We all know that prices of just about everything are going up at a truly frightening rate, but does this mean that stores are justified in re-pricing goods already on shelf?
The assumption, of course, is that the retailer acquired the goods at a lower price and then simply slapped a new price on them, inflating their profit margin.
It's a practice which generally fills consumers with outrage when they spot it - as Felicity Gray and her husband did at Incredible Connection in Gateway shopping centre, Umhlanga recently.
"We went to the store to replace our printer's ink cartridges. As my husband picked up what he needed from the shelf, an assistant told him to check the price as his colleague was busy re-pricing the old stock - in full view of customers!" she said.
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"When we queried this with the manager, all he would say was that the new boxes had come in marked for sale to the public at R389.95 and so the old stock - marked at R359.95 - had to be changed."
The instantaneous R30 price hike didn't impress the couple.
"These shops already have a high enough mark-up without making more of a profit out of the consumer," Felicity said.
"They did reverse the amount for us back to the original of R359.95 but I wonder how many other consumers will be caught out."
So I approached Incredible Connection - part of the JD Group - for comment.
Merchandise executive Roger Wood said that when new stock arrived at higher prices than those already on shelf, "we use the difference between the two costs as the new cost price".
He's essentially saying that using this averaging price formula, the actual new price is lower than it would have been had the price of existing stock not been adjusted. So if the old cost price was R50 and the new cost price R80, the adjusted cost price - for both old and new stock - would be R60.50.
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