Comment Middlemen everywhere (Score 3, Interesting) 309
As a bit of a counterpoint, remember that we use middlemen *everywhere.* Amazon, Walmart, grocery stores, department stores... the list goes on and on. Damn near every single business we buy from is a middleman.
Usually it is in our best interest to go through a middleman as it ends up with savings for everyone. The middleman usually buys in bulk (thousands of items) and then sells to us (1 at a time) at a markup. The manufacturer gets the benefit of a steady, predictable cash flow while we get the convenience of buying one at a time.
Of course, that's how it usually works. Not everyone wants that though. In today's connected world we can pay a premium straight from the manufacturer for items custom created directly for what we need. Cars, as large capital investments for most people, are a perfect example of this - especially as the "premium" is usually the same price that you would be charged from the middleman anyway. For middlemen to survive they need to provide a "value added" effect to the merchandise and I do not see that happening with most car dealerships.
tl;dr version: You use middlemen every day, usually love it, but if they don't provide extra value they shouldn't exist.
Usually it is in our best interest to go through a middleman as it ends up with savings for everyone. The middleman usually buys in bulk (thousands of items) and then sells to us (1 at a time) at a markup. The manufacturer gets the benefit of a steady, predictable cash flow while we get the convenience of buying one at a time.
Of course, that's how it usually works. Not everyone wants that though. In today's connected world we can pay a premium straight from the manufacturer for items custom created directly for what we need. Cars, as large capital investments for most people, are a perfect example of this - especially as the "premium" is usually the same price that you would be charged from the middleman anyway. For middlemen to survive they need to provide a "value added" effect to the merchandise and I do not see that happening with most car dealerships.
tl;dr version: You use middlemen every day, usually love it, but if they don't provide extra value they shouldn't exist.