Pink Tax at Target?

[TexasHusker]

Same here!

In before the lock.....

I guess we don't need to even mention the NFL...😜

[frugal saver]

That's been going on for years.

I wear basic walking shoes, in white or black. I discovered a long time ago that women's white shoes cost more than men's identical white shoes. So now when I go to the shoe store, I pick up the box from the men's side and go try them on over on the women's side. I've seen price differences of $10 or more.

I think it has more to do with perceived shopping patterns and women's supposed willingness to pay more if something is "cute." Or a particular brand. Or the "in" color.

I guess since they still do it, it must be working.

[JBinKC]

I think the only instance where its cheaper to purchase a pink product is disposable razors.

[Gailete]

It may also filter down to something as simple as the cost of the dye being used.

When we started selling sewing patterns on line, we would run into identical patterns, same pattern number, etc. My husband thought we should charge higher for the Women's plus size or girls plus size as the Misses or regular girl sizes. As a plus-sized woman myself I said NO WAY as there was no increased cost in procuring them for us. I can see an already made up garment in women’s size 32W/3X costing more than a woman's size 4 garment. There is a whole lot more fabric in the 3X garment.


I have heard of the cost of misses/women's items being more than men's and I don't know why other than they have gotten away with it for years. I too have given up on women's shoes as I can't find any to fit, so now I just head for the men's section and sit there and try them on in the men's department as well. I hate shopping for shoes and have most of my life!

As far as I know I have only seen one transgendered person. How could I tell? He/She had just paid for something at Walmart and as they walked away her purse was hanging open in a way NO woman would ever carry a purse, in other words, she didn’t have years of conditioning on how to carry purses!

[~bs]

If that’s what your idea of allowing transgender people to use the bathroom maybe that is where the problem lies. I’m sure you have never even notice if there is a some whose gender identity differs from their birth sex in the bathroom with you.

In fact the that was my first exposure to trans as a kid, when a fully decked out trans woman came out of the men’s bathroom and I asked my parents why that lady was using the men’s room.

As for pink tax at target in my experience it is very much the case, it equalizes a bit if you use all of their apps, savings, etc and that is the point. The target audience is women, the discounts bait them to the store, the apps track their shopping habits. I’m not a big fan.

so if i feel like a woman today, I can waltz into the women's bathroom or locker room and do my business? Because that's what is happening when transgendered people use the women's room.

my opinion is merely an opinion, but if you're born a man, you're a man, born a female, you're a female. Doesn't matter what clothing, surgical augmentations, or mentality you walk around with. If a dude cross dresses for halloween, he's still a dude, and shouldn't use the womens restroom. You can deck yourself out in a full space suit, mission patches, tin foil plating over your visor, hopping around like a bunny, the whole shebang, but you're still not a real astronaut, sorry. Will both the "astronaut" and transgendered individuals be ridiculed by people of both sexes? Yup.
---------------------------

For "pink tax", I personally don't see a problem with it. If a customer don't like, don't buy. That simple.

The stores are in the business of making money and charge what they charge to do so. I think the pricing models are largely set by computer algorithms. And women care about certain things such as shopping more than men do, and therefore willing to pay more money or consume more of those goods, leading to the higher prices. And viceversa for men and the things they care about. These types of pricing tactics are EVERYWHERE. Senior discounts, "ladies night" freebies at various events, kids discounts, etc etc. Should we cry and whine about any perceived slight because of a pricing difference, forcing the vendors to raise their prices for everyone to the same level - misery loves company - or simply vote with your wallet? If customers dont like the practice or pricing, then they should shop elsewhere.

Equality doesn't necessarily mean everything is the same in all ways.

This coffee shop charges 18% more to men for the same product and uses discriminatory seating practices. If something like this was in my area, I would simply avoid the business.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/06/cafe-reportedly-charges-men-more-than-women-to-address-gender-pay-gap.html

[~bs]

I think it has more to do with perceived shopping patterns and women's supposed willingness to pay more if something is "cute." Or a particular brand. Or the "in" color.

bingo. unless the purchase is for something that men value, say for a hobby, generally he's not going to care what particular product he's buying, just that he will buy one. He's not going to spend an hour looking at 100 shampoos trying to figure out which one makes his hair softer, doesn't bleed out the highlights, is a good value, has cute packaging, doesn't hurt rabbits, etc, he just want A shampoo that is pretty cheap and functions as shampoo. If he can get it in a big bottle where he doesn't have to go back to the store again for 6 months, even better.

So when it comes to most household goods, men are more price sensitive than women. Retailers and vendors know this, and need to set their prices at a lower level to compete. They know if they can appeal to women on an emotional level, they can get them to pay a premium on the same or similar product.

--------------
Example, I bought dress shoes the other day. I pretty much walked in, looked for color, size, style that I normally wear, and price, then bought and walked out. Whole process took maybe 5 minutes. If the store decided to charge more money, making the shoes expensive, then my thought pattern will shift towards whether it's worth the trouble to go somewhere else with cheaper shoes or buy online. If you were to expand that mentality across a demographic and across various consumer goods, not looking good for that particular vendor

[greenskeeper]

I guess we don't need to even mention the NFL...��

disgraceful, no matter what the "cause" is. Choose the right time and place to protest, otherwise stand and show some respect.

[disneysteve]

I think it has more to do with perceived shopping patterns and women's supposed willingness to pay more if something is "cute." Or a particular brand. Or the "in" color.

Although in this particular case, with the bibs, it is more likely to be a woman who is shopping regardless of whether or not she is buying pink or blue, so the price difference doesn't really make sense.

[Gailete]

These types of pricing tactics are EVERYWHERE. Senior discounts,

I do love my senior discounts!

I doubt I would go to that restaurant myself. They say that they give that extra money to a charity, why not to their underpaid waitresses? And depending on how they apply the 'tax' to the bill, the 'tip' for the waitstaff will be larger as well. I guess my problem is that it isn't going to where it should - to their female employees wages unless Australia pays waitstaff differently than here. A waitress here doesn't get minimum wage from her employer, tips are supposed to cover it, so why not give that extra to them?

Years ago I worked at a job where one of the things I did was hand out paychecks. At this point in time I had graduated from college and was working full time. In the summer a male teacher applied to work part time. When he came in one day and asked for his paycheck (they didn't stick them in envelopes at that time). I couldn't help but see his wages. MORE that I was making and the only difference was he was a guy. No part time worker should get paid more than full time, you could not blame it on education as we were both college graduates, we were working as cashiers at a truck stop, AND to top it off, I trained him! Why was he making more than me?

Ended up in the same type of situation when I was a nurse. An RN was hired that had done home care with the same person for 10 years. She came on board and I found out because of her years of 'experience' she was making lots more than me who had only been working 3-4 years as a nurse. Suddenly she had to be helping take care of a variety of patiences and she had pretty much no clinical skill. She needs to insert a catheter, I had to teach her since I was the charge nurse and so it went and she was making more money.

I don't think that gender equality is going to deal with the problem by changing laws. Employers will always find a way around the rules if they want to. I also do not want to share a bathroom with the wrong sex when out in public as there is no way to monitor whether someone really is 'trans' or just looking for a way to peek in bathroom stalls and make women uncomfortable or literally attack them. What do we expect them to do, wear a big T on their clothing like the pink triangle or gold star of David? I'm happy to see that my local Walmart has a 'family' bathroom and that solves that problem as far as I am concerned.

[~bs]

^

I agree, when practical for the business, school, wherever to have them, a private bathroom is a reasonable solution. they call them "family bathrooms". But I guess if one wanted to be politically correct, they should be called "private bathrooms", so they're open to use for anyone not really comfortable with sharing public bathrooms with others, including transgendered individuals, people with catheters, in wheelchairs, families, etc. Government regulation can assist in this area - if the business is larger than a certain size, required to have 1 private bathroom, which they probably have already.

I really am not sure why he would be making more than you, perhaps he negotiated some sort of raise due to experience or he worked longer hours? Sometimes **** really aint fair, but you don't really know if it's discriminatory unless you look further into it. I guess something can be said for unions, where the pay is or should be equalized because of the payscales. Also note that I have heard of part time or on call-workers that make more than full time staff before. I guess the pay is used as an incentive to come in and work on a sporatic, short term basis.

[Nutria]

^

I agree, when practical for the business, school, wherever to have them, a private bathroom is a reasonable solution. they call them "family bathrooms". But I guess if one wanted to be politically correct, they should be called "private bathrooms", so they're open to use for anyone not really comfortable with sharing public bathrooms with others, including transgendered individuals, people with catheters, in wheelchairs, families, etc.

The term "family bathroom" confuses me: do I go in there with my DW and two grown children?

And "private bathroom" is even worse, because that word "private" explicitly means, "not for you!!!"

[~bs]

The term "family bathroom" confuses me: do I go in there with my DW and two grown children?

And "private bathroom" is even worse, because that word "private" explicitly means, "not for you!!!"

hmm, good point. Any suggestions?

[Jluke]

I think it has more to do with perceived shopping patterns and women's supposed willingness to pay more if something is "cute." Or a particular brand. Or the "in" color.

quoting this one b/c some of the ones above are stuck on the bathroom topic which I will just add. Imagine a single mother of a little boy being told you can't take him in the ladies room and you can't take him in the men's room. Now what? Family bathrooms really help in that situation.

Anyways:
I've stood in line at Target with an item (child's stuffed animal if I recall correctly) I saw on their website. The cashier scanned the item and the price was higher than the online price (I had scanned it before I went in line). I brought this to their attention but they would not adjust the price. I got them to give me a discount that brought it down in price so it was close to the online price.

It's just the way things are now. Consumer has to be smart about their purchases. In reality, I could have stepped aside and just ordered the item right there on my phone.

[~bs]

Originally Posted by frugal saver View Post

I think it has more to do with perceived shopping patterns and women's supposed willingness to pay more if something is "cute." Or a particular brand. Or the "in" color.
-----------------------------
If it was me, I'd just buy the baby girl the blue one without a second thought. lol who cares?

reminds me of an ex that was asking why I had flowery shower curtains. "um because that one was on clearance and cost half the price of the more manly looking ones"? lol

[Gailete]

In reality, I could have stepped aside and just ordered the item right there on my phone.

I do believe I would have, but then that is determined by what the need is. For a birthday party later that day or to set aside until Christmas?