Our favorite football team is switching to a different conference in 2013. They had just moved to a new one, this year. It was reported that if they made a move after only one year, - there would be a 21 million dollar penalty for not finishing out their 2 year contract.
21 million dollars. Makes the buyout programs that come with our cell phones sound downright, puny. No other place in life other than cell phones and cable, is this early penalty thing done. Costco, you pay an annual fee and you get to shop. Their service and quality stands alone. You want to renew your membership every year. They have quality products and don't need to hold us hostage for 24 months to keep us.
Thinking that the electronics markets need to follow the Costco way. Make a product and conduct yourself in a super manner and people will flock to you...and stay. We humans are a lot of things and given the right circumstances, loyalty is one of them. Would hate to be a part of anything that held people hostage. Whose product/idea was so poorly formed and executed, that they would bring themselves to try and mandate, loyalty. Imagine telling someone you would be their friend for 2 years and if they decided to unfriend you before the end of those 2 years, there would be a prorated penalty. Makes you laugh but the logic is one we live with everyday.
Hoping that Someday, this practice will be obsolete. Not just because it is insane but because, they no longer feel that their product is inferior and that holding people hostage is their only option...
