Quote:
Originally Posted by justinsain
Doesn't each individual bottle of water have a barcode on it which indicates the price you pay when you pull one bottle out of the cooler and hand it to the checkout to purchase. That predetermined price is in their system.
So lets say all the grocery and connivence stores are sold out of water but Best Buy has a pallet of water bottles stacked in the back with barcodes on them and employees bring them out front to the cooler when stock is needed.
I walk into Best Buy and tell the guy I'll buy all the water you got and he brings me out a case ( 24 Bottles ) that have been pre priced at $2 per to go in the cooler. I pay $48 total.
He knows someone else will need a case so he brings another one out and puts a sign on it $48 which is what you would pay if you bought each bottle individually out of the cooler.
Price gouging sucks and they don't let them get away with it here in Florida but I don't see how Best Buy is price gouging in this instance. They just aren't giving a great deal and your paying the premium price that's been predetermined for out of the cooler water bottles.
|
Typically a case of water will have two barcodes. There are those that are on the bottles themselves and different barcode on the case. The reason places like best buy and convenience stores and other places like that sell bottled water for $2 per bottle when you can buy it for 30 cents a bottle if you buy it by the case is because it is cold. You are likely paying for the convenience of it being chilled. The same goes for soda. A small bottle of pepsi that is chilled will often cost you more than a 2 liter that is warm. This water isn't cold. Still, that is just semantics. In the end this is likely not price gouging so long as the full case price is not any more than the price of the individual bottles times the number in the case, but to me it just feels like them taking advantage of people in need. They could sell it at half that price and still probably make 150% profit.