“SURGE PRICING," "DYNAMIC PRICING," ETC.

(And whether they all perhaps are just different terms for, well, “GOUGING”)

I don’t know about you, but I think this one might be well worth a shout down. Just imagine being a businessperson and suddenly being able to decide at what time(s) of day (or night) that you would choose to charge for a price for your product or service?

First, I completely understand the “wish” for this to occur, but what makes no sense whatsoever is how it all fits into a lawful and fair process for those who PAY YOU for your product or service.

Let’s take ***a closer look*** … @ some PRICE SURGES!!

Case Study: The Donut

Peering in from the customer side of things, I would think that a customer who buys a donut at 5 a.m. (before the morning rush) would expect that, with surge pricing, he or she should obtain the BEST price for the donut purchased. This, not only because said donut is certainly “fresher” at 5 a.m., but also because LESS people are competing to purchase the donut at the time. A different argument could say that the customer should pay MORE because it was just made and will taste best at this hour.

So, where does that leave us? Should the donut be MORE expensive at 5 a.m.? Or, should it be MORE expensive around 7 a.m. when the traffic numbers are much higher? At any rate, trying to even give intelligent answers to these questions seems like a recipe for disaster and it looks like the only places these matters will end up in are the courts!