Prices have been this way for Years.. Even your electric company has different prices for different people! Look at yor bill. if for instance you are on Welfare, you pay less for elect. then someone who is working!
The demografics of an area determin price! Lets say its mostly spanish, for one thing the clothes and other things in the store will always be stocked according to what they will buy, In an Upper class neighborhood the stores will stock pricer things to take more money from your wallet!
I know this because I was a retail manager and I worked in stores in the poorest neighborhoods and in middle and rich one's, I was always amazed how this could be done. and it is legal!!

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http://mommysavers.com/boards/journa...wjournal&j=110


If you tell your secrets to the wind... Don't be mad if it tell's the trees.

Of course the same chain can charge different prices at different stores. Target does it too and it has been heavily scrutinized. At least what I've seen in reports, prices are generally lower in nice suburbs than in the cities, especially poorer areas. Obviously it varies but the particular items often studied are essentials, like baby formula. The reason often cited is that lower income people may not have the means (transportation) or the time to comparison shop. If a SAHM in the suburbs is getting charged a higher price, she'll just hop in her minivan and go to a different place. It's a lot tougher if you have to rely on public transportation and the stores take advantage of that. Remember, the stores goal is to producing the highest return. They have to balance making as much money as they can without losing customers

sad but true** I used to be a rep for retail stores. and its all about what demographic
area you are in. but in my opinion walmart still has the cheapest prices
also when you go onto different web sites, (Michael's, sears, Safeway) many others they ask you to type in your zip code. different ads for different areas

Everyone does it. We may not like it, but that's the way it is. If everyone hates WalMart so much, why does everyone shop there?

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~Happiness is a large family~

It goes on all over the country and world. It is called The Law of Supply and Demand and is basic economics.

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allgirls, mom to 3 girls

*Stands and applauds*

I just don't understand why so many people hate this store and they are still in business.

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"It's time to move from what we can do, to what we must do, to what we will do." ~Hillary Clinton

It's totally legal here in Massachusetts to charge different prices at different store locations. There was an article in The Boston Globe about how the grocery chain Stop and Shop has different prices in each town.

I took all the receipts in and talked to them and they refunded all of it to my credit card without having to take all the items in. At first they were like "too bad". Then I told them that was fine, I'd be glad to bring it all back and they could restock it, mess with the packaging and all and I'd still get my money back. Again I was met with the "if you live in a more affluent neighborhood it is simply expected that you can afford to pay more" statement from the manager. I basically said no freaking way and held up the line forever making sure others in line could hear the discussion about how they too might be being screwed. I think evenutally he decided that it wasn't worth the trouble and it would be worth the money to get me the heck out of there.

Unfortunately because Walmart has run all the competition away those of us who would definately shop somewhere else are left with no choice unless we want to pay several times as much for an item which is crazy. Target is no better, today I saw packages of Sauve multipacks that usually sell for about $2.24 for both the shampoo and conditioner for kids being split apart and put on the shelves to be sold for $1.75 per bottle. The thing is after they cut the plastic to seperate the two bottles the actual bottles still said multi pack on them.

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Standard of Living and Quality of life are NOT the same thing.

People want the lower prices and are willing to take a lower quality sometimes. WalMart doesn't run anyone out of business. If customers had wanted the better quality and higher price of the other stores, they could have kept them in business. Not enough did. That is life.

It is ok to complain and it is good if managers are responsive to complaints. Bad pr is very damaging.

Take your dollars to stores with policies that you like and if enough others do, they will stay in business.

Cathleen

Walmart's business model of undercutting the cost of competitors so they can't compete because nobody in their right mind wants to waste money paying more for the same item has allowed Walmart to do exactly what they are now. Unless you want to throw your money away paying a lot more you are basically forced to shop there out of necessity and then they can treat you any way that they want to which in every store I ever go in is crap. When was the last time you were impressed with any service that they provided? I myself do not have a choice because I cannot afford to take care of my family if I don't shop there or Target. Exactly my point, they know they have the consumers over a barrel and therefore can treat people as badly as they want to. I guess I just can't find anything positive in that. I think those of us who dislike them really don't have a choice when it comes to survival.

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Standard of Living and Quality of life are NOT the same thing.