Crazy economics

[Grampa Don]

I need some shoe polish. So, I checked online to see what my local CVS pharmacy has. They have what I want, and it's $6.29. I decided to look a little more and found the same thing, same brand on Amazon for $3.40. It's not actually sold by Amazon but a company called Happy Forever. And, shipping is free, even though I don't have Prime.

Hmmm, which should I go for. Maybe I can wait a few days for delivery.

So, here's a small company selling a product for almost $3 less than CVS, giving a cut to Amazon, and paying to ship it. How does this make sense? Sure, CVS has to maintain and staff their stores, but they also have tremendous purchasing power. If it were just slightly less, I probably would have just gone ahead and run down to CVS and picked one up. But, almost 50% less? Something is screwy.

Don

 

[Pepper]

I find the prices at CVS horrendous, always have.

 

[Catlady]

It pays to shop around, how they manage their financals is their problem. I'm sure those companies charge us in plenty of other ways. We only need to worry about our wallet. CVS pays their executives a lot more than that small company that charges $3 less.

 

[Aunt Bea]

I notice those large price differences for the same products between the grocery chains in my area.

Also between the Dollar Tree and the RiteAid drugstore located next door to each other in the local strip mall.