this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2023
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HA, I read the title and thought "what is going on? I love my seat warmers" - I completely overlooked the word subscription because it is absolutely absurd that there would be an ongoing cost to the consumer for a feature that provides no ongoing cost to the manufacturer.
The cost of things has detached from what it costs to put the thing in the hand of the consumer, to instead a model of "what is this worth to you".
Under capitalism it's always been the case of"what is this worth to you". The difference is in the past if a company overcharges then a competitor could come along and undercut them (so long as the gap was big enough that it made financial sense).
Unfortunately, monopolies, regulatory/government capture, vertical integration, marketing and cartels have gotten so far out of control that consumers are left with little choice but to suck it up. And most governments in the Anglosphere don't really care.
Are you suggesting the automobile market is a monopoly?
No, we are suggesting that the automobile market is one of the few industries that isn't a monopoly yet, which is why BMW couldn't get away with it.
But also, the automobile market is getting more concentrated so it won't be long until the 4 companies left legally collude to force this stuff on us. Just like every other industry.
Gotcha. Misread.
No, not everything in that list applies to every industry. The car market isn't a monopoly, but it definitely has issues with government and regulatory capture (and perhaps others, I'm not expert in auto manufacturing). But even without those issues the nature of car making today gives it a high barrier of entry for new comers.
And as others pointed out, the fact it's not a monopoly leads to more unpopular ideas being scrapped.