People don’t want the rat race anymore than we want to pay exorbitant prices for healthcare or housing or food. But making customers happy isn’t as profitable.

Think about it. If everything was always available at the cheapest possible price, what would your shopping habits look like? You would buy things exactly when you need them. If you have to deal with higher normal prices and occasional sales, then you need to plan ahead and buy when things are cheap instead of when you need them. That means buying more stuff than you need because you didn’t plan adequately and got stuff that you never ended up needing.