Thread

1. lordleft · 1789987740 · focus · HN ↗

   Something I really dislike about modern consumer products is that companies simply don’t care if their decisions leave their customers embittered and feeling negatively about their decisions. It seems like that used to be a salient factor in how firms designed, sold and pitched their wares.

   1. laughing_man · 1789987990 · focus · HN ↗

      They've done the calculation. They'll lose X income because of subscribers who leave, and they'll get Y extra income from the ones who remain. If X < Y then implement policy.

      1. usrbinbash · 1789988117 · focus · HN ↗

         Companies increasingly no longer even care about income.

         They care about what boosts investor confidence.

         So even if implementing a policy lowers operative income, if the growth in stock value offsets this, aka. number-go-up == true, the policy is implemented.

         1. scotty79 · 1789993724 · focus · HN ↗

            It's almost as if making companies responsible for performance of their stock backfired to the tune of "a measure that becomes the goal ceases to be a good measure".

            1. mrguyorama · 1789998801 · focus · HN ↗

               It's simpler than that. To a public company, the product is the stock price, and the customers are investors.

               Consumers exist as a resource to consume. You hold the same mental position in their minds as the cheap plastic packaging they had to purchase.

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