7. Look before you leap
It is all too common for people to get themselves into situations that are
difficult to get out of. Once you have a job in a particular city, it is expensive
to resettle. Once you buy a computer and learn its operating system, it
becomes costly to learn another one and rewrite all your programs. Travellers
who join the frequent-flyer program of one airline thereby raise their cost of
using another. And, of course, a marriage is expensive to escape.
The problem is that once you make such a commitment, your
bargaining position is weakened. Companies may take advantage of their
workers’ anticipated moving costs and give them fewer or smaller salary
raises. Computer companies can charge higher prices for new, compatible
peripheral equipment knowing that their customers cannot easily switch to a
new, incompatible technology. Airlines, having established a large base of
frequent flyers, will be less inclined to engage in fare wars. A couple’s
agreement that they will split the housework 50:50 may become subject to
renegotiation once a child is born.
Strategists who foresee such consequences will use their bargaining
power while it exists, namely, before they get into the commitment. Typically,
this will take the form of a payment up front. Competition among the wouldbe
exploiters can lead to the same result. Companies will have to offer more
attractive initial salaries, computer manufacturers will have to charge
sufficiently low prices for their central processing units (CPUs), and airline frequent-flyer programs will have to offer larger signing-on mileage bonuses.
As for married couples, exploitation may be a game that two can play.
The same foresight is what prevents many curious but rational people
from trying addictive drugs such as heroin. A Tom Lehrer song describes the
drug dealer’s ploy:
He gives the kids free samples
Because he knows full well
That today’s young innocent faces
Will be tomorrow’s clientele.
Smart kids know it too, and turn down the free samples.