Date: 2025-03-13 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00024860
PRICES
A CORE CONCEPT ON THE ECONOMICS OF MARKETS
Many businesses have 'gamed' pricing for all of my life ... higher price must be good because it delivers higher profits!
A CORE CONCEPT ON THE ECONOMICS OF MARKETS
Many businesses have 'gamed' pricing for all of my life ... higher price must be good because it delivers higher profits!
Original article:
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY
This image appeared at the top of a Google search with 'vegetable oil' mentioned. I paid some attention because I know I will be looking to buy some in the near future, and, of course, price is always of interest when a buying decision is going to be made.
All of the prices referenced are in dollars and cents ... .nn
My first impression was that the best buy (cheapest) would be 2, 4, 5, 7, or 8.
But then I saw that the size of the containers were different and measured in gallons, litres and fluid ounces ... in other words there was no comparability between the offerings.
This issue was addressed by Ralph Nader almost 50 years ago ... but the business world seems to have stopped paying attention and those in government charged with oversight of such matters seem to have been asleep at the wheel for a very long time.
The business community has embraced a range of anti-social practices over time, and rarely has the customer had much of a say in what goes down.
The cereal industry has changed the dimensions of its retail boxes in such a way that they look to be the same size from the 'front' or 'back' of the box, but not from the 'side'. The boxes are 'thinner' and contain less now than they did a couple of years back.
Many 'cans' have the same 'graphics' now as they had a couple of years back, but the cans are actually smaller. They don't look very different ... but they are considerably smaller in size but usually not smaller in price per can.
The 'rules' that were established for price labelling after the activism of Ralph Nader were quite effective, but over time the rules have increasingly been 'gamed' by the business community. It has become commonplace for similar items but different brands to use a variety of 'price per ...' on the price labels as we see in the case of the vegetable oil example.
Peter Burgess