[rossng]

The reply to that LinkedIn message is exemplary of Eurostar corporate culture. An arrogant company that has a monopoly over many train routes in northwest Europe and believes itself untouchable.

It looks like they might finally get some competition on UK international routes in a few years. Perhaps they will become a bit more customer-focused then.

[potato3732842]

They're so government adjacent that they've forgotten they're not a government.

A whole lot of government agencies and adjacent evil corporations behave exactly like that.

[Retric]

Government adjacent is only indirectly relevant as monopoly power is what matters. Google etc. happily pulls the same kind of crap.

[littlestymaar]

One doesn't even need monopoly either, just a strong enough leverage against your customers. See Oracles.

It doesn't matter if there's competition at the customer acquisition stage, as long as there's some form of customer lock-in the corporation is going to abuse them somehow.

And companies without some kind of lock-in never scale in the first place, and that's why we must face this kind of bullshit pretty much everywhere even from companies operating in competitive markets.

[nothrabannosir]

I found it very apt. There is a certain flavor of arrogance exhibited by European monopolies which are government adjacent that infuriates on a unique wavelength.

Maybe totally imagined but they irk me quite unlike any other.

Just thinking about it now makes me uneasy.

[somenameforme]

It's 100% relevant, because more or less every government in the world sees clamping down on corporate monopoly and economic damage as part of their core responsibilities. But that tends to be forgotten when those corporations are government adjacent.

See: FTC rulings on mergers for this taken to the point of absurdity. Contrary to what one might think, especially if you're in a tech bubble, the FTC regularly cancels mergers and works to void potentially anti-competitive behaviors. But when it comes to big tech, which has become completely intertwined with the government, they are treated in a rather different way.

[potato3732842]

>But that tends to be forgotten when those corporations are government adjacent.

Is it "forgotten" or is it a mutually beneficial relationship?

Eurostar, EZpass, etc, etc. they take the hate for extractive behavior on the government's behalf the way ticketmaster takes the hate for the artists.

[llmslave2]

Government adjacent feels directly relevant considering the government is a de facto monopoly.

[wizzwizz4]

A government is a monopoly which is (in theory, at least) accountable to the people. Companies usually aren't, except as far as the lawmakers (accountable to the people) make laws explicitly restricting their behaviour.

[nephihaha]

In theory, if a company has shareholders then it is accountable to them. But in reality, a small shareholder tends to get about as much say as an individual member of the public does with most government departments.