Gouge

Corporate swindle inspired by milk, bananas, bread and eggs. In corporate terms gouging is the practice of predatorily "selling" items to consumers which have intentionally inbuilt, artificial "Due Dates". Known as "planned obsolescence", this can take the form of deliberately shoddy manufacturing, or as in most modern cases, denying consumer access to that items energy source. The intent and result of planned obsolescence is the creation of "limited ownership". If for example cars were sold with gas caps welded shut, the car would be "Junk" long before the engine died. Would a consumer truly "own" that car? Electronics manufacturers currently scam consumers in the same way by preventing access to the battery. When the battery dies, (long before the electronic components have even begun to fail), consumers are expected to: 1. throw the item away 2. purchase wildly inflated "battery servicing"- strategically priced JUST below the cost of an entirely new player. This gouge is coercive encouragement to: 3. purchase the product AGAIN. In this way, gouging's a deliberate attempt to steal far more than fair share through trickery, scheming, coercion and negative option marketing. Think you only paid 400 dollars for your player? Nope - you'll pay 400 dollars TIMES the number of times you re-purchase it. Enjoy your $1200 mp3 player! So sorry you can't give the old one to your kid brother -- stupid battery's completely fucking dead. It's a dishonest and unethical way to to make money and Apple Corporation is at the forefront of this particular swindle, followed by everyone else "on the take".