4 ms·
This all feels very hollow. The entire tone of this op-ed strikes me as either impossibly naive or full of manufactured outrage. How a Forbes contributor is so
by doktrin 14y ago
This all feels very hollow.
The entire tone of this op-ed strikes me as either impossibly naive or full of manufactured outrage. How a Forbes contributor is somehow oblivious to the nature of entrenched (and lucrative) corporate relationships is beyond me.
Not to mention that beneath all the free-market rah-rah chest thumping, he entirely disregards the fact that a private company is quite within their right, laws permitting, to decide with whom they wish to do business.
- bicknergseng 14y agoThe failure to mention SodaStream's higher consumer cost and silly attitude really just made me wonder if the writer had an ulterior motive.
- Osiris 14y agoThere is a break even point after which you do save money, but the up-front costs are fairly steep. This is best for someone that drinks soda on a daily basis. From someone in my family that owns one, some flavors are good while others (fake Dr. Pepper, for example) are horrible.
- lazerwalker 14y agoIt depends on your comparison point. Compared to bottled/canned soda, you're right that there are high up-front costs and an eventual break-even point to using a SodaStream. Compared to the more DIY version of buying a CO2 tank and the proper fittings to carbonate a 1- or 2-liter bottle (all easily found at a homebrewing store), the opposite is true: the initial buy-in of a SodaStream is about half the price of a CO2 tank and dual-gauge regulator, but refill prices for a 5lb tank are pennies on the dollar compared to SodaStream's refill cartridges. SodaStream's ultimately a razor and blades business model.
- SoftwareMaven 14y agoIt is possible to hook the Soda Stream up to a more reasonable CO2 tank. The Amazon reviews[1] are actually quite helpful and interesting, especially the top one-star. 1. http://www.amazon.com/Sodastream-Fountain-Soda-Maker-Starter/product-reviews/B001KYT6CS/ref=sr_1_1_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 http://www.amazon.com/Sodastream-Fountain-Soda-Maker-Starter...
- alexanderh 14y agoWhat this sounds like to me, is SodaStream is likely owned as some tiny subsidary of coke or pepsi already, or is secretly in talks of being absorbed, and this is all a 'manufactured outrage virial marketing campaign'
- nsp 14y agoForbes.com is essentially all crowd sourced 'contributors' at this point, each running their own separate blog. There's very little oversight/screening of contributors. There's been a pretty noticeable drop in quality since they started doing this, I'm curious how long they have before the brand is entirely diluted. Source: http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/top-stories/173743/what-the-forbes-model-of-contributed-content-means-for-journalism/ http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/top-stories/173743/what-t... http://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljacobs/2012/10/06/how-to-submit-a-guest-post/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljacobs/2012/10/06/how-to...
- morganb180 14y agoForbes is nothing more than a content farm these days.
- gamble 14y agoI'm immediately skeptical of anything from Forbes these days. They have about as much publisher credibility as Tumblr.