perceptions and reality

Status
Not open for further replies.

dnewton3

Staff member
Joined
May 14, 2007
Messages
11,374
Location
Indianapolis, IN
http://fox59.com/2017/08/31/best-buy-apologizes-after-charging-43-for-bottled-water-near-houston/

BestBuy employees (single location; not a sanctioned corporate effort) charged almost $43 for a case of water in the Houston area!

That is appalling!!!!


Or .... is it?
21.gif



Seems they priced the case based upon the single bottle, multiplied 24 times.

$1.79 x 24 = $42.96

Are you mad?
Maybe you should be.
But not because of what the store employees did.
Rather, that any of us pay more than 15 cents for a bottle of water at ANY time, ANY where.

None of us blink when we pay $1.29 or $1.59 for a bottle of water. (size dependent of course)

Why is this act at BestBuy "price gouging" then?

Don't like it? Don't buy it.

Not one person would complain if they said "For sale: single bottle of water $1.79 each. Limit 24 per customer."



PERSPECTIVE - keep it in mind always.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, the problem is that if it's in small bottles/containers, water costs more than gasoline, but that's probably because of all the packaging cost the comes with it. It's a lot cheaper to buy water in 1 gal or 5 gal jugs.

As far as that specific BestBuy case, I suppose you need to compare it against what other stores charge for a similar 24-pack. If it's way out of line, then they'll have a problem.
 
I understand Wal Mart is donating multiple millions of dollars of merchandise in the affected areas. Good for them!
 
The thing is that water is sold in bottles ALL THE TIME, either in "cases" or individual units.

A "bottle" is typically $1.39 in my area for 20oz. (brand dependent give or take a dime. Also, more if it's cold.)
A "case" is typically only $2.99 in my area for 24 of those same 20oz bottles.

Exact same packaging; some are "bundled" and some are not. It costs more to wrap the cellephane around the individual units. But there's no more cost in a single bottle than a group of making 24 bottles. Only costs more to "bundle" those. And it is HIGHLY LIKELY that they ALL come in the bundles, and are removed for individual sale on the shelf as single bottles. Easy to transport them that way. Then the "case" is broken open for individual sale. Understandably, if they priced a 5-gallon jug at $43, it would be egregious. But pricing the bottles (in a pack of 24) at $43 is totally fine by me. That is NOT price gouging, as many would decry.

Would people be happier if they rationed the product as "One per Customer". They would still make the same $1.79/bottle and yet no one would blink an eye. Not one complaint would be heard. Because we are used to paying $1.79 for a bottle.

We should not be mad at the price of the case in this example.

WE SHOULD BE MAD THAT WE ARE PAYING THAT PRICE FOR A SINGLE BOTTLE, AT ANY TIME, EVER.



Again - perspective.
 
Last edited:
supply and demand.. Though I hear there was lots of free bottled water being distributed.

up her in NH, I was forced to "steal" firewood from a Closed Mobil Station during after 1 week without power after an Ice storm a while back. I burnt enough furniture and said enough is enough - I need a place to sit.

I guess I was "on the run"

Desperate times = desperate measures.

I'm more prepared now.

btw - I slid an envelop full of money between the glass doors to pay for the wood.
 
Also, at $43/case, it might just keep some folks from "hoarding". If the case was priced as a case at $4.99, some jerk would buy it all and keep it for himself. But at $43, he'll just but a few perhaps and leave some for others.

All why the "price" is totally legitimate. The price per unit was not "gouged"; it stayed the same all the time.


I would be mad at the retailers of they bumped the price of the bottles such that the cost was $3.00/bottle or $72/case. THAT would be price gouging. But they didn't. They charged a market price that was established PRIOR to the catastrophe; one that none of us complained about PRIOR to the hurricane.


Perspective.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: dnewton3
And it is HIGHLY LIKELY that they ALL come in the bundles, and are removed for individual sale on the shelf as single bottles. Easy to transport them that way. Then the "case" is broken open for individual sale.

So it takes someone's labor to break up the case and stock individual bottles on the shelf, in which case you could argue (emphasis on 'argue'
smile.gif
) that's an additional cost that should be somehow reflected in retail price of a single bottle vs. whole case.
 
Well, normally dnewton3 injects logic and sensibility about things regarding costs (i.e. - synthetic oil and OCI's). This time I cannot wrap my head around this "perspective" point.

Home Depot sells entire cases of water for under $3.00. When they sell the same exact thing for $43 it is price gouging. That the company said it was a simple mistake may or may not be true. We can only speculate.

Selling water for $1.79 per bottle when it can be had for 15 cents per bottle is nothing new in our culture. We routinely pay $2.00 or more for a cup of coffee or a soda that only costs 10 cents to make. We spend exorbitant amounts for a Starbucks coffee without complaint. Ball park costs for food and beverages are criminal, yet some pay it.

Jacking up the price on an individual unit is common. Selling the $3.00 case of water for $43.00 is price gouging, or a blatant mistake by the employees. Seems like we are talking about two different concepts here. Multiplying the individual unit price by 24 to come up with a final price is just wrong.
 
Who buys a case of water from Best Buy? They don't sell it by the case. No reason for them to have the pricing structure in place.

Should the store have just pushed the pallets outside? Maybe. Did anyone at the store have the ability to make that call? Or change the pricing on a case? Likely not.
 
Originally Posted By: dnewton3
http://fox59.com/2017/08/31/best-buy-apologizes-after-charging-43-for-bottled-water-near-houston/

BestBuy employees (single location; not a sanctioned corporate effort) charged almost $43 for a case of water in the Houston area!

That is appalling!!!!


Or .... is it?
21.gif



Seems they priced the case based upon the single bottle, multiplied 24 times.

$1.79 x 24 = $42.96

Are you mad?
Maybe you should be.
But not because of what the store employees did.
Rather, that any of us pay more than 15 cents for a bottle of water at ANY time, ANY where.

None of us blink when we pay $1.29 or $1.59 for a bottle of water. (size dependent of course)

Why is this act at BestBuy "price gouging" then?

Don't like it? Don't buy it.

Not one person would complain if they said "For sale: single bottle of water $1.79 each. Limit 24 per customer."



PERSPECTIVE - keep it in mind always.






Yes but an I'm sorry makes it all better.
 
Originally Posted By: dnewton3
They charged a market price that was established PRIOR to the catastrophe; one that none of us complained about PRIOR to the hurricane. Perspective.
Perspective? [Censored]! You are off the rails on this one Dave. While it is true that from an individual bottle cost the price is inline, no one (at least no one that I know with any sense) would pay the per bottle price for a case of water. One should be here and by here I mean the South East Texas area in the aftermath of this storm. There are plenty of people attempting to make a fast buck or worse yet, posing as rescue people and looting.

I see this morning that Beaumont, Texas lost its entire city water supply (primary and secondary) due to flooding with no ETA on restoring the water because the pumps remain flooded, so when I see someone selling a case of water for $43, it is [censored] near criminal. There are people without water and it is not just a situation of "Don't like it? Don't buy it" because there will be limited resources for the foreseeable future throughout the area. Instead of attempting to make fast cash, businesses (like BestBuy) should be helping and certainly not allowing "employees" to do this--IF that is what happened. Kroger, HEB, WalMart, Sam's Club, and Costco ALL brought in extra water prior to the storm hitting and ALL of them charged the same prices they did before the storm. There is rationing of water, but the companies that I will continue to do business with are not charging $43.00 a case for it. It is NOT about perspective.
 
Why don't you use city water? Unless there are restrictions on using city water. Got to be one of the silliest Madison Avenue scams ever. Everyone walking around sucking on a water bottle. Whatever did we do before bottled drinking water show up?
banana2.gif
 
Then we could say why didn't the people buy water when it was $5.00 per case? Or there was a few days before the storm. That being said I get the greasy feeling when I go to a best buy. I just can't explain it.
 
Privatized water, water-taking rights are enormous cancers to humanity, before we ever get to the retail marketing.

Meanwhile in Canada
Quote:

Starting Aug. 1, water bottlers will pay $503.71 for every million litres of groundwater taken, compared to the previous fee of $3.71
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top