TYT: Yup, You Were Right, Retailers Do Exactly What You Thought

[WhoIsNumberNone]

"A Florida store worker who was fired from JC Penney after revealing sales strategies claims the chain is trying to silence him.

Bob Blatchford appeared on the Today show last July to disclose how prices were nearly doubled before the same items went on sale at the original price.

After firing the custom decorating studio coordinator, the store has filed a petition claiming his statement on their prices was confidential business information."* The Young Turks hosts Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian break it down.

[TheBlackAdder]

1. I worked for a major high-end retailer, check out these prices.

During Christmas:

Those $40 silk scarves you would buy from the counters... they cost $0.75 - $1.50 each. (That's why they don't have loss prevention tags on them.) Then, when they offer them 50% off, they're still making 2000% on them.


Other times:

Jeans... EVERY pair of jeans... no more than $8 a pair. Some would go out on the floor for $24, other would go out for $125. (but they cost the store the same amount).

T-shirts are about $1.25 and oxfords are about $6.

===

My favorite are the sunglasses and the tools who buy them and show them off as a status symbol.

Almost every pair of sunglasses cost less than $6 a pair. Some go out at $12, other go out at $150.

[EC]

5. And Sears Holding Company

owns almost all the stores that have merchandise in the medium price range, therefore keeping all prices about the same everywhere. There are very few "deals" anymore.

[AtheistCrusader]

7. That's why I like shaded safety glasses.

Problem is, there is effort to 'fashionablize' them as well. So the prices on safety eyewear is going up too.

[BodieTown]

2. "Trade" secret: What a joke.

Here's another secret: You know those "anchor" stores in most malls, especially the ones that used to be associated (wink wink) with each other?

They have been gaming shoppers for over 40 years doing this exact thing. Daily.

No, Bob Blatchford should not have been fired: The rest of us--any of us who have worked in these stores at one time or another--should have been blabbing about it to anybody who would listen.

Oooooo, "you're not supposed to talk about it." And few people do...corporate bullyism and entitlement win again, forever.

Somehow, back then, it made me feel important to know that I was protecting the corporate secrets. Now, I can hardly enter the stores owned by those corporations without spitting on their over-priced crap.

[fasttense]

4. I didn't know that pricing was a trade secret.

I use to work for a retail department store in the mall. They always marked up and then marked down the stuff to make it look like a good sale. But I would tell anyone who asked how it worked. No one seemed to care. They still shopped there and the store never said anything to me about keeping quiet. So, I blabbed everything I knew about their price rigging. They have since been boughten up and no longer sell under the same name. They probably still fake their sale prices though.

[oldandhappy]

3. Thank you to all of you posting additional facts supporting Blatchford.

I almost never go shopping unless I am desperate for something. Recently replaced a ten=year old pair of sneakers.

Shopping is an addiction for most of us and the profiteers love it, smile.

[AtheistCrusader]

6. I thought this was always the most obvious and open 'secret' of retail nationwide.

Lots of people don't buy unless they THINK they are getting a good deal. That's why JCPenny floundered when they removed the fake sales. Consumers no longer felt the comfort of a good deal. However illusory it might be.

In the $20-$40 sale to $21 example, the markup might not be 100% the difference, but it costs money to do the sales signage, send the workers around to mark up/down inventory, etc. So that makes sense.

Sales signage that isn't loss leader, is cost passed on to the consumer for advertising. Literally.

[Merlot]

8. A friend who worked in retail said some sale items come INTO the store on Sale

with the prices marked and the sale price marked over them.

Not a big secret.