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Pretty much. Yesterday I wanted to grab some Fanta for in the park. A 0.33L can would’ve been too little, but a 1L bottle too much, and a 1.5L bottle far too m
by jorvi 3y ago
Pretty much. Yesterday I wanted to grab some Fanta for in the park.
A 0.33L can would’ve been too little, but a 1L bottle too much, and a 1.5L bottle far too much. 0.50L was the perfect size.
The pricing?
0.33L - €0.66 (€2.00 per L)
0.50L - €1.48 (€2.96 per L)
1.00L - €1.93 (€1.93 per L)
1.50L - €2.09 (€1.39 per L)
Initially this made me angry, as it is very clear they figured out that the 0.5L bottle is the most convenient size, and put a huge premium on that, as people that need that size (for say, in a backpack) will pay it for lack of alternative. In other words, the price the market will bear.
But then I reminded myself, modern companies will always try to give you the least amount of value for the highest price the market will bear.
This is also why you should never feel bad if you can get one over on a company. Pricing error that gets you expensive shoes for €1? Screw ‘em. Contractual obligation that effectively gives you lifetime for €1? Screw ‘em. They’ll do the same to you whenever they can.
I wish businesses believed in being synergistic with their customers and nurturing loyalty, but alas. Not the times we live in.
- ClumsyPilot 3y ago> This is also why you should never feel bad if you can get one over on a company. Pricing error that gets you expensive shoes for €1? Screw ‘em. Contractual obligation that effectively gives you lifetime for €1? Screw ‘em. They’ll do the same to you whenever they can I recently saw a £700 bicycle carbon fork on sale for £70, new, the shop just forgot a zero. I didnt buy it out of feeling bad :(
- dspillett 3y agoIn the UK at least they can refuse to sell at that price if it is an error. A displayed price is not a contract but an invitation to tender. It only becomes different legally if the low price was a deliberate bait-and-switch thing or similar.
- Zak 3y agoI'm guessing a component like that was being sold by a local bike shop or a small chain, not an inhuman multinational corporation. I hope you told somebody about the error rather than just leaving it for the next person to buy. If a company like Amazon mispriced something that way, I'd gladly buy it.
- pcai 3y agoJust buy 2 of the 0.33L! You already did the math!
- wst_ 3y agoI assume it's a can. No go for me. Not sure about OP. The convenience of half litre bottle is that it's relatively small and you can keep it closed.
- jorvi 3y agoYep, exactly this. You can sip from a bottle and put it back in your backpack. A can you have to leave outside the backpack once opened.
- WalterBright 3y ago> modern companies will always try to give you the least amount of value for the highest price the market will bear Modern consumers will always try to pay as little as possible for the highest amount of value they can. The proper term for this is The Law of Supply and Demand. It's how markets work. BTW, your anecdote illustrates why making the effort to learn some math while in grade school is worthwhile.
- jorvi 3y agoSupply and demand presumes that I would have wanted something else than Fanta - since I (and presumably others) did not, Fanta had market power :). As an aside, the example would be even more dramatic with non-sugar, where the 0.5L bottle is €1.88, but the 1L bottle is €1.95, due to both the price premium of ‘convenient size’ and ‘healthy alternative’ being stacked.
- WalterBright 3y ago> Supply and demand presumes that I would have wanted something else than Fanta That's not how S&D works. S&D is in-play even if Fanta had a monopoly. Even if the prices were set by the government. Governments have tried every scheme imaginable to repeal the law of S&D, but they never work. BTW, I gave up all soda about 15 years ago. It took about a year to finally stop craving it. I no longer have any desire for it. Besides the health issues, it has saved me a ton of money in aggregate.
- jorvi 3y ago> A firm with market power chooses a point on the demand curve that it faces. It sets a price as a markup over marginal cost and then produces enough to meet demand at that price. A firm with market power does not take the price as given and then determine a quantity to supply. In fact—strictly speaking—there is no such thing as a supply curve when a firm has market power. Soda for me is a guilty pleasure, like a good barbecue, or a bottle of red wine. But I appreciate the heads-up!
- 3y ago
- onion2k 3y agoPretty much everyone: Businesses should operate in a free market. Let the market decide! Things shouldn't be regulated by the government if they don't absolutely need to be. Also pretty much everyone: Wait, the decisions businesses make that affect me absolutely suck!