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I'm gettin' older, and a few bucks more to keep the stress levels down to me is worth it.
So true. I've gone out of my way, during two trips for other purposes, to find a DTT901 or late-mfr Insignia at "local" (i.e., ~35-40 miles away) BB, RS, WM, etc., with no success. So the slight extra I paid for the CM-7000, if indeed, I did pay more in the end, is worth it to me.
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I mean, you could knock them all you want - but isn't everyone doing it now? With no exceptions? Even if you're completely honest, you can only go so long before you have to do it with this economy. I know this from experience - not mine, but people I've worked for - being too good of a guy in business only puts you in the poor house.
Hey, making a profit is the whole point of being in business; maximizing it when you can is just good business sense. A business that takes a larger profit when market conditions allow, rather than settle for a smaller one, isn't dishonest--just smart. Now, if you're cheating people, misrepresenting your product, or engaging in some other chicanery, that's another matter. But if market conditions are such that you can raise your price without a dropoff in sales volume, who wouldn't do it? Supply and demand. Right now, CECBs are in short supply--at least, they're not like commodities you can pick up on an ordinary grocery run--so, yes, the price is going up. I'd like to get 'em for way cheap, but that's business. As a consumer, I've decided that, while the price is higher, it's still a fair exchange for what I get in return (digital TV thru my old sets).
Dish may have discovered that market demand and the going price for CECBs has allowed them to price the Pal at $59.95 MSRP, rather than the $39.95 they rashly promised back in January (better to have said nothing or promise it would be "competitively priced"). What executive is going to go to the stockholders and say "Well, we coulda made $20 more pure profit per unit, but hey, we decided against it," and still keep his job?
If the DTVPal lives up to its hype (I was impressed by what I saw on the Dave Zatz videos), I may just spend my other coupon on one from Solid Signal, since the DTT901 isn't showing its nondescript faceplate in these parts.