I find this unsustainable, outrageous, and customer-despising behavior for a company as successful as Drop.
I honestly don't. The Drop business model is to take a product by a (typically small scale) manufacturer and have it mass-produced on the cheap so they can sell it for cheap. They take your money up front and provide you with the product later. This minimizes the risk for Drop.
It looks like you have to buy an
extended warranty if you want more than what the manufacturer offers. This further minimizes the risk for Drop.
I have not dealt with Drop as a manufacturer/vendor so I don't know their commission, but I would be absolutely shocked if it was
less than 30%. Think about it... Amazon charges 30% in commission, provides free shipping and free returns (free = paid for by the manufacturer), and leaves all the hard work for you, which is why I don't sell there. Common dealer margins are around 38-40%. Some distributors want even more.
So with Drop the manufacturer gets a small slice of an already small pie. They then hope that Drop is able to sell enough pies to make it worthwhile.
There is no free lunch. Buy cheap. Get cheap. This is what I call the race to the bottom. It works well (and makes money for Drop) as long as the products work. But once people realize that the cheap products are indeed ... cheap, they'll (maybe) stop shopping there.
And, honestly, if the EU wants Drop to provide a 2-year warranty or Right to Repair Drop will just not sell there. That's already the case for some of their products. EU citizens work around this by having connections order the products within the US and ship them. This workaround, of course, leaves them with the same rights as if the products were bought in the US (i.e., whatever rights the manufacturer provides in their policies).
I agree that it's disappointing that the product breaks after only a few years. I would be disappointed if any of my products broke within 10 years.
There are many ways to run a "successful" company. Some are successful in the short term. Others will be successful in the long term. I would rather be successful in the long term.
Tom