If panniers were software

(compiled by David Martin from thread contributions on uk.rec.cycling by Richard Bates, Guy Chapman, David Martin, Simon Bennett, Colin Blackburn and Tim Hall) Pannier piracy: I want a set of front and rear panniers to be used simultaneously. Should I just purchase the rear and steal the front? Pannier monopoly: The pannier manufacturer PanCo uses extortion to force all rack makers to ship racks with their panniers pre-installed until there were essentially no other pannier makers left, at which point they increased the price, including charging more for old stocks of panniers which work on lower-spec racks. There are some third party manufacturers who make add-ons such as lights but these extra fittings only fit PanCo panniers. Licensing: You buy a license to use your panniers on one rack. If you want to use them on another rack then you have to buy another license for that rack. And if you upgrade your panniers then you have to buy a new license. You can't transfer the license to your new set of panniers. You can't hang your panniers on the sides of a supermarket trolley while shopping as the pannier manufacturer do not support pannier licenses for shopping trolleys. Giving them away: If I wanted to legally sell or donate my bike to someone else, I am obliged to include the panniers (as well as all manuals and accompanying printed materials). You can just give away the panniers (along with all printed documentation) as long as you did not buy your panniers through a discount pannier scheme, in which case you are not legally allowed to transfer them to another bike at all. Or maybe your panniers come with the job. I can use mine at home but if I leave my job I can no longer use them so I would be legally obliged to remove and destroy them. Problems and upgrades: The panniers I have were supposed to be good, but are full of holes. Indeed not a week goes by but that the manufacture rings me up to say they have found another hole and could I send an SAE for them to put a patch in. My panniers fall off every couple of weeks. The manufacturers say that this is normal and I should just take everything out of the panniers, put it all back in and hang them back on the bike