I think this is a complicated topic, and I have mixed thoughts on it. But I think it’s easier to take a side on the “fake discount” situation:
You walk into a store, you see a sign that says, “Regular price $20. Sale price: 20% off, $16”. But unknown to you, the regular price every day for the last 6 months has been $16.
Rational econbot view: This is not a problem. The consumer has the ability to assess whether $16 is a fair price. Nothing is being misrepresented here.
Human view: Of course this is misleading. If consumers were all rational econbots, it would be pointless to state regular prices and % off - all we’d have to do is print today’s price. But we know that consumers are influenced by sales prices and how they compare to “regular” prices, which is why we loudly advertise them. So pretending that an item is currently on sale is clearly misleading. That’s why doing is so is considered deceptive pricing.
If, on the other hand, the former price being advertised is not bona fide but fictitious—for example, where an artificial, inflated price was established for the purpose of enabling the subsequent offer of a large reduction—the “bargain” being advertised is a false one; the purchaser is not receiving the unusual value he expects. In such a case, the “reduced” price is, in reality, probably just the seller’s regular price.
I’d need to see the details of the BOGO offer before having an opinion.
I love my Instant Pot. Not sure what there is to dislike about it. I certainly understand if someone decides they don’t have much of a use for it, but it’s a very good product.
Yeah, I use it much more as a rice cooker than as a pressure cooker, but it being able to do both of those things in the space of one gadget more than justifies the purchase.
I bought an instant pot a few years ago and I really wanted to like it, but it never really hooked us. For the first few months, my wife was almost literally:
I remember working at Sears they would have two vaccuums that were basically identical, just had slightly different attachments. This was so they could always have one of them on sale and the other regular price. I thought it was weird but someone explained to me that it was to get around the law that something couldnt always be on sale.
My main issue is that it is stored in a spot way up high so that I forget that it’s there. Every time I have used it the stuff has turned out great and I’ve marveled at how awesome it is.
