On 16/10/2012 1:14 PM, Russell Coker wrote:
On Tue, 16 Oct 2012, Andrew McGlashan <andrew.mcglashan@affinityvision.com.au> wrote:
Making money doesn't require giving users bad deals. One might argue that the confusing pricing models that they use are required because everyone does it (this is an argument in favor of regulated contracts), but offering so-called "free" phones that cost significantly more than buying them outright is pretty close to fraud.
I agree, but I also don't understand why people pay extortionate prices for junk foods at the supermarket -- it's like "convenience store" pricing these days.
People pay high prices for food that's convenient. They also pay high prices for phones that are convenient. The difference is that supermarkets don't try and claim that expensive food is "free".
People pay high prices for food, because the supermarkets can get away with it and it seems that too many people these days either don't have the knowledge, skills or time to "manage" better and more efficiently, so they far over pay for convenience -- some people don't seem to care what something costs if they want it and it doesn't have to be much of a want for them either. A phone can be as good as free or at least low cost IF the phone plan OTHERWISE suits the requirements at a "fair" price. Just because a "total commitment" may be high, doesn't necessarily follow that the included phone cost is the main factor or even that the inclusion cannot be justified overall as part of the buying choice -- take around $500 off the total commitment and then see if the plan otherwise stacks up well enough or not. Again it depends on the individual case, each end user has their own requirements and those requirements can vary greatly. Those with or without GST considerations may have different choices and options available to them, whether or not GST helps or hinders that decision is another matter. Price is definitely one consideration and it is normally one of my greatest priorities when making a buying decision; price on principle ... however, price is just one buying consideration, other principles also need to be considered. And at times it is better to pay a "higher", perceived or otherwise, price than at other times for all sorts of possible reasons. Cheers A.