Is it really ethical to try to get as much money out of your customers? If you are making a profit after all costs are considered, how much profit is too much?
Is this also true with regards to charging more as a consultant/freelancer or about negotiating a better salary? We see a lot of stories like that on here too.
The problem is defining 'greed' is hard. Is a software developer asking for a $100k salary inherently 'greedy' for earning more than double the average US wage? Is someone earning $20k and pushing for a raise to $30k 'greedy' because someone in Africa lives on $1 a day?
Earning $100-150k in a year from a few e-books might seem 'greedy' in some ways, but then you could compare it to the textbook author who supposedly spent $24m building a house from the profits on some calculus textbooks.. ;-) http://castingoutnines.wordpress.com/2009/04/06/where-the-mo...
Rather than have such (unresolvable) debates, it tends to be simpler to rely on economics and charge what the market will bear because while it's not perfect, it's as fair and objective a value as could be arrived at through even the most perfect of debates.
So because it's hard to be ethical we shouldn't try? Because it is hard to quantify greed it is no longer a bad thing?
Because other people are doing it too is a good justification?
I recently watched the movie "Django Rising" and the character of Leonardi diCaprio troubled me greatly. Not because I thought he was really evil but because I thought he really wasn't. Had I been born in that time, son of a slave owner who was son of a slave owner, brought up surrounded by the values of that time, would I have been able to recognize that slavery was evil, would I have had the courage to do anything about it? Would I have behaved any differently from how Leo's character behaved?
Comments
Is it really ethical to try to get as much money out of your customers? If you are making a profit after all costs are considered, how much profit is too much?
Is this also true with regards to charging more as a consultant/freelancer or about negotiating a better salary? We see a lot of stories like that on here too.
The problem is defining 'greed' is hard. Is a software developer asking for a $100k salary inherently 'greedy' for earning more than double the average US wage? Is someone earning $20k and pushing for a raise to $30k 'greedy' because someone in Africa lives on $1 a day?
Earning $100-150k in a year from a few e-books might seem 'greedy' in some ways, but then you could compare it to the textbook author who supposedly spent $24m building a house from the profits on some calculus textbooks.. ;-) http://castingoutnines.wordpress.com/2009/04/06/where-the-mo...
Rather than have such (unresolvable) debates, it tends to be simpler to rely on economics and charge what the market will bear because while it's not perfect, it's as fair and objective a value as could be arrived at through even the most perfect of debates.
So because it's hard to be ethical we shouldn't try? Because it is hard to quantify greed it is no longer a bad thing?
Because other people are doing it too is a good justification?
I recently watched the movie "Django Rising" and the character of Leonardi diCaprio troubled me greatly. Not because I thought he was really evil but because I thought he really wasn't. Had I been born in that time, son of a slave owner who was son of a slave owner, brought up surrounded by the values of that time, would I have been able to recognize that slavery was evil, would I have had the courage to do anything about it? Would I have behaved any differently from how Leo's character behaved?
How do you recommend pricing a product?