> I don't know if PCLN's model is "revolutionary" or not, >but it seems like a question of semantics to me.
my opinion is that indeed it is revolutionary.
day to day life requires me to pay what the buyer is offering, or just refuse the service.
don't want to pay $1.90 for a gallon of gas? tough!
they just laugh at you. walk! right.
priceline lets me specify what ME wants to spend. not
what SOMEONE ELSE determines.
i read through a lot of posts last night and the general tone on the thread seems to be PCLN being another auction company. i must disagree. in an auction, there are several
other people that decide what you pay. start with one seller. he sets the starting price...one seller of an item. with priceline, there are multiple sellers of the same item...so that one seller loses his strong influence of a starting price. and then of course the people
who bid against you. with auctions i get outbid. with priceline, there's no immediate competition for the same good. i'm not bidding directly against Victor for that ticket. i'm simply saying HERE'S WHAT I'M WILLING TO SPEND. (now indirectly of course i'm competing with everyone else that wants that same good or service, but that is with all markets).
where else can i go and NAME THE PRICE ? not what someone else thinks i should pay, but what i am willing to pay? absolutely revolutionary. thoughout time, you go to the store, the store sets the price. here i set the price.
i'm making a round trip air flight through priceline for
$137 TOTAL. i'm glad they are doing that for me. and would you believe even that it's a direct flight? on american airlines. so they've got me as a repeat customer. this is my 3rd flight using priceline. someday in the future when i have more money and more well off, then i will be glad to
continue to use them and make higher bids. of course i'll expect better service from them, like me being more specific of the travel times, and the total air time. my 2nd priceline flight, i wanted to fly west, and my first flight flew me east for an hour. so my flight time was 2 hours longer than it had to be...nonetheless, they did it
for $200 at a time when the cheapest flight i could get with an airline was $500. no problem, i like to read!
so tell me where else can you call and say "hi, i'd like this from you, and i'll pay you this for it?". garage
sales and flea markets i suppose, but it stops there. when was the last time you walked into circuit city and said i'll give you $300 for that computer? sure, call those airlines and they'll charge you $300 or $500 or $800 or $1000 if they can. my wife gets stuck with $800 plus airline tickets all the time. the airlines try their hardest to screw you the most money that they can...that's
the basic model of capitalism ! it's a really stupid
model. the problem is the way it works, MAXIMIZE PROFITS became equated SCREW YOUR NEIGHBOR. has created all kinds of problems for us. people should be trying to charge the LEAST amount of money for stuff that they can, you wouldn't think that we'd see that model in day to day life in our lifetimes anyway.
and as for the airlines getting together with hotwire.com, isn't that an oligopoly?
so indeed i think priceline will continue to see tremendous growth over the years, although i'd wish they'd state their revenues in terms of the value add instead of total dollars.
someday will mark a trillion dollars of merchandise that priceline has moved through the years, but i really just want to see the commission on that.
just my opinion,
jeffS |
