In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Prisoner at War
yahoo.com> wrote:> On Apr 29, 7:03 pm, Arno Wagner
privacy.net> wrote:>>
>>
>> Any specific reason?
>>
>> Arno
> Ah, just 'cause I have one already and want another external HDD to
> match it!
> But the wider question is, just where do unsold hardware go??
> I mean, it's unlikely that every single piece ever manufactured was
> sold, right?
Depends. Some manufacturers try to slightly undersupply and
units in stock are often low for items that do not sell well.
> If not sold, just what happens to them?
Sold later or eventually thrown out. My local computer parts
supplier has only stock for things that sell well. Things that
not sell too well, they get from one central supplier (may be
different for different products) in Switzerland. But even things
that sell well occasionally show up as "no stock at supplier"
and when asking them they say something like it may take
4-10 weeks to get it or may not be possible at all because
the manufacturer is out of stock. With computer items being
low-margin items, my guess would be there is not a lot of
unsold stock to go around in the rest of the world either.
> Do companies bury them the way Atari buried all those unsold E.T. game
> cartridges? (And what the heck is the sense in spending money to
> destroy product?? Why not give them away, even if only for the free
> publicity???)
Very simple: The typical person wants to buy "a videogame".
If they get one for free, they mught not want to get another one.
So not giving the wirthless ones away but destroying them may
generate a future sale. At least that is the marketing PoV.
If the game is really bad, destroying it may also be the better
option.
> I do know that just warehousing something costs money, though....
Indeed.
Arno
