We are not talking about legitimate markups here, but price gouging. Like every time you go buy gasoline... Even though I know I deserve it, it would be unethical for me to charge a client $500 per hour for structural engineering, even though a lawyer might actually charge $300. And there is no doubt that lawyers are some of the least important people on the planet, while without engineers humans would extinct or close to it for lack of water, shelter and hygiene.
Still, a free market is the only way to go. Government has no place trying to regulate prices or sales of goods (especially when the Constitution forbids them from doing it) but they try anyway. So we look for the cheaper way to get what we want. On Tue, Nov 22, 2011 at 4:35 PM, Dan Henby <[email protected]> wrote: > > On 23/11/2011, at 10:18 AM, Nick Andrews wrote: > >> That's why we felt like we were getting screwed here in these USA. A >> product which cost less than $3 to manufacture, a few $ to license >> content and then retail markup. At $20 or more for a CD, that's a >> 200% profit for the store if it's a big chain. Smaller stores got >> lesser discounts, so maybe were only marking up 100%. I was listed as >> a retailer for a few years with my resale tax license in NM and bought >> cds from smaller labels at wholesale for myself and friends in the >> early 90s. Why would I go to Musicland and pay $22 when I could get it >> for $9 at my smaller discount? > > Here's the gist: If you pay it, it will continue to cost that much. No-one on > the planet will sit in their office and say "Hey, peeps are paying $20 for a > CD. What will we do? I know! Let's cut the price by $5, which is a 25% > discount for the consumer, and a 50% cut back for everyone else in the food > chain. Price drops when demand drops. End of story. > > Also, when consumers look at mark up in a retail setting, they rarely take > into consideration on-costs. How much is the rent for that store? How much do > the staff need to be paid? What about insurance? Gear for the kiddies to > listen to the latest Eminem CD? > > All of these costs need to be paid, even if you don't sell a single CD. So > most stores (who wish to stay in business) will project costs on a daily, > weekly, monthly and annual basis: We need to make $X in December because > we'll make $0 in January, etc. > > Then there's the shareholders, who want more than 3% return ('cause I can > make that in the bank, or whatever). > > And you can't even say that web-based businesses cut out those on-costs. They > still have to pay "rent" for their website, they have staff to monitor > orders, pack orders etc. > > Most consumers never think this through. I remember watching a "scandal" on > TV where restaurants were "outed" for making a horrific mark up on wine. They > were charging more than twice the retail for a bottle of wine. No-one said > "Well, you are also paying for us to buy the glass, wash the glass, pour the > wine." No thought went into that piece, and it was obviously a slow "news" > week. > > On top of all this people want to make money. Simple, bottom line, we live in > a capitalistic regime (well most of us, anyway). Will you go out, work 8-12 > hours a day for $5.50 an hour when you could work somewhere else for $8.50 an > hour doing the same job? No? Will you sell a CD for $15 when the same person > will buy it for $25? No? > > There's your answer. > > Dan. > > -- Nick A "You know what I wish? I wish that all the scum of the world had but a single throat, and I had my hands about it..." Rorschach, 1975 "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759 "Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them." Bill Vaughan "The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." Plato
