Britains price fixing Epidemic !

NaRvIcK DeViL · 06-03-2008, 07:26 PM

Everyday it comes to our notice that more and more British Based companies are being investigated for price fixing, i.e. the construction industry, Banks, car manufactures, the telecom industry, energy companies,BAA, etc…..

This behaviour is rampant in the UK, it’s why companies. Foreign and domestic call
this country we live in Treasure Island, Gold coast .We all know it as rip-off Britain

On a personal level my brother in law who owns a paint shop on hearing a new customer mention the words ‘Insurance job’ on the method of payment for repairs to their car, he automatically prices the work to be carried out ‘times 4’ (that’s four times the normal price if he paid by any other method) for all parts, labour and materials and it doesn’t matter if this customer goes elsewhere the same thing will happen up and down the country no matter what Garage. Paint shop he goes to.

This use to be called the British mark-up and functioned throughout British Industry, where a projected and protected profit margin was expected and guaranteed, and was even protected by the state, it was suppose to have been abolished through legislation in 1973 but it has evolved over the decades and is why Companies that do business in this country expect huge profit margins year in year out. To put it into context in the rest of Europe a profit margin of 20% is excessive here in the UK it’s called loose change. Remember this when your utility company puts it’s prices up again they’re not only passing on their costs but a increase of profit margin on to you .

So I ask the question! How do we put an end to this ingrained, excepted practice which is called by those who exploit the situation as legally mugging the consumer?

I suggest reintroducing for a temporary period the Resale Price Maintenance system (RPM) where prices were “capped” so that no one could charge an excessive high price, this use to make sure that profiteering didn’t happen and that everyone knew the maximum that could be charged for everything. Retailers where allowed to charge less if it suited them or if you where skilled enough as a customer you could negotiate a lower price.

To simplify, imagine going into a shop to buy a New LCD TV and on top of the TV was a list of all the costs incurred including the profit margins, you will be able to see clearly the cost of everything and companies wouldn’t be able to hide their excessive profit margins through keeping us the customers ignorant. And if you think this is far fetched because I can see that every company up and down the country would be up in arms about this .This already happens in other parts of the world. Buying a car in America where it was brought in to stop car salesmen from ripping off the customer and a few years ago, I found because of my French girlfriends mother who tried to buy a TV for her daughter in this country while visiting.

On seeing 20% being displayed on top of a TV thought that represented the profit margin by the retailer, she went off the handle, which distressed the salesperson. Who told her that was the discount .I’ll never forget what she said to me as we where leaving “what you pay for a portable I pay for a widescreen TV”.