[eatsyourtacos]

>why are consumers choosing them

It's interesting that most people who like to defend the free market act as if consumers actually have choices most of the time.

That's just simply not the case nearly all the time.. or it's a complete illusion of choice.

Especially in any rural/smaller suburban area (of which the US predominantly is). It's not as if you have 1000 choices for everything around. That's only in large urban areas. The US is so spread out that it can't cram tons of competition in most of it's areas. And that is probably what is being exploited here.

[bombcar]

Yep, and even the places where you have two vets, you dig in and find they're both owned/employed by the same company.

In really rural areas, you find vets who will "work off the clock" for cash payments if they know you well, to cut out the company.

[whimsicalism]

Most people are faced by more than one choice of vet. Most people do not live in rural areas.

If vets are able to charge high prices and people will still pay them, maybe more vets will enter the market to provide services to the underserved market.

[asdff]

These markets really are tiny and vets have been closing down over the years. Even in suburban areas you might only have a single vet within a reasonable distance of your home. People in this thread are even saying their entire local vet markets have been taken over already by these corporations.

[MrFantastic]

Most people would not know how to identify the most skilled vet clinics.

For consumers to make informed choices, they need to have some understanding of the domain.

If a Vet says Rover needs a XYZ procedure, how would the pet owner understand what a fair price is or what other treatment options are?

[ensignavenger]

If there really is only one vet in an area, then how is it judged they are price gouging and not just charging market rates?

[conductr]

It’s not. That’s a hypothetical that nearly never happens. Or when it does the pet owner just gets to decide if they want to pay, let the pet go without, or travel to nearest competition. If a place is that rural, it’s likely the vet can’t gouge as they need to eat too and nobody would hire them