"sd" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> "Doug Kanter" > wrote:
>
>> Before it used to go on sale more often, and when it was still a 1/2
>> gallon,
>> Breyers sold for what....four bucks sometimes? If it was still a half
>> gallon, what do you suppose it would be selling for now, considering that
>> a
>> gallon of milk went from 1.29 to almost 2.00? Close to five bucks, maybe?
>
> So? Now it's five bucks. You pay it or you don't. It's that simple.
>
> To your way of thinking, it would be okay if petroleum companies start
> declaring that, henceforth, "gallons" of gasoline are now only 100
> ounces because that way they can keep the price per "gallon" (the way
> people in the U.S. are used to buying gasoline) at an "attractive"
> $1.99. Why do I get the feeling that you wouldn't be very happy about
> that (not that you would be alone)?
>
> Prices go up all the time -- no one is arguing that point. Companies
> are entitled to make a _decent_ profit -- no one is arguing that
> point, either. We are discussing the _mechanism_.
>
> Why not come clean -- as do thousands of other companies (petroleum
> companies, companies that use steel to make cars or refrigerators or
> buildings, moving companies, etc.) -- and say "Hey, sorry -- it's
> costing us more; we absorbed the costs as long as we could; we have to
> pass on some increased costs"? Instead, we're faced with a euphemized
> (and, as many perceive, sneaky) way of "decontenting" the product.
> ("Our home pricing no longer includes bathrooms. That's how we could
> keep the price low.")
>
> Maybe your theory about price point works if there's a big
> psychological price point involved (your 99-cent candy bar example).
> But it doesn't make much sense in the context of a $3.89 half-gallon
> of ice cream. So it's $4.99 now. At least I'm still getting a full
> half-gallon. I get half-a-gallon's worth of servings out of it.

I agree - I'd pay the higher price, but apparently, a lot of shoppers won't.
Using one of my customers (a supermarket chain) as an example, they move 2
truckloads per month in this county alone, if the ice cream's priced at it's
normal price, whatever that is. When they run a sale, the movement changes
to 7-9 trucks. That's a lot of ice cream. Now, I can't tell you which
shoppers bought all that ice cream, but there are really only two kinds,
right?

1) "I never buy it at the higher price - only on sale"
2) "I buy it at any price, and I'll buy a little extra when it's on sale"

Must be something about the higher price point that puts some people off.