In my twenties I went back to school to get my Masters Degree in Business at York University.  I choose to take the relatively narrow specialty of Industrial marketing.  I was a salesman for GE at the time, selling big electric motors.  Virtually every product I sold was intended to last for decades so the idea with the marketing was to present my product in the best light.

I was naive.  The future of marketing was to sell short life products and build dependency.

If you want to be in the drug business, give away the first few samples and once the customer is addicted, you could charge whatever you wanted.  Get a guy started with Gillette Mach III razors with a cheap handle and then keep raising the price for the only blades that would fit the handle.

The car companies knew this as they would practically sell the car at cost, but then you needed their parts for which you paid a fortune.   OKay you may be wondering where this diatribe is going by now.

We have a Samsung printer attached to our computer.  I just ordered two toner cartridges from an on line site (cannot afford to actually buy them at Staples).  The price of the two cartridges exceed the cost of the original printer… but we are addicted to it.  Just makes me think.

If I had known this concept when I was taking my MBA, I could have made it the center of my thesis.  I could have found employment in a job (maybe at P&G) where I could have been rewarded with riches.

I could have had a big house on an exotic Island with a sports car, lots of friends, a beautiful wife and a life of ease………………….  wait a minute….  I have that.

Never Mind.