Rant: Instant vs Cook & Serve Pudding?

Instant vs Cook & Serve Pudding? Cold vs Hot Pudding? Where do you fall on those choices?

For myself, the only choice is hot pudding, which means Cook & Serve Pudding mix. Yes, it takes longer to prepare it than Instant Pudding, but I believe the extra time is worth it, making the pudding more flavorful and rich. 

Instant pudding just requires a couple minutes of mixing it with cold milk, but the taste and temperature never satisfies me. I'd rather take the time to mix the cold milk and cook & serve powder in a pan, bringing it to a boil. Once the cook & serve pudding is ready, I'll top it with whipped cream, a nice contrast to the hot pudding. 

However, I'm starting to think I'm in the minority on my pudding preference. It seems that most grocery stores now carry very little, if any, cook & serve pudding boxes. You'll find plenty of flavors of instant pudding, but you're lucky if you find one flavor of cook & serve, and it's usually chocolate. 

Jell-O produces a variety of cook & serve flavors, including chocolate, chocolate fudge, vanilla, tapioca, butterscotch, lemon, banana cream, and coconut cream, but they also produce more flavors in their instant pudding line. It's rare to find the cook & serve flavors for tapioca, banana cream, and coconut cream at local grocery stores. However, the various cook & serve puddings are available on Amazon.

Why do grocery stores carry so little cook & serve pudding? Is it a matter of low demand? Is it a regional thing, where cook & serve pudding is simply much less common in Massachusetts? Is instant pudding more versatile (or simply quicker and easier), able to be added to various other desserts, from triffles to pies?  

Hot pudding may seem a more appropriate dessert for cooler weather, but I enjoy it during the summer as well. What are your thoughts on hot pudding?