Oddbean new post about login | logout @43d7c4ea I think the vast majority of large corporations simply don't care what customers think of their brands - because they have high market control and run an artificial scarcity model. Airlines and concert promoters are perfect examples. You pay what they demand or you don't fly/go to the show. Ever more companies and restricting supply in similar fashion. With so many pubs closing, I'm not surprised some are trying this. Late stage capitalism is built for #PriceGouging
@419623b4 Well, if dynamic pricing spreads further as the FT expects I suspect we may be about to test that proposition... I think the key thing (as I've already intimated) is that the impact may vary from sector to sector & by consumer group....
@43d7c4ea True, time will tell But airlines learned a dirty secret from the American healthcare system... In a captive market, you make more profit selling to LESS customers at an ever higher price.
@43d7c4ea @419623b4 There is though a subtle difference between 'surge pricing' in pubs and dynamic pricing in theatres, airlines, etc... There is a harder limit on the number of theatre/plane seats that the public can easily perceive, than on the number of drinks a bar can sell. I think therefore people are more likely to see surge pricing in pubs in terms of profiteering, rather than supply logistics.
@43d7c4ea I can't help but view recent inflation as a mix of large companies using it as cover for #PriceGouging and small companies trying to survive. But *everyone* must play this game because one of the absolute essentials in every business (eg power) is *still* double the prior cost. I don't buy "supply chain disruption" as a cause since that was with us since 2020 (even worse). IMO the #FossilFuel companies are extorting the world economy ...again #EnergyIndependenceIsGreen
@419623b4 @43d7c4ea 40% is domestic profits. 46% is import (energy) price hikes. Small companies aren't surviving. https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2023/06/26/europes-inflation-outlook-depends-on-how-corporate-profits-absorb-wage-gains