Yeah, revised version:

If you’re not paying you’re the product. If you are paying you’re still the product and paying for the privilege*.

• Except for not for profit software / platforms.

Humm, that’s not as pithy.

It could be subsidized. In that case you could easily save money over retail stores.

Note that some grocery items are sold below cost at retail stores as part of a loss leader strategy (milk for example).

The US commissaries are subsidized and provide a mandatory ~23% savings on prices over retail stores.

NYC could totally do the same thing if they wanted.

More Perfect Union has a breakdown on this, it’s pretty good/ informative.

Agree with you on network protocols. Your physical product example is bad.