So I got an auxiliary audio input installed in my car the other day. Excellent. I don't have to deal with the FM transceiver for the satellite radio or the iPhone anymore. They sound awful, and when I travel to populated areas I have to hunt around the crowded FM dial for weak stations I can override.
All I needed was a 1-2 meter (trying out the metric system here) cable with 1/8" (d'oh, failed already) TRS connector, a.k.a. "headphone plug"on both ends. We don't have too many options in Ithaca for procurement of such a cable. I made a valiant effort to "buy local": I asked one friend. She said Gallagher's. Unfortunately they went out of business years ago.
So, Best Buy, Radio Shack, Target or WalMart. I chose Target because I had to buy deoderant as well, and I don't have a high regard for Radio Shack brand deoderant.
I expected to pay around $5-$10 for this item. I walked into the electronics section of the store and immediately turned right into the first aisle. It had iPod accessories. I figured "hey, I'm connecting an iPhone, I bet this is where they'll keep the cable." Among the various incarnations of iPod-specific adaptors I found what I was looking for. Unfortunately, it was a Monster brand "iPod to Aux Input" 6 foot cable, with gold plating priced at $20.
No way! Directly above that they had a slot for another brand name "iPod to Aux Input" cable, priced at $14.99, but it was out of stock. Hmmm... still too much. I can do better. I turn around and see the MP3 player section.
Same $14.99 cable. This time labeled "MP3 player to Aux Input" cable. They had plenty of them. So now it's a game. What happens when I go find the portable CD player section? Does it get cheaper?
You bet! Same brand again, same cable, now $9.99, just labeled "Portable CD player to Aux Input". Now it is in my price range but I'm convinced I can still do better at this same store.
I go down the next aisle and find the generic Target brand cable section. They have all sorts of audio cables. RCA connectors. Cable TV connectors. HDMI. Just about everything. And there's the headphone jack cable. In a box that, essentially, says "connects Stuff to Other Stuff".
$3.69, including gold plating.
People are MAKING MONEY on people who DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING. Target is pulling off price discrimination on four things that do the same thing within 3 meters of one another! I'm in the wrong line of work!
And now you understand this post's title.
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4 comments:
It's not price discrimination, it's just fleecing apple owners because if you own an apple product, you obviously don't mind paying extra.
That's pretty much the definition of "price discrimination" as far as I can tell. That is, charge different prices for the same product to different markets. It just struck me as impressive that they're doing it with products stocked within several meters of one another! In industries such as the hospitality or airline industries they get away with it because it is somewhat more difficult than simply turning around to see what prices are being offered to other buyers.
If you didn't find the same thing in a Monster blister pack for $89.95, you weren't trying hard enough!
the beauties of capitalism. Charge what the market will bear.
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