Price Fixing
In South Africa we are constantly hearing about pricing fixing in the media. It’s nothing new and now is so regular that isn’t even news worthy any more. This is unfortunate but true.
Lately the old argument of pricing fixing, specifically relating to the bread price, is back in the media. Personally, I agree that price fixing hurts the consumer and discourages competition. Better service and goods is often the product of competition.
What puzzles me is that the people in power are obsessed with the bread prices but little else. They keep slapping fines on the major parties concerned. This in turn is not really taken seriously as there is so much money made from price fixing that a monetary fine hardly dents their bottom line. It is almost as if they buy the right to practice in this way by paying the fines.
So perhaps instead of fines a more effective action to be sanctioned? If the accused is not willing to change their ways then perhaps a loss of license to conduct business is in order? Obviously the fines are not working…
This brings me to the object of this post. Why is it that only some segments of the market are subjected to these regulations with regards to price fixing? Surely any sort of price fixing should be discouraged in unison?
I fail to understand why the banking industry is excluded from the price fixing regulations. I firmly believe that banks should be under just as much scrutiny as any other industry.
I cannot understand why one needs to pay so much money to leave our money with the banking industries. The banking industry is not failing because of lack of funds but from greed and mismanagement. So perhaps they should take fewer gambles with our money and charge us less for doing so!
On a last note I would also like to state that all of this has been partially our own fault and we are now held to ransom by the big guys!
I still remember the days of small businesses and Cafés on every second street corner. With our insatiable desire for “cheap” we have abandoned the little guy with his friendly smile and often good service for the cheaper impersonal big enterprises.
This is how the sweat shops and child labour camps came about. Cheap killed quality and our humanity.
Now those little businesses are gone and we can no longer boycott any particular business because in truth — no matter where you go — most businesses are owned by a few major conglomerates. They don’t care where you shop because the money lands up in the same pocket.
So perhaps, because of all of this, we need to “buy” back our freedom by paying a little extra in support of the last few little guys left. The honest ones will reward you for your business with service.
