Episode 31: I Need To Talk To You About Your Extended Warranty

I need to talk to you about your extended warranty. Retailers figured out decades ago that the real money isn't in the product, it's in the piece of paper promising to fix it later.

From the FTC calling itself the "little old lady of Pennsylvania Avenue" to Circuit City making more from warranty commissions than from selling electronics, this episode traces how "peace of mind" became one of the most profitable ideas in American retail, and why the fear of something breaking works better on your wallet than the thing actually breaking ever could.