Consumer Groups Warn Of Unnecessary Price Hikes

[jeffrey]

As companies begin raising prices in response to increasing gas and energy costs, some consumer advocates worry that many of the price increases won't be legitimate. They fear that companies whose profits are not performing well will raise prices on goods and services claiming higher prices for gas as the reason when in reality all they want to do is boost their profit margins.

While many companies are definitely feeling the pain of rising oil prices, many others are using rising oil prices as an excuse to increase their profits. The problem for consumers is that it is often difficult to tell what is a legitimate price increase and what is not.




When a company says it's raising prices due to increases in oil prices, most consumers can understand the situation since they are themselves paying higher prices for gasoline. If the company is not heavily dependent on transportation, then it could be questionable whether the price increase is a legitimate increase due to oil prices.

Companies that run fleets of cars and trucks as part of their business can have a legitimate reason for raising prices, but which companies use these fleets is often not well known to the consumer. For example, coin laundry operators are beginning to raise prices. In addition to the cost of running the machines, coin laundry operators usually have large fleets of trucks to pick up the coins and transport them to banks. This is something the average consumer wouldn't think about.

Consumer advocates say it pays for consumers to be wary and do research if a company suddenly claims a price increase is necessary due to rising oil prices. It may be legitimate, but it could also be a simple way of a company to take advantage of the current situation and try to get more of your hard earned money.

[swift40205]

I agree with your comments. Don't forget furniture stores that are going out of business and having great sales. More than once, I knew certain prices on items. When the sale started the price went up to cover the low percent off price. Also, I don't like a sale price at the grocery and compare the unit price of the same brand but different size only to find the item that is not on sale is less money per unit price. Thanks for listening.

[cercis]

What, as consumers, can we do? It's a capitalist economy. If you need the product and you can't get it cheaper, what are you going to do. This admin has made it clear they wouldn't investigate price gouging.

So you write to the company and tell them you know they're lying. Big deal. They know they're lying. They also know that everyone else is raising their prices and there's fat lot of good anyone can do about it.