What’s the Price of Price Fixing?

Price fixing – that is, when a manufacturer sets a minimum retail price for their products – may be secretly taking a bite out of your bottom line.

In our free market economy, supply and demand usually determine where prices are set. If a product is popular, the price rises; if it doesn’t sell well, the price falls. However, every now and then, a manufacturer tells its retailers that they can’t sell a product as cheaply as they’d like to. Price fixing like this makes it hard for those retailers to bring you the best, most competitive deals.

Price Fixing and the Economy

Price fixing has a chilling effect on the restaurant industry and business in general. Both at work and at home, you may find that the products you want or need are out of your budgetary range – even though the manufacturer could sell those products at an affordable price if they wanted. If hundreds or thousands of people aren’t buying the products they desire, that means less money moving through the economy, and more demand for business credit in an economy that’s already strapped.

Thirty-five of the 50 state attorneys general wrote Congress in May 2008, asking that they pass a law to make price fixing illegal. They believe that “resale price maintenance” or price fixing will feed inflation and add $300 billion to annual consumer costs.

What You Can Do About Price Fixing

We at Short Order are committed to bringing you the best possible value for your restaurant equipment needs. We believe we deliver a compelling combination of service, support, and yes, competitive prices. Price fixing affects our business, and it probably affects yours too.

If you want to take a stand against price fixing, sign the petition at StopPriceFixing.org. The site has plenty of stories and information about price fixing and how it affects your wallet.