Tilted
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Green Mountain (i.e. Kuerig) is not in the coffee maker business. It's in the coffee business. It breaks even or loses money selling those home brewers (especially if we're considering costs associated with selling them, e.g. warranty coverage). It sells them to you so that it can sell you K-Cups - the brewers just facilitate what it does to make profits. That being the case, it doesn't want you having to wait to get one repaired - or worse still, having to decide whether you're willing to spend more money to buy another one - when the one you have stops working properly. It wants as many people as reasonably possible to have working brewers so it can sell lots of K-Cups. That's why it allows, e.g., Mr. Coffee to make and sell compatible brewers.
If its primary business was selling coffee makers, it might have different warranty policies, different quality assurance standards / policies, and offer the machines at different price points. Likewise, if McDonalds' primary business was selling eating utensils it might have different policies regarding how freely it allows its stores to hand them out (and, perhaps, more focus on their quality). As it is however, McDonalds wants to sell you food and it seems to think that allowing you easy (and cheap) access to the utensils you need to eat that food is good policy. It's probably right about that.
If a car manufacturer could sell cars such that it retained some amount of control over the fuel that was needed to make those cars go, and it made considerable profit whenever you bought that fuel, we might well see a situation where you could drive your malfunctioning car into some sort of dealership (or, if need be, leave it where it is) and drive right back out with a properly functioning car. They'd fix up your old ride and have it ready for the next person in need of a quick replacement. We might also see cheaper cars (both in terms of cost to produce and cost to consumer), especially those big gas-guzzling ones. Get your brand new Hummer H1 here, just $9,999.
