Deleting Spam Costs Businesses Billions

Information Management Journal, May/Jun 2005 by Swartz, Nikki

Nearly 80 percent of e-mails sent worldwide are spam, and research has shown that junk communications can cost billions - and not just because companies have to buy extra computer capacity to cope with the influx of e-mails. The time employees spend deleting junk e-mail costs companies nearly $22 billion a year, according to a recent survey.

A random telephone survey of 1,000 adults by the National Technology Readiness Survey produced by Rockbridge Associates Inc. and the University of Maryland's Center for Excellence in Service revealed that 75 percent of Internet users receive spam daily. The average number of spam messages received per day is 18.5 and the average time spent each day deleting them is 2.8 minutes. The study found that the loss in productivity equals $21.6 billion per year based on average U.S. wages.

According to the study, 14 percent of spam recipients read messages, and 4 percent actually purchased something advertised by junk e-mails in the past year.