Sunk Cost: Meeting Meter

Add the people in the room by title, start the meter and watch the bill climb to the cent. It ends with a receipt you can share. No account, no ads, nothing uploaded.

Every meeting has a price. Sunk Cost shows it to you, to the cent, while it happens.

Say who is in the room: two Directors, three Managers, an Intern who was told it would be good exposure. Each title carries a yearly salary. Tap Start and the meter runs. The total climbs with the clock, and the app comments on what the money could have bought.

THE ROOM Thirteen corporate titles from Intern to CEO, plus the Outside Consultant at $250 an hour. Tap any title to rename it or set the real pay at your company, or add your own titles. The burn rate updates as you add people: dollars an hour, dollars a minute, the average salary in the room.

THE METER Big gold digits on green, like a taxi meter for payroll. Pause for the coffee break. The remarks change as the bill grows ("Five hundred dollars. Still on slide two.") and as the clock runs ("Half an hour. This was booked as a quick sync."). The bill is also shown in things you can picture, from lattes up to a used hatchback.

THE RECEIPT End the meeting and get a till receipt: a line per title, the total, the cost per attendee and per minute, and a verdict. Share it as a picture with the people who were there, or with the person who called the meeting.

THE RECEIPTS Every meeting is filed under a lifetime total of what they cost and the hours you will not get back.

THE MATH A yearly salary is spread over 2,080 working hours (40 hours a week, 52 weeks) to get a cost per second for each person. Change the hours in Settings, or switch on the full cost of a person (salary times 1.4, for benefits and overhead). The salaries that come with the app are rough US averages, not anyone's actual pay; set your own.

NOTHING LEAVES YOUR PHONE There is no account to make, no ads, no analytics and no network connection. Your titles, salaries and receipts stay on the phone.

Sunk Cost is for entertainment. The totals are estimates, and the only meeting it can save you from is the next one.