i agree with you on how the money is looked at
but not all customers work with a large scale model like that

and at the end of the day, if youre a mom and pop business or a corporate giant
if youre pssing money away regarless on what it is, youre gonna decrease your overall profitability

the smaller business would be effected more than a larger company which could afford to absorb the higher costs either way (through write offs etc)

and at least with a leased fleet that you roll over every 3 years you can figure what your equipment costs will always be pretty accurately
when u run old machines its a real craps shoot