I will agree to disagree as we have in the past and likely will do so again and will not beat a dead horse, so I will leave this as my final reply (feel free to rebutt--I am letting it go now):
Originally Posted By: dnewton3
You are presuming that BB typically sells water by the case?
I am not presuming or assuming anything. Perhaps you are? What price is listed and for what quantity does it show in the photo that you posted? Before you go on about the "explanation" in the article, the average Joe would not have had that explanation when they saw the pricing as indicative of the social media flaming that happened afterwards.
Originally Posted By: dnewton3
They are selling individually priced bottles in a convenient case carry pack. They will likely never be charged with a crime because the price they charge is totally in-line with their normal pricing and not unlike other retailers also selling singular bottles. Further, I doubt that the pricing per case that BB gets is anywhere near what Costco can get, but that's a bit of a sideline debate. BB did not "
decide to sell at 10x the cost" as you state. They marketed the bottle water at the EXACT same price as their practice was PRIOR to the event.
Convenient case carry pack? Cute. I never said they would be charged with a crime. Their penalty will be that dealt to them via social media and the like, short-lived perhaps, but there nonetheless. I do not for one minute believe that BestBuy pays the individual bottle cost for a case of bottles and thus the 10x the cost statement. Are they free to mark up a case at the individual bottle pricing? Of course, I never said they could not--but their timing is "off" do you not think?
Originally Posted By: dnewton3
Is BB required to "donate" water? Nope. Are they obligated to sell it at a discount? Nope. Are they required to offer it in "cases"? Nope. Is BB required to do what other retailers do in terms of generosity or sales? Nope. In fact - it is a crime called "racketeering" if they collude with other retailers on pricing, or has that escaped you? BB made a PR blunder. Nothing more or less. They should not have marked a case at $43. They should have simply showed group-packaged product at $1.79 per unit. And not one person would have flinched. Hence - perspective.
I never said they were obligated to do anything--donate or otherwise, but when viewed alongside the other local businesses and their efforts, this particular BestBuy will be cast in a very poor light and rightfully so. It is OK for the other retailers in the area to support the disaster efforts, but not for BestBuy? Nothing illegal about it--but it will cost them in the long run.
Originally Posted By: dnewton3
By your logic, then many retailers price gouge their oils [...]
What you say here is all true--I never disputed case quantity versus individual quantity or "the law being on your side" and I need no lessons on sales practices. I never said BestBuy actually committed a crime, I said "when I see someone selling a case of water for $43, it is [censored] near criminal." which is a figure of speech that you (I assume) took literally. With that said, the part that is missing in all of the text that I redacted is under normal conditions no one cares about any of this (myself included), not case pricing versus individual pricing or retail pricing versus wholesale or what is in the front of the store versus the back. But, the situation in Houston is not normal.
With that said I am out.