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rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

rradina

Member

Are The Cited Comparisons Logical?

If we forget about the subway (I have no idea why it costs more), is it logical to compare cable rates with pet food, coffee and gas products?

Inflation in these industries is closely tied to raw material costs (meat/grain, coffee beans and crude oil) of which cable has none. Of course there are synergies. Energy inflation is shared by everyone but I'd argue cable is probably far more dependent on electricity prices than the other industries where the consumer can see significant spikes when shipping costs rise. Labor inflation is also shared but aside from an increase in the minimum wage (which might explain some of the cup-o-Joe inflation), it seems reasonable that labor costs have probably been flat or declining given productivity improvements and high unemployment.

Cable's lone and certainly not insignificant variable is content. So is it reasonable to compare content inflation with these other industries? It doesn't seem like there are any logical relationship between what it costs to produce content and what it costs to produce products in these other industries.

Perhaps comparisons like this sound good on the surface but I don't think it's rational to justify cable rate inflation by comparing it to these other industries. It's just spin, nothing more.

What I find far more interesting about cable is it seems few pay full price because there's always a deal where for a given time period if you bundle. It's been my experience that by the time the deal ends, the services have changed and although there's a new deal, it's not black and white to determine just how much prices increased.

Look at the dynamic duo of wireless. They've completely changed how they sell services. Can the typical consumer easily determine whether or not unlimited voice and text and shared data is more or less costly than what they had before? (especially when sales speaks of the former need to buy data for each individual phone and now everyone can share a single pool for one low price -- whatever low means...)
Wilsdom
join:2009-08-06

Wilsdom

Member

Regardless of their costs, you are still paying the bill with Dollars that aren't worth much. Silly you for working the same amount for crappier paper.
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned) to rradina

Member

to rradina
Of course it's not logical. Not only do I have several brands of pet food to choose from I have several places I can get that pet food. Even in my small town. You don't have those option for cable TV.
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

rradina

Member

Well -- yes, there's certainly that point but I was only speaking to the strategy of softening cable's rate inflation by comparing it to other examples with higher inflation.