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Why does everyone claim that price discrimination is some kind of injustice when it's done by a computer?
by rabidsnail 14y ago
Why does everyone claim that price discrimination is some kind of injustice when it's done by a computer?
- abruzzi 14y agoIt has little to do with the price being set by a computer or a person. He sees the price for everyone else is one third cheaper. He doesn't say it, but without making the connection to the price fixing anti-trust action, a reasonable conclusion would be that since the book is one in a series, and Amazon knows he bought the previous book, it has jacked the price for him since he's already "hooked." That to most people would be a questionable pricing strategy. The anti trust action makes more sense, but he probably didn't make that connection.
- rabidsnail 14y agoPrice fixing requires multiple sellers to collude to set prices. Who is the seller besides Amazon in this case?
- tomp 14y agoBecause it's been programmed by a person.
- rabidsnail 14y agoIf you go to a flea market, and the lady at the stall gives the person after you a 20% lower price because you looked rich (inelastic) and they looked poor (elastic), would you be angry about that? Amazon is doing the same thing but with numbers.
- patja 14y agoyes...let's all go protest at the cineplex because gosh-darn-it my friend who went to the matinee was charged less than me! unfair! don't like the price? don't buy it.