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FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

1 recommendation

FFH5 to MightyPez

Premium Member

to MightyPez

Re: It's the market, unfortunately

It has worth as long as people are willing to pay for it. Don't like paying for it; don't use it.
bogey7806
join:2004-03-19
Here

bogey7806

Member

Soon they'll expose that Caller ID is making criminal profits too.

JasonD
@comcast.net

JasonD to FFH5

Anon

to FFH5
Agreed. And they should keep raising the fee until they reach the profit apex point. They could quickly drop the price if SMS demand warrants it or they become too out of step with the market. They'd just be leaving money on the table if they don't, plus it would be hard to find an easier way to add shareholder value.

jhboricua

join:2000-06-06
Minneapolis, MN

jhboricua to FFH5

to FFH5
But do you consider this a moral thing to do?
nasadude
join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD

nasadude to FFH5

Member

to FFH5
also don't forget, "there's a sucker born every minute".

en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA

en102 to jhboricua

Member

to jhboricua
Business and morality do not go hand in hand.

Businesses are out there to make money/profit.
Morality requires a conscience.
Businesses require keeping an eye on the bottom line - conscience can get in the way.

factchecker
@cox.net

factchecker to bogey7806

Anon

to bogey7806
said by bogey7806:

Soon they'll expose that Caller ID is making criminal profits too.
Actually, that Kushnick (sp?) guy has been doing that for several years now, talking about the true cost of CallerID and how much people are charged.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5 to jhboricua

Premium Member

to jhboricua
said by jhboricua:

But do you consider this a moral thing to do?
The capitalist system, so far, has been the best at optimizing scarce resources. And a system that is efficient returns the most to society. So, yes, I find that moral.
FFH5

1 edit

FFH5 to factchecker

Premium Member

to factchecker
said by factchecker :
said by bogey7806:

Soon they'll expose that Caller ID is making criminal profits too.
Actually, that Kushnick (sp?) guy has been doing that for several years now, talking about the true cost of CallerID and how much people are charged.
But Caller-ID is an OPTION and not required. Do I wish it was cheaper - sure. But even at the price they charge, to me it is worth it to screen callers and give me control over who I talk to and when I talk to them.

P.S. I don't pay extra for CallerID myself - it is included in a land line / mobile pkg.

jhboricua

join:2000-06-06
Minneapolis, MN

jhboricua to en102

to en102
Ah, and yet these same people that believe in profit at any cost, and other that supports their practices are quick to chastice the morality of those who, for example, download copyrighted material by using P2P applications.

If they lack the morality to charge ridiculous fees, how can they question the morality of those who won't play their game?
nasadude
join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD

nasadude to en102

Member

to en102
that's an unfortunate and true fact - and is why it is necessary sometimes for the government to become the conscience.

without either an internal or external conscience we get industries like telecom, where their greed and lack of concern for their country has resulted in a broadband market that is years behind the rest of the developed world, or the content industry, whose lawsuits and bullying have stifled untold creativity and created misery for innocent people.

the free market extremists don't believe in any government regulation or intervention, unless it is of course regulation or intervention that helps industry - does the oil industry really need tax breaks? should congress be passing laws that help the content industry prop up their obsolete business model?

factchecker
@cox.net

factchecker to FFH5

Anon

to FFH5
said by FFH5:

But Caller-ID is an OPTION and not required.
That doesn't mean customers should not be alerted to the true price versus the actual cost of delivering the service.

The reason companies get away with charging as much as they do for services like SMS/TXT and caller ID is because consumers don't know the "real costs" of the product - how much it costs to deliver that service/product.
factchecker

factchecker to FFH5

Anon

to FFH5
said by FFH5:

The capitalist system, so far, has been the best at optimizing scarce resources.
I would be careful when you say that once you realize that capitalist economies also exhibit the greatest amount of waste - wasted food (look in the trash of any restaurant), wasted resources (disposable products), etc.

For example, millions of gallons of oil are wasted each year on bottled water because the bottles are used once and discarded to landfills. Single use products, like water bottles, made from finite resources, like oil, are not an efficient use of resources.
bogey7806
join:2004-03-19
Here

bogey7806 to factchecker

Member

to factchecker
The thing is it's all part of the business model. Costs themselves are nebulous. A businessman just looks at total resources and how much he could make selling them off. If we paid the true cost of Caller ID, dod you think we'd pay the same in other fields?

en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA

en102 to jhboricua

Member

to jhboricua
That's why they have legality through contracts/service agreements bought for by lobbiests and lawyers.

anaonono
@cox.net

anaonono to jhboricua

Anon

to jhboricua
Moral thing to do? Do you think ANYONE standing to gain from any phone company's profits cares at all whether or not it is the moral thing to do?

Business is business, the only goal is to make as much money as possible. Any perception of morality is merely an attempt to make more money by giving some appearance of a company being moral to gain more customers, thus, make more money.

The only motivation behind any action any company does is to make more money. Bottom line. There is no such thing as "moral" in business.

ooglyoggly
@xo.net

ooglyoggly to factchecker

Anon

to factchecker
And we still get a charge for Touch Tone!
Expand your moderator at work