Put your money where your scale is
McALLEN -- A free Web site is helping users lose weight -- but it could cost you after all.
The premise of stickK.com is simple: People hate losing money and will do whatever they can to avoid doing so.
In that vein, stickK users voluntarily provide the company with their financial information and then accept a penalty fee if they fail to meet their weight loss goals.
The company is the brainchild of Yale economics professor Dean Karlan, who says it's based upon two principals of behavioral economics: People don't always do what they claim they want to do, and incentives get people to do things.
The Web site is no gimmick. Its contracts are legally binding, and there is no wiggling out of them.
Users input a "commitment" - quitting smoking, losing weight or some other goal - and say how much they're willing to stake on it. They then provide stickK their bank account information or credit card numbers, granting permission to stickK to start deducting funds if they aren't meeting their commitments.
For those who fail to meet their goals, the deducted money goes to the charity of their choice. As a quirk, stickK allows users to designate "anti-charities" as their recipients.
If the prospect of losing money isn't enough to get people motivated, handing money over to people or causes they despise might be.
For example, if you're trying to lose weight and can't stand President Bush, you can tell stickK to give your money to his library if you aren't making progress.
Since its Web site launched in January, stickK has already received national attention from media outlets including The Economist, The New York Times and Esquire.
Karlan isn't just a founder of the company - he has also seen firsthand the power of "commitment contracts."
While in graduate school in 2001 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Karlan and a friend made a deal with each other. Each had to lose 38 pounds. The one who failed would have to cough up six months' salary.
Both lost the weight.
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Ryan Holeywell covers PSJA, the Mid-Valley and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4446.
