I would rather pay a tech for one hour of work than waste $180. It won't take a trained tech longer than an hour to "reflash" a brick, and it would save Sony a lot of money.

Sony HAS to have their own way of reflashing "bricked" PSPs. The logistics and costs associated with just "tossing it into the trash and sending a new one" make absolutely no business sense. I've noticed that on "cold boots" the PSP MS light flashes very quickly. This is probably the MS modules initializing and then checking for a memorystick to load. It could also have something coded into it to look for a specific file that Sony could use to "fix-a-brick" by auto-reflashing the firmware with whatever version they currently use.
Either that or they just crack the sucker open and reflash it using custom equipment. I'm pretty sure they just don't "chuck 'em in the trash". That would also lead to HUGE disposal problems for them in the future and could lead to heat from the EPA (or whatever EPA-like organization a country has).
Remember all the hooplah over PC disposal and mercury/lead PCB content rising in landfills?