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I have just spent two days trying to get a new mobile phone working.
In the end I had to order an adapter.

Each time I tried to complete the purchase, a security code was sent.
Often the code arrived after it had expired.
So I requested another.
And waited again.

Nothing was technically “wrong”.
The system was functioning exactly as designed.
Yet the process absorbed hours.

This is not an unusual experience. It is normal life in a large, centralised, digitised economy. But it raises a serious question.

How much productivity is being lost in friction?

Friction in the Formal System

In the formal economy, simple transactions pass through layers:

• Remote suppliers
• Automated call centres
• Security platforms
• Banks
• Delivery chains
• Warehouses
• National distribution systems

Each layer protects itself.
Each layer has procedures.
Each layer introduces delay.

The individual carries the cost in time.

When codes expire, when parcels are delayed, when call centres cannot decide, when websites reject passwords, the clock is running. The economy counts the transaction as efficient. The lived experience is different.

Multiply this by millions of people and millions of transactions.

The hidden loss of productivity is enormous.

How It Would Work Locally

If I lived in a strongly localist locality, none of this would apply.

I would walk to a local electrical shop.
I would take the phone with me.
The shopkeeper would look at it.
He would hand me the correct adapter.
I would pay and leave.

Total time: ten minutes.

No expired codes.
No delivery tracking.
No outsourced helplines.
No national logistics network.

The transaction would be resolved at human scale.

The Cost of Hierarchy

Large systems require hierarchy.

Decisions move upward.
Authorisation moves downward.
Queries are escalated.
Responsibility is divided.

Even when digitised, hierarchy remains embedded in procedure.

In contrast, a localist economy operates with minimal hierarchy.

The person who serves you can decide.
The supplier can adjust.
The builder can agree.
The shopkeeper can solve the problem.

Decision-making is immediate because authority is local.

Speed increases because there is no need to refer upward.

Real Productivity

Productivity is usually measured in output per hour.

But this misses something essential.

What about the hours lost navigating systems?
What about the time spent correcting digital errors?
What about the administrative overhead of compliance, security, and centralised control?

In a localist area:

• Fewer intermediaries exist
• Fewer verification layers are needed
• Trust reduces transaction costs
• Problems are solved face to face

The time saved is real.
The reduction in stress is real.
The efficiency is human, not statistical.

Trust as Infrastructure

Large systems replace trust with procedure.

Local systems rely more heavily on reputation.

In a locality, the electrician knows the builder.
The shopkeeper knows the customer.
The customer knows where to return if something fails.

Trust becomes infrastructure.
And trust reduces friction.

Reduced friction increases productivity.

The Wider Implication

As the UK moves into a period of economic contraction, hidden inefficiencies will become more visible.

We will not be able to afford vast administrative overheads.
We will not be able to tolerate wasted time embedded in digital layers.

Localism is not nostalgic.
It is structurally efficient.

Short supply chains.
Flat decision-making.
Direct accountability.
Immediate resolution.

These characteristics are not sentimental.
They are productive.

The adapter episode may seem trivial.
It is not.

It illustrates how much time modern systems consume.
And it suggests that localist areas, with fewer hierarchies and faster decisions, may in fact be more productive in real terms than the complex structures they replace.