You bought a $600 television.
At the register, somebody asked if you wanted to protect it for $89.
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You said yes. Most people say yes. And the transaction took four seconds, which is less time than you spent choosing between two models with nearly identical specifications.
Now here is the part that should reframe the entire experience.
The store may have made more profit on that $89 than on the $600 television.
Not more revenue. More profit.
Consumer electronics retail runs on thin margins. Televisions in particular are close to commodities, priced within dollars of each other across every retailer, with the manufacturer capturing most of the value.
The warranty has no manufacturing cost, no shipping, no shelf space, no inventory risk and no depreciation.
It is a promise, sold at the register, by someone whose commission on it is frequently higher than their commission on the thing it protects.
Which tells you something important. The television was not the product.
The television was the reason you were standing there.