[TAG] The Public Domain: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

[Jimmy O'Regan]

Mike Orr wrote:
> Jimmy O'Regan wrote:
> 
>>
>> The ESB, Ireland's electricity company (erm... semi-state company) 
>> provides a hire purchase facility for electrical goods, where the 
>> charge is added to your electricity bill (which is pretty convenient).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What kinds of "electrical goods" are available?

Everything from blenders to washing machines, digital cameras to 
computers, TVs, heaters, etc. They don't have a wide range of brands, 
but those they do have are pretty reputable.

> 
> 
>>> Or a printer with a guaranteed upgrade every year?  Then the
>>> manufacturer would have an incentive to make it long-lasting and with
>>> recyclable parts, to cut down their expenses.  If you buy an 
>>> appliance and
>>> it falls apart or was a bad technological choice, it's your problem and
>>> the manufacturer can ignore it (and sell you a new one).  But if you 
>>> lease
>>> an appliance and it falls apart, it's their problem.  I don't quite buy
>>> this leasing argument completely coz I don't see how to prevent price
>>> gouging; i.e., I've seen cars and computers leased for more than they
>>> would cost to buy, but I assume the right company could come up with an
>>> attractive lease.
>>
>>
>>
>> That example is terrible, as it underlines exactly why people seek to 
>> sell things that could be leased, and I fail to see how leasing 
>> something could ever cost *less* than buying it outright.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You have to assume a non-evil company that cares about their customers 
> and the environment.  Say Google or Magnatune decided to build air 
> conditioners.  

Ah.

> A small unit costs $120.  The initial working goal is a 
> rate that equals the purchase price over the lifetime use of the 
> product.  $2/month is likely not profitable, but maybe $5 is.  If the 
> person only needs it for a few months and has a return-anytime lease, 
> they're obviously ahead, and the company can redeploy the unit 
> elsewhere.  The person doesn't have to go to the trouble of selling or
> disposing it.   But say the person keeps it more than two years, they'd 
> lose.  That's what happened in the 60s and 70s in the US with 
> telephones, people leased them for ever and ended up paying several 
> hundred dollars for them.  But they got a new one free if it broke.  

It was the same here, until recently. (After Eircom was privatised, I 
think).

> Say 
> the company not agrees not only to replace a broken air conditioner for 
> free, but to give you an upgrade to the latest model every two years.  
> If you're the type who buys one air conditioner and runs it into the 
> ground over twenty years until even duct tape won't hold it together, 
> you won't be interested.  But say you're the type who replaces stuff 
> every two years anyway like some people do with cars, then you won't 
> have a net loss even the third or fourth year.  And you'll gain a bit by 
> keeping the money you would have spent up front in a savings account.  

Erm... if you're trying to encourage the mass adoption of this kind of 
system, I'd advise you not to use that as a benefit: I can see that 
translating as "you can't afford this anyway".