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Is it in corporations' best interest to have dumb customers?

24

Posts

  • The ScribeThe Scribe Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Perpetual wrote: »
    You know those conspiracy theories that go along the lines of "corporations don't want public education to improve because educated customers are less likely to buy the shit they produce" or whatever.

    Is this really true?

    Do educated customers really lead to less revenue for most corporations out there?

    Or does it lead to customers who are more likely to participate, share, improve, and find creative ways to use your product?

    I don't believe one way or the other - I just want to start an open discussion.

    Ignorant whites are more likely to vote Republican. The Republican Party advances the interests of the corporations.

    The Scribe on
  • NocrenNocren Lt Futz, Back in Action North CarolinaRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    [Tycho?] wrote: »
    Perpetual wrote: »
    Two words: Extended Warranty

    Can you please elaborate?

    They are for dumb people

    Not always. My dad makes a killing off those. The Macs he buys don't seem to last long in his house (he thinks humidity may be an issue) and Apple has lost its shirt repairing and replacing his computers.

    Funnily enough, my iPhone broke a while back because I'm a clumsy idiot and Apple would not replace it because somehow the connection on the bottom was slightly altered (I think I might have accidentally pulled a sync cable without pushing the tabs or something a couple of times).

    Took it to Best Buy (where I had been paying for the insurance/warranty) and after about 3 days, had a new iPhone.

    Nocren on
    newSig.jpg
  • FallingmanFallingman Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I know for a fact that dumb people are easier to sell to and to confound with various sales techniques, and that when selling to emotions, reason jumps out the window.

    I don't buy the idea that corporations actively work to keep the standard of education down, as suggested by the OP. I just think that they make the most of the opportunities as presented. But people have been doing that for ages, albeit on a smaller - less systemised - way.

    Fallingman on
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  • TalleyrandTalleyrand Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    kdrudy wrote: »
    Maybe not necessarily dumb, but uninformed definitely, even intelligent people can be uninformed. They want you to trust their word and not go out and research things on your own.

    That's part of it. Every person starts out with zero information about the world around them. Through most of history people would learn very little, especially considering the times when the majority of the population was illiterate or when modern scientific techniques didn't exist. Now in modern times the average person can learn significantly more about their surroundings, including what goes into the goods and services they purchase. Generally, information they acquire that is relevant to them in some way (all the shit that goes on in the average restaurant's kitchen or how much semen is on the linen in hotels) affects their behavior and motivates a desire to improve products or eliminate all the nasty stuff involved in providing them services (e.g. laws and sausages). There is not, and has never been, a perfect product or service. So the ongoing process continues where we attempt to overcome the flaws existing in our each individual sphere of influence. This does not just apply to business but to governments as well and probably other stuff I just can't imagine right now cause I'm trying to stay some-what on topic. I suppose it's making the world a less shitty place but I generally see things progressing as the ongoing battle to find a middle ground between efficiency and equality on a global scale.

    tl;dr the more you learn about life the more terrible things you come across. On a large enough time scale you can see a trend towards more people becoming educated about their surroundings and so they become more active in trying to making things better. Whether or not they are successful or are making things worse , I'm not really sure.

    Talleyrand on
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  • ronyaronya Arrrrrf. the ivory tower's basementRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Perpetual wrote: »
    You know those conspiracy theories that go along the lines of "corporations don't want public education to improve because educated customers are less likely to buy the shit they produce" or whatever.

    Yeah, this doesn't make much sense.

    This is basically an aggregation fallacy.Think of it this way - yes, individual businesses want people to buy their stuff. But making everyone want to buy stuff - not just one business's stuff, but all stuff - just drives inflation. Costs rise at the same rate as revenue. So even if we take it as true that uneducated customers want to buy more stuff, it doesn't help any given business. This remains true even if said business is a monopoly exercising market power - this is a macroeconomic point.

    (There are complex social theories of demand management and all that but those hinge around businesses managing demand for their own specific products; the people they try to oppress are other businesses. There is only so much customer income to be spent.)

    (e: and also, yes, making everyone want to work and consume more is a theoretical possibility... but this doesn't alter capital's share of income)

    It's really an unnecessary conspiracy theory, especially when there's a much simpler narrative that goes "public education costs tax money. Business owners would prefer to reduce their tax. Therefore they oppose public education". I wager that the individual who cooked up this particular tale wanted some psychological validation of a choice not to buy some stuff and decided that Only Educated People Like Me Realize See Through Their Tricks.

    ronya on
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  • urahonkyurahonky Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Retails stores love to sell you extra warranties even on stuff covered by manufactorer ones. Then they make it so comically annoying to get a replacement half the time it's not worth the effort.

    And the other half of the time it is worth the effort.

    urahonky on
  • TalleyrandTalleyrand Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I haven't been around for very long but I can tell that we seem to be going through a phase of educated consumers. From my own limited experience it seems like awareness about health and environmental issues have gone up. Many business exploit this by either claiming that they're either going along with the trend and improving their product when they haven't or by making up some bullshit issue that isn't relevant. For some examples check out the bottom of the list, http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/play/snake-oil-supplements/

    This may not be standard operating procedure for businesses everywhere but I imagine it depends on how serious the issue is and how difficult it is to fix it.
    ronya wrote: »
    Perpetual wrote: »
    You know those conspiracy theories that go along the lines of "corporations don't want public education to improve because educated customers are less likely to buy the shit they produce" or whatever.

    Yeah, this doesn't make much sense.

    This is basically an aggregation fallacy.Think of it this way - yes, individual businesses want people to buy their stuff. But making everyone want to buy stuff - not just one business's stuff, but all stuff - just drives inflation. Costs rise at the same rate as revenue. So even if we take it as true that uneducated customers want to buy more stuff, it doesn't help any given business. This remains true even if said business is a monopoly exercising market power - this is a macroeconomic point.

    (There are complex social theories of demand management and all that but those hinge around businesses managing demand for their own specific products; the people they try to oppress are other businesses. There is only so much customer income to be spent.)

    (e: and also, yes, making everyone want to work and consume more is a theoretical possibility... but this doesn't alter capital's share of income)

    It's really an unnecessary conspiracy theory, especially when there's a much simpler narrative that goes "public education costs tax money. Business owners would prefer to reduce their tax. Therefore they oppose public education". I wager that the individual who cooked up this particular tale wanted some psychological validation of a choice not to buy some stuff and decided that Only Educated People Like Me Realize See Through Their Tricks.

    So how would business attempt to manage demand? Do they run anti-marketing? "Everyone buy this super sweet ____. Except you. We don't serve your kind here."

    Talleyrand on
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  • juice for jesusjuice for jesus Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Activa yogurt got pinched for false claims recently.

    Sure, you're getting "something" for your money, but in reality you are paying double or more for what amounts to regular old yogurt.

    juice for jesus on
  • emnmnmeemnmnme Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I wonder how long top-quality products last versus store brand. I always figured buying a toaster at the Family Dollar store would cost $10 but it'd break in ten months. I don't know if that's true but, in the back of my mind, if something costs more, it must be more durable. That $50 electric shaver will always outlast the $20 shaver, right?

    emnmnme on
  • emnmnmeemnmnme Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Oh, yeah, and bottled water. If consumers knew it didn't come fresh from a mountain spring, they would sooner buy a water filter and make their own super-clean water. Which isn't to say tap water is dirty.

    emnmnme on
  • japanjapan Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    emnmnme wrote: »
    Oh, yeah, and bottled water. If consumers knew it didn't come fresh from a mountain spring, they would sooner buy a water filter and make their own super-clean water. Which isn't to say tap water is dirty.

    I think filtered bottled water is primarily a US thing. Generally if you buy it in the UK it's spring water.

    Coca-Cola tried to do the filtered water thing with Dasani-branded water, but the tabloids made fun of it for weeks and then they accidentally poisoned a bunch of people, so it didn't take off and they withdrew it from the market.

    japan on
  • PataPata Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I've always seen bottled water as you paying for convenience. You either didn't bother or didn't feel like preparing a bottle in advance, so you can get a bottle for a dollar.

    It's not what I'd call a rip off.

    Pata on
    SRWWSig.pngEpisode 5: Mecha-World, Mecha-nisim, Mecha-beasts
  • ThanatosThanatos Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Pata wrote: »
    I've always seen bottled water as you paying for convenience. You either didn't bother or didn't feel like preparing a bottle in advance, so you can get a bottle for a dollar.

    It's not what I'd call a rip off.
    It's a fucking tiny amount of water that they generally get from a tap for a dollar, then ship across the country using up a huge amount of resources on packaging and shipping.

    It's a huge fucking ripoff. I hope Washington (and other states) starts taxing the shit out of it.

    Thanatos on
  • emnmnmeemnmnme Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I am really impressed how bottled water took off a few years ago. Just by existing, people assumed there must be something wrong with their tap water and the only potable choice comes in bottles. It's like how the Republicans say they're in favor of freedom. By boasting that, they make it appear the Democrats are against freedom.

    emnmnme on
  • TalleyrandTalleyrand Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    emnmnme wrote: »
    I am really impressed how bottled water took off a few years ago. Just by existing, people assumed there must be something wrong with their tap water and the only potable choice comes in bottles. It's like how the Republicans say they're in favor of freedom. By boasting that, they make it appear the Democrats are against freedom.

    There was still some considerable marketing going on. I think Fiji did what diamonds did in the 50's and tried to make sure every celebrity had a Fiji bottle in their hand when they had their picture taken.

    Talleyrand on
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  • FallingmanFallingman Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Anything with "detox" written on it.

    Fallingman on
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  • KetherialKetherial Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Thanatos wrote: »
    Ferrus wrote: »
    Thanatos wrote: »
    Ketherial wrote: »
    i actually find managing expectations to be the best business model.

    uninformed customers make it more difficult to operate and manage a business, not less. i wish all of my customers were perfectly informed.
    There are entire industries that wouldn't exist if it weren't for uninformed customers. Examples: homeopathy, vitamin sales, herbal supplements, the diet industry, self-help books, oxygen bars, bottled water...
    To be honest most of these have more to do with superstition that with being informed. Most homeopaths just don't believe in anything else.
    Oh, I forgot the biggest one: religion.

    although i definitely see where you are coming from, i do think a distinction should be made between ignorance and simply different values (or beliefs).

    i think there is definitely a market for cheaper, lower quality products. not every one requires or can afford premium products. customers dont feel cheated when they know what they are getting. that's all im saying.

    Ketherial on
  • emnmnmeemnmnme Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Fallingman wrote: »
    Anything with "detox" written on it.

    Available at your local Walgreen's.

    emnmnme on
  • GooeyGooey (\/)┌¶─¶┐(\/) pinch pinchRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    It depends on how you define "smart."

    Corporations that sell consumer goods certainly want you to be smart in what they want you to be smart in - i.e. the benefits of their product and the utility that it can bring you above and beyond their competitors. I mean, that's the entire point of advertising. To make you want to buy their widget instead of the other guy's widget.

    Certainly there are corporations/industries that cater to customer segments with different levels of customer intelligence (or rather customer wisdom about the product space in question) but making a blanket statement that corporations want customers to be "dumb" is a pretty dumb statement in itself.

    Gooey on
    919UOwT.png
  • CervetusCervetus Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Archgarth wrote: »
    [Tycho?] wrote: »
    Perpetual wrote: »
    Two words: Extended Warranty

    Can you please elaborate?

    They are for dumb people

    Not always. My dad makes a killing off those. The Macs he buys don't seem to last long in his house (he thinks humidity may be an issue) and Apple has lost its shirt repairing and replacing his computers.

    I've done the same thing for my iPhone. Four iPhones in one year? You bet your silly goose that I'm going to purchase the $60 extended warranty for another year.

    What I'm learning from this thread is that Apple makes extra money by having poor manufacturing.

    Cervetus on
  • GooeyGooey (\/)┌¶─¶┐(\/) pinch pinchRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Cervetus wrote: »
    What I'm learning from this thread is that Apple makes extra money by having poor manufacturing.

    A significant number of Apple products are made right alongside Dell products in China.

    I mean, it is some of the more upper-end Dell stuff, but c'mon. Dell.


    [tiny]as I type on my Dell laptop oh god please dont die again im sorry i didnt mean it oh god[/tiny]

    Gooey on
    919UOwT.png
  • PelPel Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Uninformed consumers don't benefit businesses per se, but they do encourage those businesses to allocate more resources to their [strike]manipulation[/strike] marketing departments.

    Many individual businesses greatly benefit from a more informed customer, IE: those companies that actually offer the best value. Other businesses in the same field benefit from consumer ignorance. It's ridiculous to say that businesses in general benefit from consumer ignorance, because for every business that sells a sucker something unnecessary for too much money, another business sits with a superior, useful, product unsold.

    Unless of course you mean, companies benefit from uninformed consumerism vs savings. This might be true, but only in the short term.

    Pel on
  • DoctorArchDoctorArch Curmudgeon Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Cervetus wrote: »
    Archgarth wrote: »
    [Tycho?] wrote: »
    Perpetual wrote: »
    Two words: Extended Warranty

    Can you please elaborate?

    They are for dumb people

    Not always. My dad makes a killing off those. The Macs he buys don't seem to last long in his house (he thinks humidity may be an issue) and Apple has lost its shirt repairing and replacing his computers.

    I've done the same thing for my iPhone. Four iPhones in one year? You bet your silly goose that I'm going to purchase the $60 extended warranty for another year.

    What I'm learning from this thread is that Apple makes extra money by having poor manufacturing.

    Another way of looking at it is that I have had my $300 dollar iPhone replaced three times without so much as an additional outlay of money or any hassle. (Plus, I have dropped it once or twice, causing the case to split open and they replaced it anyways 8-) )

    DoctorArch on
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  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Extended warranties on MP3 players aren't just a must, they are a plus.

    My sister has had her MP3 player UPGRADED 3 times through the warranty.

    Usually it costs too much to fix them, so they just give you a new one. Except the one she had wasn't being sold anymore. So they gave her a newer one.

    This has happened 3 times.

    She bought a barebones one like 3 years ago and her newest one plays videos because ... well because that's what they gave her.

    shryke on
  • AtomikaAtomika Live fast and get fucked or whatever Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    It's not that retailers want dumb customers, it's that they want lazy customers.

    The biggest hook in consumption of goods and services is A) convenience, and B) assumption of quality. This is why industries spend billions of dollars a year not making their products better or cheaper, but in convincing you that you need them. It's called "branding," and it's where companies attempt to associate visceral reactions to their products, typically vis a vis things like logos and jingles and whatnot.

    What retailers depend on is you, the customer, not knowing the real value and utility of a product, or buying said product for reasons not related to value or utility.

    Case in point: A while back, my aunt needed a heavy skillet for a dish she was preparing for Thanksgiving. We went to Williams-Sonoma, where they had skillets for about $120. I talked her out of that, and took her to Academy Sports & Outdoors where they had similar skillets for about $15. "But Williams-Sonoma gives a five-year warranty with their skillets!" she cried, to which I said, "The Academy skillet is fairly high-grade. And even if it breaks, how many times can you replace it before it makes the W-S skillet a better buy?"

    Companies want you to assume things about their products instead of doing the diligence yourself.

    Atomika on
  • ThanatosThanatos Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Ketherial wrote: »
    Thanatos wrote: »
    Oh, I forgot the biggest one: religion.
    although i definitely see where you are coming from, i do think a distinction should be made between ignorance and simply different values (or beliefs).

    i think there is definitely a market for cheaper, lower quality products. not every one requires or can afford premium products. customers dont feel cheated when they know what they are getting. that's all im saying.
    The Catholic Church has been selling people child molestation for centuries, now. And making a shitload of money off of it.

    Thanatos on
  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Thanatos wrote: »
    Ketherial wrote: »
    Thanatos wrote: »
    Oh, I forgot the biggest one: religion.
    although i definitely see where you are coming from, i do think a distinction should be made between ignorance and simply different values (or beliefs).

    i think there is definitely a market for cheaper, lower quality products. not every one requires or can afford premium products. customers dont feel cheated when they know what they are getting. that's all im saying.
    The Catholic Church has been selling people child molestation for centuries, now. And making a shitload of money off of it.

    Technically they've been selling indulgences. Child Molestation was just something that happened during the sale.

    Sort of like how Walmart sells crap at low prices and worker exploitation just sorta happens while they do it.

    shryke on
  • Pi-r8Pi-r8 Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    The credit card industry seems to be built entirely on taking advantage of their customers mistakes.

    they give you a card for free. They extend you a line of credit for free. As long as you pay it back on time you don't have to pay anything. But if you're a day late, or you borrow more than you're able to pay back immediately, or you just misread some of the fine print (my bank neglected to tell me that they were now charging a fee for paying bills online- thanks assholes), they'll find many ways to sock you with a fee. It's an incredibly adversarial relationship.

    Pi-r8 on
  • ronyaronya Arrrrrf. the ivory tower's basementRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Talleyrand wrote: »
    ronya wrote: »
    Perpetual wrote: »
    You know those conspiracy theories that go along the lines of "corporations don't want public education to improve because educated customers are less likely to buy the shit they produce" or whatever.

    Yeah, this doesn't make much sense.

    This is basically an aggregation fallacy.Think of it this way - yes, individual businesses want people to buy their stuff. But making everyone want to buy stuff - not just one business's stuff, but all stuff - just drives inflation. Costs rise at the same rate as revenue. So even if we take it as true that uneducated customers want to buy more stuff, it doesn't help any given business. This remains true even if said business is a monopoly exercising market power - this is a macroeconomic point.

    (There are complex social theories of demand management and all that but those hinge around businesses managing demand for their own specific products; the people they try to oppress are other businesses. There is only so much customer income to be spent.)

    (e: and also, yes, making everyone want to work and consume more is a theoretical possibility... but this doesn't alter capital's share of income)

    It's really an unnecessary conspiracy theory, especially when there's a much simpler narrative that goes "public education costs tax money. Business owners would prefer to reduce their tax. Therefore they oppose public education". I wager that the individual who cooked up this particular tale wanted some psychological validation of a choice not to buy some stuff and decided that Only Educated People Like Me Realize See Through Their Tricks.

    So how would business attempt to manage demand? Do they run anti-marketing? "Everyone buy this super sweet ____. Except you. We don't serve your kind here."

    No, they just run marketing. That's what demand management is - differentiating your product and thereby earning monopoly profit. And also convincing people that they need your product, not just anything else your customers might spend on.

    ronya on
    aRkpc.gif
  • YarYar Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Doesn't some theory state that in order for capitalism to function perfectly, consumers must have perfect information?

    I think that there are businesses that benefit from a less-than-perfectly-capitalist advantage due to a lack of information, and probably those businesses wouldn't want to lose that advantage.

    But for every one of those, there are likely at least two competitors who are trying their hardest to educate those customers about it.

    The description in the OP seems to suffer from a few misconceptions. Businesses in general do not operate on some necessary level of intellectual dominance and exploitation of their customers. Businesses are not evil. The term "corporation" ought to carry an overall neutral or perhaps slightly positive moral connotation in this regard, not an assumption of wrong-doing, though I'm sure many would disagree with that.

    But I believe most businesses operate in a reactive mode, always trying to figure out what their customers want next, and give it to them as best they can. The customers dominate and exploit the businesses they patronize, not the other way around. If businesses could just tell us what we want, we'd all pay all our money for lumps of infertile dirt. Rather, if customers of business A suddenly became more rational and informed, the business would likely just spend less on marketing and more on feedback and engineering.

    There's also the matter of confusing taste and preference for intelligence or education. My wife and I are very intelligent and graduated from a top university, and we love our snuggie.

    Yar on
  • electricitylikesmeelectricitylikesme Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Snuggie's to me just look like mass-produced cult robes. Or to summarize: please don't wear it outside in the street.

    electricitylikesme on
  • PerpetualPerpetual Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Yar wrote: »
    Doesn't some theory state that in order for capitalism to function perfectly, consumers must have perfect information?

    That's free market, not capitalism.

    Perpetual on
  • General_WinGeneral_Win Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    It's not that retailers want dumb customers, it's that they want lazy customers.

    The biggest hook in consumption of goods and services is A) convenience, and B) assumption of quality. This is why industries spend billions of dollars a year not making their products better or cheaper, but in convincing you that you need them. It's called "branding," and it's where companies attempt to associate visceral reactions to their products, typically vis a vis things like logos and jingles and whatnot.

    What retailers depend on is you, the customer, not knowing the real value and utility of a product, or buying said product for reasons not related to value or utility.

    Case in point: A while back, my aunt needed a heavy skillet for a dish she was preparing for Thanksgiving. We went to Williams-Sonoma, where they had skillets for about $120. I talked her out of that, and took her to Academy Sports & Outdoors where they had similar skillets for about $15. "But Williams-Sonoma gives a five-year warranty with their skillets!" she cried, to which I said, "The Academy skillet is fairly high-grade. And even if it breaks, how many times can you replace it before it makes the W-S skillet a better buy?"

    Companies want you to assume things about their products instead of doing the diligence yourself.

    My question would be: how do you break a solid piece of iron or whatever a skillet is made out of?

    General_Win on
    tf2_sig.png
  • FireflashFireflash Montreal, QCRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Pi-r8 wrote: »
    The credit card industry seems to be built entirely on taking advantage of their customers mistakes.

    they give you a card for free. They extend you a line of credit for free. As long as you pay it back on time you don't have to pay anything. But if you're a day late, or you borrow more than you're able to pay back immediately, or you just misread some of the fine print (my bank neglected to tell me that they were now charging a fee for paying bills online- thanks assholes), they'll find many ways to sock you with a fee. It's an incredibly adversarial relationship.

    WTF? If anything it's much simpler for them if you pay your bills online rather than send snailmail every month.

    Fireflash on
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  • SaammielSaammiel Registered User regular
    edited March 2010

    My question would be: how do you break a solid piece of iron or whatever a skillet is made out of?

    They can crack if you expose them to an overly large temperature gradient IIRC. Like if you poured ice cold water on a burning hot skillet.

    Also, a lack of information can be detrimental to the functioning of a market, and therefore to a company's business prospects. See the lemon problem.

    Saammiel on
  • BeltaineBeltaine BOO BOO DOO DE DOORegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    There's a sucker born every minute?


    You also run into problems with people being "too smart". Joe Stereogeek will only cable his home theater systems with Monster cables because he's smart. He knows that gold is a better conductor than copper and will pay premium prices to make his system look and sound that extra 0.00001% better than with standard copper cabling.

    Beltaine on
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  • Edith_Bagot-DixEdith_Bagot-Dix Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Fireflash wrote: »
    Pi-r8 wrote: »
    The credit card industry seems to be built entirely on taking advantage of their customers mistakes.

    they give you a card for free. They extend you a line of credit for free. As long as you pay it back on time you don't have to pay anything. But if you're a day late, or you borrow more than you're able to pay back immediately, or you just misread some of the fine print (my bank neglected to tell me that they were now charging a fee for paying bills online- thanks assholes), they'll find many ways to sock you with a fee. It's an incredibly adversarial relationship.

    WTF? If anything it's much simpler for them if you pay your bills online rather than send snailmail every month.

    It's also much cheaper for a bank to operate an ATM than a full service, human teller. That doesn't stop them from charging you a fee to use the ATM, while the teller costs you nothing but time.

    Edith_Bagot-Dix on


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  • override367override367 ALL minions Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    The $20 extended warranties were so easy to sell at target for ipods. They were basically crap but easy to sell crap

    override367 on
  • KetherialKetherial Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Pi-r8 wrote: »
    The credit card industry seems to be built entirely on taking advantage of their customers mistakes.

    they give you a card for free. They extend you a line of credit for free. As long as you pay it back on time you don't have to pay anything. But if you're a day late, or you borrow more than you're able to pay back immediately, or you just misread some of the fine print (my bank neglected to tell me that they were now charging a fee for paying bills online- thanks assholes), they'll find many ways to sock you with a fee. It's an incredibly adversarial relationship.

    amex gives you a 15 day grace period. im pretty sure it's 15 days at least.

    i love amex. they are great. if you dont spend more than you can afford, credit cards are the best thing ever invented.

    that being said, if you cant control yourself, then yes, credit cards fuck you right up the ass.

    Ketherial on
  • TalleyrandTalleyrand Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    If we could make a one-to-one comparison were businesses much better off in the days without so much regulation? Would business prefer to not have to meet health and safety standards and would they actually be better off without them?

    Talleyrand on
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