[crazygringo]

I'm not defending it. I literally prefaced my comment with saying I don't like it.

But it is reality. It's not some story being told to excuse or distract. It's just how certain business models work.

And yes, companies have waste and stupidity because human beings aren't perfect and managing companies is actually really hard. That doesn't change anything about which business models are viable and which ones are not. At the end of the day, your profit has to come from somewhere.

[erikerikson]

It seems to be that your top comment implicitly asserts that model is the one in play with Deere and the like (that they are loss leadering) and that it is necessary. Although I recognize you stated a dislike, that is what I was responding to. I suspect (but don't know not working for them or their CPA firm) that isn't the model in play but that they are implementing these policies strictly to increase profits. There's been a lot of duopoly and duopsony in the economic environment of farmers and I believe Deere had been flirting with/skirting abusive business behaviors for awhile now.

As is shown by the popularity of these alternatives, they are making a worse product at a higher price and augmenting it with abusive business policies to extract even more from farmers while many farms and farmers are failing and dropping like flies.

I suspect an adjacent part of it is anger by the population of farmers that used to actually be Deere's core market that have been fired as customers (without being told) as Deere chases the bigger customers and the economic wisdom of being a customer has disintegrated.