Lucky Green opines:
An international phone call costs about 2 cents/min to produce. The average rate paid for by the consumer is 62 cents. That's means the carriers mark up this particular product by an amazing 3000%.
Can you name another business that has comparable mark-ups?
Well, software comes to mind. In the international telephone case, you are paying 2 cents for the call, and 60 cents for being able to place the call when you want to. It's time for a story: Once upon a time, Westinghouse's chief turbine engineer was called to a power plant to diagnose a problem. He walked around the turbine for a while, listened to it, thought for a bit, then took out a piece of chalk and drew an X on the housing. "There is a bad bearing here; replace it." Westinghouse sent a bill for $10,000 for the diagnosis. The power plant objected to the sum and asked for an itemized invoice. Westinghouse sent: $0.05 for the chalk, $9999.95 for knowing where to put the chalk. Martin.