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Re:Farewell, Google Maps by reaperducer on Thursday July 19, 2018 @06:18PM (#17570834)
I know if walmart moved into a new city and started giving away hardware for free, then waited until all the local hardware stores had been shut down for 10 months, and then jacked up their prices to 100 times what they used to be before going free, that'd be pretty illegal.

This is what drug dealers do.

It was also the plot of the James Bond film Live and Let Die.

Re:Farewell, Google Maps by dalore on Thursday July 19, 2018 @07:56PM (#17571400)
Are you saying drug dealers go around giving their product for free until no competition or we are hooked?

I don't really think that happens at all. If so where are they?

Re:Farewell, Google Maps by bryondowd on Friday July 20, 2018 @02:17PM (#17577445)
I doubt anyone is driving out competition with free product, but using free product to hook a new client is definitely a thing that happens.

That's not too say that there's guys on street corners offering free drugs to random passersby. Rather there's lots of dealers who just deal to aquaintances, friends, friends of friends, neighbors, etc. In that case they can spread a few hundred dollars worth of product around to non-users within their social network in hopes of picking up another client or two, who will end up generating reliable profit for a long time.