20090921

Pop Goes the String - Again

Like it or not, playing tennis has become more expensive.

This set of racquet string which I swear I have used for less than twenty hours was broken while I played tennis this evening. That is going to set me off HKD170 in about a month’s time. I have to add that I am by no means a big-hitter and the short lifespan of the string has nothing to do with my power.

Then there are the balls. I have long discovered that these days the balls wear very quickly. My estimate is that the balls these days are about 40-50% less durable than those of the old days. “It is try that the balls are less long lasting,” a tennis coach friend said. “But what can you do? You have to buy them if you want to play.”

Two other strategies commonly used by businessmen to boost sales are:

  • releasing models with the latest styles frequently so that after a few generations users will be so fed up with or ashamed of their old products even though they are in perfect conditions
  • releasing upgrades regularly so that after some time the technologies or features of the existing products will become obsolete or even incompatible with the latest products

To maximise profit, businessmen have to create “needs” in all sorts of manners.

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