Corporate greed

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Corporate greed, or simply greed, is a modern phenomenon In which corporations pursue goals for profit and shareholder-value without valuing customer thoughts and consumer rights.

Why it is a problem

When companies increase prices & cut corners with no regards to their customers, they'll be positively impacted short-term, but long term they'll be negatively impacted with decreased trust & sales.

Not just that, but there are people who depend on certain software, which may be too expensive for them to afford, and it may be difficult for them to make a switch, this is only something that harms both sides.

Consumer over-reliance on products and a corporation's domination over other businesses may create what's known as a Monopoly, which is potentially illegal if the company also partakes in anti-competitive practices that harm consumers & restrict competition, as defined by antitrust laws.

Common Tactics Used to Increase Profits:

1. A company simply increasing the prices on products & Subscription service's alike for no apparent reason. (Also known as "Price Gouging")
2. Implementing a Subscription service into a product that has already been bought In order to revoke ownership from It's users.
3. Using targeted/personalized ads in order to gain more data on someone, only to sell that data to more advertisers & third-party websites.
4. Purposefully decreasing the quality of some products (Enshittification) to save money and/or to encourage consumers to buy newer & more powerful items to replace the older ones. (Also known as "Planned obsolescence")
5. Decreasing the average wages of some or all types of employees.
6. Retroactively restricting access to features on items that you've already bought/paid for to push you into giving more money to use previously freely accessible features (more commonly known as a "Paywall" or "Digital lock").
7. Decreasing the sizes of products while keeping the prices the same(Also known as "Shrinkflation", and It's more common in supermarkets & retail stores).
8. Implementation of False advertising or Bait-and-switch tactics in a company's commercials to bring in more customers.

Common Responses & Action Against Unfair/Greedy Corporations:

1. Boycotts & Seeking Alternatives:

As a result of collective disapproval of a companies ethics, people search for alternatives and urge others to do so as well. If done so correctly & on a large scale, this can be one of the easiest ways to push companies back into the right direction, either by making them back off on their decision or forcing them to provide a new service to consumers in order to solve an apparent problem.(Please direct yourself to List of boycotts for further reading & examples)

2. Piracy/Torrenting:

Plenty of people have responded to mistreatment & company backlash by pirating software in order to have a better experience/to save money and avoid giving more to corporations that has wrecked their original sense of trust. As more and more people pirate products, the more convenient It becomes due to seeding(short for allowing others to leach off you) or people providing said software to others themselves via "cracking" & creating their own torrents.

3. Educating Others & Spreading Awareness:

Victims & others that disapprove of excessive levels of greed committed by a certain corporation usually share information to others that are close to them(either by showing proof of it using sources or explaining something that happened to them & others).

By doing this, the news can spread even if it isn't mainstream yet or the information is extremely hard to access intentionally, thus potentially leading to boycotts or Class actions & Lawsuits If there is enough pressure/enough people that have the same thoughts & ideas.

4. Lawsuits & Class actions:

Main article: Class action

Lawsuits, more specifically consumer protection lawsuits directed by a "Class" can allow consumers & others who choose to participate to have a say In an important matter and create a civil case & affect the outcome of case themselves, essentially forcing any organization/company that's targeted by the Lawsuit to either:

1. Defend themselves & win the case
2. Settle for a financial compromise
3. Do what the opposing party requests them to do

While Class Actions & Lawsuits may be an effective way to push back against something, some corporations hide & use Forced arbitration clauses to protect themselves In the event of said Class Actions & Lawsuits. If this were the case, It becomes much more difficult or maybe Impossible to appose them due to the participants allegedly having consented to their Terms of Service In the first place.

See also

• Buy now, pay later
• Financial censorship