I was recently talking about a veterinarian out here about the problems she was having getting some time off while still having someone to cover her patients, in this case various animals. She had tried setting up a coverage pool with other local vets, but most of them were terrified that if one of their regular patients went to another vet in an emergency, they might lose them as a customer. My friend figured that she was a good vet, so that she was just as likely, or perhaps even more likely, to gain a customer as to lose one by such a cross coverage scheme. Unfortunately, the other vets were less confident and unwilling to take the risk.

Interestingly, there is no problem here with human doctors. My eye doctor, GP, dentist and the like all have a network of other doctors to cover not quite emergency room level emergencies. They seem more confident in their ability to attract and retain patients.

The cell phone companies have a lousy product, and they know it. It's actually rather sad, sort of like Mad Magazine's behind the scenes at Brand X article. Hey, someone has to make those other products that just aren't quite as good. The only way they can imagine keeping a customer is to lock them in contractually. A good service provider would simply provide better service.