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Hotels Look to Floating Rate Contracts

What could be more dynamic than the price of hotel rooms? Well, a lot of hotel room prices are set in negotiations with corporate travel managers. These rates tend to be fixed. So the buyer could pay more than rack … Read More

Employee Pricing Hard to End

Edmunds reports that the Big 3 are extending their employee pricing programs through the rest of the summer, noting “It’s hard to say who’s more addicted to employee pricing; the shoppers or the sellers?” The most interesting aspect of this … Read More

Aggressive Pricing Important for Real Estate?

One of the biggest pricing decisions most people make is usually outsourced. When selling a home, most of us rely on real estate agents to set the price for us and guide us in negotiating with buyers. Certainly, the average … Read More

Comments on The Tyranny of Averages

Welcome newsletter readers. For folks coming directly to the blog, this is a space to comment on a recent newsletter article about the danger of averages.

Gasoline Pricing “In the Zone”

The Greenwich Citizen posted an editorial the other day calling for an end to zone pricing. “Zone pricing” means carving up markets into small zones, based on demographics and other information, and varying prices according to zones. Generally, zones with … Read More

Pricing Pressure Continues to Pound Airlines

I read an interesting article on airline pricing over the weekend. Much of it is not surprising– customers want low prices, and they get them where there is competition. Most airlines have a cost structure that makes it almost impossible … Read More

GM Reports Loss

Folks waiting to see how the Employee Pricing for All program turned out probably already know the answer. GM posted a Q2 loss of $286M, with a $1.2B loss in North America.

HP Rolls out $249 Desktop

In 1997, Compaq scored a major pricing coup by offering the first major-label desktop for under $1,000. Now, Compaq acquirer HP is offering a desktop (sans monitor) for $249, almost to the magic $199 consumer electronics price point. With back-to-school … Read More

Oracle Pricing “A Comedy of Fractions”

We’ve had several posts on how advances in chip technology make the traditional “per-CPU” software pricing model less and less compelling. Oracle had stuck firm to its “one core = one CPU” policy. They’ve relented, but in a way that … Read More

Delta Rethinks Fare Caps

Delta raised their one-way, walk-up fares caps from $499 to $599 for coach, and up to $699 for first class. They attributed the fare increase to higher than expected fuel costs. As the reader who sent this piece in asked: … Read More