Since people seemed to like my gratuitous free regulatory analysis in the "I'm Concerned" thread, thought I would drop some more on y'all.
A lot of jokes are made around here about some of MSRP prices you see on different cigars (cough, cough, Gurkha) and how stupid it would be for anyone to ever pay that (even if you like the stick) since there always seems to be a sale or discount available.
The issue of MSRP vs. discounts/sales/special deals has been going on a long time. One of the best articles out there on the issue is actually from 1962. Here's a link:
http://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4332&context=lawreview
Don't be put off since its a law review article, its actually a very good, easy and informative read on the subject that gives you a history of the whole MSRP-concept and how that was changed after WWII by discount stores that had lower overhead, fewer employees and could survive on lower margins. The analysis in the article is even more pertenant to internet sales where there is often no physical store at all.
Reader Digest version: If something is
always on sale, then its
never really on sale, and even a few occasional listings and purchases at the MSRP price doesn't change that fact. Of course its always very fact specific and its very hard to draw hard and fast rules or conclusions
The biggest alleged offender of this recently that has been in the news has been Khols where they seem to have constant sales going on every day. (I have always wanted to find the one day - that I assume they have - where NOTHING is on sale and laugh at everybody that goes in)
Both state agencies and class action attorneys have gone after Khol's and others for misleading pricing and deceptive advertising of sales or discounts that were not really discounts or sales. I don't know if they did anything wrong or not, but it shows you people are concerned about the issue.
In Missouri several stores and retailers settled with the State after actions were filed alleging fake sales where the goods were never actually sold at the so-called pre-sale price.
The problem for the companies selling things, of course, is how can you compete when everybody else is offering "Sales" all the time in the mail, om tv and the internet? J.C Penney (who was also sued for "fake" sales along with Khols in several of the actions)
tried to go to a more honest pricing model where they gave you fair, real, accurate prices everyday and didn't rely on constant sales where they took a % off of MSRP's that they never really sold things for in the first place
Penneys then got creamed in the marketplace, losing huge amounts of business, customers and revenue. CEO gets fired and they go back to constant coupons and "sales." Turns out people wanted those 30% off coupons! I read an report on this at some-point where the researchers said that even those people who realize that the goods are never really sold at the MSRP still preferred the coupons and sales as it made them feel like they were getting a good deal.
I actually myself caught an employee at closing time in a store putting high prices on products so that they could be put on a 50% off sale the next day with the new sale price actually being higher than the price they were being sold for the previous day! Scored myself a pretty good deal at a high-end men's clothing store after pointing out to the manager that what the employee was doing was exactly what they Attorney General had just sued people for allegedly doing and that I would have a pretty could lawsuit for what I just saw. Needless to say, I settled out of coat, uh, er, court
So, bottom line, the issue of MSRP vs. actual price has been one fought for over 60 years from the very beginnings of the FTC and other consumer agencies. No matter what the law is, however, an informed consumer is still the only real protection there is. Everything is out there for you to discover if you just look hard enough, even they brand of cigar Elvis is currently smoking on Venus!