From the little I remember of my economics classes, can't the "price fixing" of the sort that is at issue here (charging one set of consumers one price, charging another set another, higher, price, and coupling that system with some method of separating the two groups) be a good thing? (By good thing, I mean good thing for the wee, downtrodden folks -- which here appear to be the British, and not the Germans.)
I remember the rationale being something like this: assume the market will bear out a certain amount of profit for me. I can either capture that by charging the same amount to everyone, or by charging folks varying prices according to their ability/willingness to pay. The latter method will allow more people who has less money to spend to buy my products, and the expense of screwing those who've got more money to do so.
Hardcover/softcover books are the classic way of doing this. You market hardcover first to capture the higher spending folks, who are willing to pay a premium to get the books faster (and in better shape), then follow up with softcover to capture the cheapies.
On a related note, don't the Finns give out traffic tickets like this? The rate you pay isn't flat, but varies according to your ability to pay? Likewise, this interest in "fairness" underlies the U.S.'s graduated income tax. One can debate the fairness, certainly, but there are at least good points to be made on both sides.
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From the little I remember of my economics classes, can't the "price fixing" of the sort that is at issue here (charging one set of consumers one price, charging another set another, higher, price, and coupling that system with some method of separating the two groups) be a good thing? (By good thing, I mean good thing for the wee, downtrodden folks -- which here appear to be the British, and not the Germans.) I remember the rationale being something like this: assume the market will bear out a certain amount of profit for me. I can either capture that by charging the same amount to everyone, or by charging folks varying prices according to their ability/willingness to pay. The latter method will allow more people who has less money to spend to buy my products, and the expense of screwing those who've got more money to do so. Hardcover/softcover books are the classic way of doing this. You market hardcover first to capture the higher spending folks, who are willing to pay a premium to get the books faster (and in better shape), then follow up with softcover to capture the cheapies. On a related note, don't the Finns give out traffic tickets like this? The rate you pay isn't flat, but varies according to your ability to pay? Likewise, this interest in "fairness" underlies the U.S.'s graduated income tax. One can debate the fairness, certainly, but there are at least good points to be made on both sides.