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As private equity dominates wheelchair market, users wait months for repairs

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Re: As private equity dominates wheelchair market, users wait months for repairs

#61
Vulture capitalism - def. (noun): A strategy applied to a company or multiple companies in a market category whereby profits are maximally extracted without regard to long-term sustainability of customer relationships, brand reputation, or company viability.

Not saying it's not a viable possible strategy for the investor, but that it's perhaps a suboptimal strategy if greater net profits were desired long-term.

Re: As private equity dominates wheelchair market, users wait months for repairs

#62
post #12
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Capitalism works perfectly if you just ignore all the inevitable disasterous consequences and outright failures.

And your better alternative is........... ?

Social democracy

Re: As private equity dominates wheelchair market, users wait months for repairs

#64
We frequently hear about "private equity" doing something sociopathic.

We sometimes don't even hear the names of the companies, just "private equity".

Do we need to systematically trace and publish which individuals and institutions benefit from the nasty companies?

Re: As private equity dominates wheelchair market, users wait months for repairs

#65
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Private Equity really is a pox on society. One reason they may not be able to hire is that they paid a ton to buy out all the competition and now have a bunch of investors wanting to see high rates of return. That requires cutting staff and raising prices. I'm all for a free society that allows private parties to make agreements, but PE is by definition all about breaking markets by creating a monopoly where they hav…

> Private Equity really is a pox on society. Every single non-public business is "Private Equity". How is every single small business in the entire world "a pox on society"? Perhaps you mean "short term thinking" is a pox on society? Or in, like in this case, a duopoly is the issue? If there were 10 such companies a reputation for slow repair would drive people to other suppliers and things would rapidly get better.

PE is specifically referring to companies not listed on stock exchanges that take money from investors. I agree that we do not want to throw the baby out with the bathwater here, but there is probably merit to limiting the activity of PE funds with lots of investors or lots of money. PE often used as a scheme of raising money and conducting business in a way to avoid the scrutiny of a publicly traded company.

Re: As private equity dominates wheelchair market, users wait months for repairs

#66
Sigh. I dealt with NSM a few years ago to get a new manual wheelchair. The tech who fitted me for it, and delivered it, was great, but very obviously always in a rush. The chair itself was not made to spec, so it was just not useable for me as-is. After many months of trying (and failing) to get NSM to help me mod it and get it as close to spec as possible, I gave up and just continued using my old chair.

But even more frustrating than that? NSM continued sending me phony bills for parts that I did not order. I just trashed them until it went to collections. (Fortunately, the collection agency they use is even more incompetent than they are, and I've been able to put them off with standard anti-collections form letters.)

I figured I'd go with Numotion when insurance is ready to re-up me for a new chair, but reading this article, it doesn't seem that would be any better.

Re: As private equity dominates wheelchair market, users wait months for repairs

#67
What the article does not seem to mention is that an usual electric wheelchair costs about $65,000 (and is intended to be replaced every six years or so). This and the non-availability of replacement parts is why some wheelchair users started a project to open-source a wheelchair from standard parts:

https://themif.org/

Louis Rossmann interviewed the founder of the project here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaAj59025Kk

Re: As private equity dominates wheelchair market, users wait months for repairs

#68
post #60

Almost as troubling, from the article "Customized wheelchairs typically last five years, but most chairs need a major repair or two during that time." What the actual fuck? Power wheelchairs run the spectrum for a few thousand USD to ten thousand plus. And they only last ~5 years, and even then with several major repairs in that period? That sounds like an absolutely atrocious durability/reliability record.

Think about it. For many users, they're in these chairs 12+ hours a day. They're not cars that get driven for an hour a two a day.

Sure, but I would have expected them to be modular enough to keep running more than 5 years. More so given they cost as much as a used car.

Re: As private equity dominates wheelchair market, users wait months for repairs

#69
Public company CEO here. One of my rules that has served me well is "don't ever be on the other side of a transaction from private equity". They have blatantly anticompetitive playbooks where they buy up all the competition in a market and then raise prices as a cartel. Mostly recently, the DOJ has opened a criminal probe into RealPage for price fixing in real estate. What a scourge on capitalism.

Re: As private equity dominates wheelchair market, users wait months for repairs

#70
post #10

Private equity discovered that regulations, compliance requirements, & other similar barriers to entry are the most effective 'moats' which allow businesses to raise prices and have little impact on demand; they are now exploiting this 'hack' ruthlessly.

It's impressive that not only has private equity enshittified even nursing homes and wheelchairs, they have persuaded people to empower PE even more by reducting regulations. Do you think PE will suddenly change without regulation?

PE is responsible for PE's actions. If these services and goods decline under PE, with the same regulations as before, then the cause is clear.

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