Competition is good

Competition is good. It helps to create a real market. For example, microwave ovens. There is a great deal of competition as the various retail outlets from Sears, to Walmart to Lowe's all sell microwaves. The prices have come down as the features have increased. All as a result of advances in manufacturing and technology driven by competitive pressure of the marketplace.

If only the same effects would occur on the parts or replacement components market!

For example, it was only two years ago that our prior microwave died and we obtained this new one.

After it worked fine on Monday morning, we can home in the evening to find the panel display not showing the normal time but a mysterious "SE" code. It sounded ominous and indeed was. The call for service confirmed that the likely fix for the error would be to replace the keypad assembly at a cost of about $250, installed. Really?

Yes, really. We did indeed buy the unit two years ago for about that same amount and later on Tuesday actually bought one for less than that amount.

The new unit will be installed later this week. Hopefully, it will last longer than the two years that this one did.