OT: auto makers extortion

[J Tiers]

The bottom line is that these corporations are trying hard to find more ways to squeeze as much money out of us as possible and apparently, by some of your reactions here, apathy has taken over many people who will just go with it.
..........................................

The selling point on nearly ALL of these things is "convenience".

Warm up your car without going outside in the cold....... Open the door without needing those "clumsy keys"................ why pay for expensive repairs? Just rent our car/washer/furnace/computer/etc and your troubles are over.

Convenience has been selling things for 120 years or more. And it works.

We have a "social media" thing called "nextdoor", it's for geographical groupings, your immediate area. Information, recommendations, a "marketplace" to sell stuff, etc.

It's funny to find people posting there and looking for someone who can hang a picture, or paint a door, etc. Stuff folks my age would just DO. Yet these people need to pay someone to do the work.

Apparently a lot of folks will pay for convenience. I know a lot of people who cannot, or prefer not, to do that for a lot of stuff.

Shades of the "telephone sanitizer, first class".

[Doozer]

The bottom line is that these corporations are trying hard to find more ways to squeeze as much money out of us as possible and apparently, by some of your reactions here, apathy has taken over many people who will just go with it.

"you don't have to buy a car with that" until they all do and your walking all the time. Don't want a furnace that has a subscription fee then freeze and some will say burn wood but most can't.

ETC, ETC, ETC..

You are saying people have a choice of buying a smart furnace connected to the internet or burn wood.
THIS IS NOT TRUE.
There will always be available furnaces (and everything else) that are not connected to the internet.
They might not be brand new, but so what. People do own old things and fix them you know.
I am not apathetic, I am a realist. I don't see problems that aren't there. No one has to buy a smart furnace.
You are making up a scenario that is not true and then applying it to everybody.
You are using hyperbolae to create hysteria. Do you work for the news media ? Is that where you learned
this behavior ? Not going to work.

-D

[J Tiers]

You are saying people have a choice of buying a smart furnace connected to the internet or burn wood.
THIS IS NOT TRUE.
There will always be available furnaces (and everything else) that are not connected to the internet.
They might not be brand new, but so what. People do own old things and fix them you know.
I am not apathetic, I am a realist. I don't see problems that aren't there. No one has to buy a smart furnace.
You are making up a scenario that is not true and then applying it to everybody.
You are using hyperbolae to create hysteria. Do you work for the news media ? Is that where you learned
this behavior ? Not going to work.

-D

Example: Got a new credit card when the old one expired (used ones are not much use).

This one has "contactless" payment (it seems that is supposed to be good), so all I have to be is reasonably close and it can do the transaction. Did I have a choice? Nope.

Discarded furnaces are not commonly without problems, often major. Stuff wears out and is not fixable, that's just reality.

And so it goes.

[elf]

What a bunch of nonsense. When I bought my Tacoma last year, it was very clear the remote access was by subscription. There was no extortion. It was not hidden. It doesn't block the use of my vehicle in any way. I can get in it and drive anywhere I wish to drive. If Toyota decides in the future to add other things to the subscription model, it's not going to affect my vehicle.

[Doozer]

We are talking about a furnace here.
Not a porcelain statue of the blessed virgin
that got dropped on the floor and is now in
a million little pieces.

-D