Calling All Shoppers
March 25, 2007 by Veronica Mitchell
I don’t get too political on my blog, but this just about ruined my day. If the discounters go under, I don’t know how I’ll buy anything. Let’s hope the Supreme Court shows a little basic sense and concern for the working class.
I’m in Canada, where we get tons of taxes slapped onto everything (like 17%, here). Life is expensive, my friend.
This was the part that jumped out at me:
Such a free-market economic analysis holds that minimum resale pricing would ensure that retailers would make enough profit to provide better service to customers and promote the manufacturer’s products.
The consumer isn’t generally aware of how much the markup is on any given product, but from what I’ve heard, most of us would be shocked to learn the truth. (In the sense that the markup is way more than we’d think.)
I can’t accept that an across-the board change in the law is needed to “ensure that retailers [...] make enough profit.” For real, people. Retailers that sell below MSRP make the decision to do so on their own. If it’s going to be detrimental to their business…duh, they’re not going to do it.
Also? I just don’t see it happening.
Thanks for pointing this out, V. I’ll have to keep my eye open for the decision.
On an unrelated note, I found the following sentence in that article a great example of an imprecise language choice:
On the side of doing away with Dr. Miles are the National Association of Manufacturers, makers of high-end goods such as Ping golf clubs and the Bush administration.
I know what they mean but at first glance I thought it was saying that the Nat’l Assn. of Manufacturers was a maker of the Bush Administration!
Wow. And I used to covet Brighton. Oh well, it was always too expensive anyway. Now at least I won’t buy it on principle, instead of being poor.