Consumer Ed: Falling Prices?

You've seen the TV commercials, the signs in the stores telling you that prices are falling all the time. Every time you walk into a store and see a sign for another price drop for a box of crackers, your favorite cereal, or whatever it may be, do you ever find yourself wondering if prices are always dropping why isn't it free by now, and why does it cost more now than it did six months ago?

Well, prices aren't actually dropping. Price drops are a deceptive practice to make things seem cheaper than they are. In order to accomplish this the seller artificially inflates the price for a period of time, say anywhere from two to eight weeks, for example. When they have you used to the artificially inflated price then they do a 'price drop' with some kind of tagline like "more savings for you" to make you think they are doing this 'for you', rather than the actual truth is they are baiting you and doing this 'to you'.

To put this into an example, a box of crackers may have been selling for 2.08 two months ago but has been selling for 2.58 for the past two months; long enough for you to forget the price you may have been paying. Now you see a sign advertising it for 2.18 and "even more savings for you, because we care". Well the fact is you're still paying more for it, and the bait with the "because we care" BS accomplishes selling more product than if they just left the price alone, basically because we're just naturally suckers.

This should also give you a clue when to expect price increases. When you see a product selling at a price lower than it has been, even than their special 'price drops', this is an indication that the price is getting ready to go up, or another change is on the horizon like lowering the product weight. They will lower the price to get you to buy it more regularly so you'll be more likely to buy it when the price and/or package changes.

Don't kid yourself into thinking retailers and manufacturers give a damn about you. The only reason why safety features exist is due to government regulations. And sellers and manufacturers aren't out to save you money but to sell more to you by using sucker pitches. If you've ever been privy to the conversations involving terms like "training the customer" and "re-training the customer" you'd certainly have a different perspective about your local superstore.