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> As a farmer why would you want to pay for a machine that is idle most of the year outside of harvest time? Because you want to invest in your business? So th

> As a farmer why would you want to pay for a machine that is idle most of the year outside of harvest time? Because you want to invest in your business? So that, once it's paid off, you can stop giving part of your profits to someone else? You know, the old 7-year-payoff rule of thumb? That old chestnut? This is the problem with most industries in our over-capitalized system now. In every sector, large companies are trying to monopolize at least a horizontal -- if not an entire segment -- so that they can extract rent from the market forever. The very notion that people are allowed to own things, and not pay service fees till the end of their life, is utterly vanishing, from huge farm machinery to freaking light bulbs. Letting companies permanently insert themselves into our daily use of their products is a total change of mindset, and one which people over 40 will probably never be comfortable with. There's something fundamentally opposed to the idea of a free society when you have a dozen companies requiring constant access to your homes and appliances and cars and personal electronics at all times, in order to keep them running in any useful way. Beyond simple monopolization, every company is doing it. This is quickly leading to an almost collusive situation where there are entire product categories are becoming exclusively IoT devices, with soon-to-follow subscription fees, and there will be no other practical alternatives.

bluGill 5y ago
> Because you want to invest in your business? So that, once it's paid off, you can stop giving part of your profits to someone else? That is a factor, but there are counters. You miss out on whatever advances next year's model has. The machine won't last forever, so even after it is paid off you only get a few years before you have to buy a new one (or put major rework into the old one - often this isn't worth the labor costs since you don't get the scale of an assembly line) In the end each farmer has to make their own decision. Some will buy the equipment, some will lease it, and some will hire someone else to do that work. There are trade offs. Many accountants have run numbers and discovered that the obvious choice is the worst possible one, but this is a case by case analysis.
- TheRealDunkirk 5y ago
  > after it is paid off you only get a few years before you have to buy a new one I get that you want to say "it depends," but the original context is a TRACTOR. Something that, historically, can easily last 20 years, if not 50.

bluGill 5y ago

> Because you want to invest in your business? So that, once it's paid off, you can stop giving part of your profits to someone else? That is a factor, but there are counters. You miss out on whatever advances next year's model has. The machine won't last forever, so even after it is paid off you only get a few years before you have to buy a new one (or put major rework into the old one - often this isn't worth the labor costs since you don't get the scale of an assembly line) In the end each farmer has to make their own decision. Some will buy the equipment, some will lease it, and some will hire someone else to do that work. There are trade offs. Many accountants have run numbers and discovered that the obvious choice is the worst possible one, but this is a case by case analysis.

TheRealDunkirk 5y ago
> after it is paid off you only get a few years before you have to buy a new one I get that you want to say "it depends," but the original context is a TRACTOR. Something that, historically, can easily last 20 years, if not 50.