U.S. Farmers Are Being Bled by the Tractor Monopoly

Re:U.S. Farmers Are Being Bled by the Tractor Monopoly by ddingus on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @11:48AM (#19910624)

:D Deere always takes a beating on this topic.

I am interested in this bit:

The expensive configurations subsidize the base configurations.

This idea is common now. Rigol scopes often perform well above spec. CNC machinery has unlockable features. Other examples are not hard to find.

Does this literally mean companies who do this sort of thing sell at a net loss, or not?

A net loss would warrant the word subsidy. Anything else is not really a subsidy at all.

Which is it?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:U.S. Farmers Are Being Bled by the Tractor Monopoly by bricej13 on Friday May 17, 2019 @11:50AM (#19940721)

Good catch, using the word 'subsidize' was probably a bit sloppy on my part. I don't know whether the base configurations are sold at a loss or not.

In a highly-competitive market I suspect that they would, but maybe not in a less-competitive market.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:U.S. Farmers Are Being Bled by the Tractor Monopoly by ddingus on Tuesday May 21, 2019 @11:41AM (#19971188)

[ Parent | on HN ]