SB> MS>     Many places try hard to push extended warranties on customers 
SB> buying 
SB> MS> electronic goods, because the profit in them is way more than on 
SB> the 
SB> item 
SB> MS> itself.
SB> 
SB>         It's like the state lottery.  You are wagering that 
SB> eventually
SB>         your investment will pay off, and the state is wagering that
SB>         it won't have to pay out.  With the service plan, the plan
SB>         administrator (a separate company) wagers that no matter how
SB>         many thousands or millions of instances the product will be
SB>         used in the course of 3, 4, 5, or 6 years, it will never fail
SB>         to perform exactly as it did on the date of purchase.
    And the fact that extended-warranty firms can make a profit says which 
side is generally correct.
SB>         The customer wagers that, some moment in the next 3, 4, 5, or
SB>         6 years, some part of the item, whether it be a rechargable
SB>         battery pack, a knob, or a PC board assembly, will cease to
SB>         function as well as it did on the date of purchase.  
    How much does a knob sell for?  A rechargable battery pack?
    As for the PC board, most of the time the "electronics" are buggy from 
Day One or not at all.
--- Simplex BBS (v1.07.00Beta [DOS])
---------------