I posted the following to
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/25/dining/ben-and-jerrys-ice-cream-herbicide-glyphosate.html?comments#permid=23415777
"Free marketers" too often ignore two important points of a true free market: buyers have all the information they need and there are no externalities.
If a product has any contamination from peanuts, then any buyer who is allergic to peanuts should have that information.
No externalities means that all costs are paid for in the transaction. If a manufacturer is putting anything in the air or water that could harm someone, that is an externality.
Showing posts with label buyer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label buyer. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Friday, December 23, 2011
Internet service – What free market?
One of the tenets of a free market is all necessary information for buyers. Try getting full information about internet service! The ads in the newspapers show these "fantastic" prices, but the fine print is almost impossible to read without a strong magnifying glass. Even if you manage to wade through it, you probably still have lots of questions.
Once upon a time Qwest's website had the available choices with speeds and prices. Long before they were bought out by Century Tel, now called CenturyLink, they stopped providing such easily accessible information. Even our phone bill didn't give our nominal rate. I thought we had bought 7mbps, but I can't remember a measured speed much over 4mbps, and often less.
CenturyLink just mailed us a flyer "Speeds up to 40 Mbps (where available)". No price list.
I went to http://www.centurylink.com to see what I could see. I had to enter my telephone number to do so. That's OK, but then I get a window from Lisa that I can chat online with her for more details. In other words, CenturyLink, like so many other vendors doesn't want to give you full written information, but wants you to chat by phone or online with someone who will his or her best to sell the companies service.
I also tried signing in with my Qwest ID and password as I remembered it. Instead of accepting or rejecting the signing, CenturyLink's website gave me some gobbledegook - "Infinite recursion detected: [/freeRange/shop/ecbundle!execute, /freeRange/shop/handleGenericException, /freeRange/shop/handleGenericException, /freeRange/shop/handleGenericException, /freeRange/shop/handleGenericException]". I kid you not!
I wrote this message so that I had a link to include in my response to "How are we doing?" I did give a "Highly unlikely" rating of recommending CenturyLink.
Oh, well! I think we're already spending too much on telecommunications with a home phone with DSL, ISP provider, one cell phone, and a cabin phone.
P.S. See also "Internet service but not customer service".
Once upon a time Qwest's website had the available choices with speeds and prices. Long before they were bought out by Century Tel, now called CenturyLink, they stopped providing such easily accessible information. Even our phone bill didn't give our nominal rate. I thought we had bought 7mbps, but I can't remember a measured speed much over 4mbps, and often less.
CenturyLink just mailed us a flyer "Speeds up to 40 Mbps (where available)". No price list.
I went to http://www.centurylink.com to see what I could see. I had to enter my telephone number to do so. That's OK, but then I get a window from Lisa that I can chat online with her for more details. In other words, CenturyLink, like so many other vendors doesn't want to give you full written information, but wants you to chat by phone or online with someone who will his or her best to sell the companies service.
I also tried signing in with my Qwest ID and password as I remembered it. Instead of accepting or rejecting the signing, CenturyLink's website gave me some gobbledegook - "Infinite recursion detected: [/freeRange/shop/ecbundle!execute, /freeRange/shop/handleGenericException, /freeRange/shop/handleGenericException, /freeRange/shop/handleGenericException, /freeRange/shop/handleGenericException]". I kid you not!
I wrote this message so that I had a link to include in my response to "How are we doing?" I did give a "Highly unlikely" rating of recommending CenturyLink.
Oh, well! I think we're already spending too much on telecommunications with a home phone with DSL, ISP provider, one cell phone, and a cabin phone.
P.S. See also "Internet service but not customer service".
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