at my destination, or were those
costs related to my choice of taking the toll tunnel?”

Complete
Story