I feel like... while I'm all for headcanons, the amount of weight "they're cheap" is being made to hold by the fandom at large is a bit ludicrous and stretches the limits of plausibility. Murderbot may say the company is cheap, but that's speaking in relativist terms. Let's not forget SecUnits are actually costly. Not everyone can afford them. The Company forces contracts to eke out extra for a SecUnit under pretences of security. A "cheap" rocket is still a rocket. A "cheap" missile still is costly.
"The Company is cheap" is people's "It's all Airplane's fault" in this fandom. (Airplane being the joke escapegoat/plot-hole-excuse from the SVSSS fandom).
The Company are cheap but I feel it's being conflated and misconstrued?? Beyond it's original context.
I think Murderbot calls the Company cheap, but it's best interpreted as the Company squeezing blood out of stone, really really thoroughly using, predatorily, every scrape of service they can out of SecUnits, sending the horse to glue factory sort of situation and feeding the meat to dogs, rather than not investing in the effectiveness of their weapons and shields and spyware.
There was a fun series of fics that explored CombatUnits and oooh was it juicy regarding the sheer technological advancement and care and deliberate "graceful degradation" put into Combats (the body horror!) but also how brutally pragmatic they were with scraping off the organic bits about a year into the Combats life and reusing the inorganic parts. Which is- exactly how you'd treat a weapon. You don't want your weapon to be ineffective. So you will build it durable and deadly because that's necessary otherwise you've wasted money. But... you can also refurb that fucker to hell and back as necessary. Brutal pragmatism. Less about being cheap. More about being very clinical and getting EXACTLY what you paid for, and more, squeezing blood out of stone.
When Murderbot says "cheap" you have to understand this is from the perspective of a living weapon. The Company isn't cheap in the sense that they wouldn't pay for whatever gives them an advantage. Because they absolutely would invest. They're cut-throat and as such want sharp knives. Cheap = the Company simply doesn't value life, personhood, or a gentle retirement for its SecUnits.
The Company knows and deliberately budgets for clients/prey who they don't see as a significant enough financial loss if they die, to carry greater risk. In financial terms, they have very precise and calculated "risk appetites". This translates to every second, every Joules of energy, budgeted for safe-keeping property/clients/prey whilst maintaining a good enough perceived reputation to not scare off future clients/prey.
The Company isn't "cheap". But Murderbot knows its specific personal value is cheap in the eyes of the Company. And so are the lives of its clients, if the Company can get away with it. Better yet, if they can make a profit off of equipment failure, why not set an "acceptable" (relative to average market standard) failure rate.
So don't portray the Company as dumb and inefficient. It's very calculated and efficient. The system does what it's intended to do. The Company is deliberate with. Every. Single. Penny.
EDIT: I think the Company DOES value life, but the same way as someone who owns livestock and sheepdog does. Of course you want your livestock productive. So they need to be healthy and happy to an affordable degree because it means they're optimally functioning for longer. So you place SecUnits and ComfortUnits to herd them, resolve disputes, crowd control, and offer them incentive and gratification. The math is: does it cost more to maintain/save you or to replace you?
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