On Sun, 16 Aug 2009 08:47:52 +0200, "Giusi" >
wrote:

>

>But I think that's illegal. If you can demonstrate they are lying, you can
>sue them or report to whatever your consumer protection thing is where you
>live. I remember it happening more than once when I lived there.
>
Maybe not. A lot of these practices began way back in the Nixon era.
When price controls were enacted, a lot of business found they were
caught with their prices down. THe inflation that followed was largely
a disaster. As soon as the PC's were lifted, companies started
inflating MSRP's, and allowing their dealers to discount (temporarily,
wink, wink!). The idea is that if PC's come back, the *MSRP* prices
are already high enough to protect the company's interests. All that
needs happen is that discounts, rebates, 2fer1 deals, etc. are
discontinued.

This is one reason why MSRP's are high but the street prices are low.

In the Albertson's case, it is sort of like a Clintonesque truth. The
real price was the MSRP, and we just discontinued a former discount.
Now we offer you a new discount, 30% off (the MSRP). That the
earlier discount was 40% is no longer relevant. Like a lot of
marketing and political ploys, the comparisons are invalid because
the speaker shifts bases while making the comparison. If you don't
catch the shift, well, there's one born every minute, as PT used to
say. They didn't lie, they just told the truth a different way.....

Alex