[ergodic]

>And I'm not sure that's a bad thing.

You surely can find other cases in which you end up paying more than the average. In the end, what matters is information asymmetry in any negotiation. In those terms, the consumer seems to be in an increasingly weaker position with the recent technological changes, social media, etc.

As a consumer I don't think that allowing market micro-segmentation is a sensible strategy. It's more something that I don't know very well how to stop, and it worries me.