Price Transparency
Categories: Company Management
Well, you must've seen the ads from SouthWest. Price Transfarency? So clever. So effective. The driver? So many semi-sleazy companies that jerked their customers around with fake lead in prices that had all kinds of fees that were "hidden" behind them. Buy 100 shares for a dime each...but oh no, there's a $100 stocking fee. (Why did we need stockings anyway? We walk around barefoot.)
Want a mortgage? It's only 3 percent. But, um, sorry. There are a bunch of fees we gotta add on. You're a risky bet. Sorry.
So many fake fees, so little time. So eventually, consumers had had enough, and the fares then had to be made clear. In some businesses, the owner will claim up front that she's going to make for herself a 15% profit margin. She then shows what her suppliers charge her. She shows her own books and costs and then, unapologetically, she adds her markup for the final bill.
Ever build a custom home with a general contractor? Well, that's pretty much how it works and operates. And it doesn't count the free vacations that the contractor gets from his plumber with 2 free tickets to Hawaii and a week at the Hilton, champagne chillin' when he arrives.
Some things are, well, less transparent.
