Welcome to 10 minute Bible Talks.

Where we connect the Bible to your life.

In the time it takes to get to work.

I'm Jeff Parrot. Losing is never fun, but sometimes the most maddening

loss is the one that's disguised as a win. There's a phenomenon in economics that reminds me of what it's like to lose like that.

It's called the loss leader strategy and here's how it works. It shows up in the way that companies price certain products.

A company will sell a product at a price lower than the cost of making it in the first place.

And they do that in order to hook a new customer and sell more expensive products

down the line.

It presents itself as a deal that you can't refuse, only to trap you with future costs that you can't see in the moment.

Examples of this are Legion, yet one easy to spot example of this in the modern day is the prevalence of cheap refillable

vaping pins or e-cigarettes. So many companies will sell these to consumers at

what seems like a deal you can't possibly pass up, drawing in new and especially young business.

In this version of the Loss Leader Strategy, some companies are willing to sell their vaping pins at a loss in order to get the future business of refillable cartridges.

The cost seems so small up front until you realize that the company's profit is really collected on the back end,

making a lasting impact not only on your pocketbook, but on your health as well.

Some forms of the Lost Leader strategy are legitimate business tactics, but others are

considered predatory in nature because of the way that they take advantage of the consumer.

What appears to be a win for the average person is really just a loss in disguise.

It's a deal that leads to destruction.

The loss leader strategy isn't so different from the way that sin can operate in our lives.

While the power of sin is sometimes obvious and in your face,

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