The danger to consumers is failng to recognize the degredation of service and leave. For some products/industries, consumers are not very savy.
I believe most consumers recognize it. It's not new behaviour.
People are short-sighted, but not because they are blind.
When most people want to buy something, they look for the best current deal. They don't consider the politics at the time of purchase.
Everyone knows that Walmart is bad for everything. But they are cheap, and that's all that matters.
This has more to do with 'tragedy of the commons' than ignorance.
Everyone knows that companies will run at a loss 'till they have a monopoly, then rape us. But most feel that they are only one person, so it doesn't matter if they do, because we're fucked anyway.
Ironically, thinking that we don't matter is why we don't matter.
These kinds of erosions of service from disruptive market entrants are inevitable: old, uncompetetitive industries get disrupted by new businesses that address customers who were milked and neglected by established companies. Once these new comanies become established enough, however, they discontinue their aggressive tactics used to gain market share in order to start making profits. Then the cycle repeats. The danger to consumers is failng to recognize the degredation of service and leave. For some products/industries, consumers are not very savy.