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When Prices Surge

What happens to the prices when demand
outstrips finite supply? Well, you’ll be darned
to know that unlike all those years ago
(when playing fields were level) for a show,
to watch a band like Queen, the cost was set
at just ten quid—you’d not end up in debt!
You’d place a tenner in an envelope,
not sit behind a laptop like a dope
as prices for reunion concerts soar
for tickets, leaving punters slack of jaw.
An envelope with your address was placed
inside the first and soon returned post haste;
no ulcers, gnashing teeth nor undue stress,
no future scrimp-and-save financial mess.
And let’s not mention merch! When prices surge,
corporate greed outshines nostalgic splurge.

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Paul A. Freeman is the author of Rumours of Ophir, a crime novel which was taught in Zimbabwean high schools and has been translated into German. In addition to having two novels, a children’s book and an 18,000-word narrative poem (Robin Hood and Friar Tuck: Zombie Killers!) commercially published, Paul is the author of hundreds of published short stories, poems and articles.

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14 Responses

  1. Margaret brinton

    The first morning showing at my local cinema is just eleven dollars. And our Oasis Center has free gallery shows. I agree with you overall, however!

    Reply
    • Paul A. Freeman

      The chaos of dynamic pricing over the Oasis concerts really got my goat, Margaret. You’re average punter just isn’t treated fairly any more.

      Thanks for reading and commenting.

      Reply
  2. Joseph S. Salemi

    Prices can go up for several reasons.

    The first (as you say) is “when demand outstrips finite supply.” This is what you might call normal “situational” inflation — i.e. a lot of people want something but because of some situation (a crop failure, a blockade during war, a strike at the factory, transportation problems) there isn’t enough of the desired product to go around.

    The second is inherent rarity based on material preciousness or cultural -religious importance. I might like to have a First Folio of Shakespeare but since there aren’t a lot of them available the price for one will be high, and will inevitably go higher in a world where inflation is common. The same is true for a ten-carat flawless diamond or a solid gold cup — the inherent material preciousness of them doesn’t change, but in an inflationary world the price of both will go higher and higher every year. This is why some people buy gold as a hedge, or valuable works of art.

    The third is faddish insanity, where something of no particular cultural-religious value or intrinsic material preciousness will rise to a high price because of some weird notion or silly idea. This is what happened in the famous “tulip” craze in 17th-century Holland, where people would pay vast fortunes for some stupid tulip bulb.

    The third is unshackled printing of paper money by an imbecile or corrupt government, like Weimar Germany in the 1920s or today’s Zimbabwe. The paper money becomes worthless, and people return to old-fashioned bartering.

    Every seller tries to get as much as he can for what he is selling. At concerts or theatrical shows where there is a huge demand for seats, there will be ticket scalpers outside the box office, offering tickets to disappointed persons wanting to be in the theater, for whatever price the market will bear.

    Reply
    • Paul A. Freeman

      I was particularly looking at these reunion bands and top billing bands and singers. The Oasis reunion tickets were advertised at 150 pounds, but when people logged on to buy them, dynamic (surge) pricing took over. Fans who got through to the page where they could buy a ticket, were suddenly faced with prices of over 500 pounds per ticket.

      Imagine, you have a once in a lifetime chance to see your favourite band. What would you do…?

      Faced with

      Reply
      • Joseph S. Salemi

        It sounds like this “surge pricing” is simply the advertisers taking over the role of the ticket scalpers. This happens in New York with our “Uber” system of getting a cab ride via computer — the prices go up in rush hour, or when there’s a sudden rise in demand during the holidays, or during a heavy rainstorm.

        The older cabbie system was fair. You may have had trouble hailing a cab on the street, but once you got into the vehicle the fare was determined solely by the mechanical meter, based on how far you were going. Same rate for everybody.

        I think we have to candidly admit that while the coming of computers has had its benefits, it has also unleashed a swarm of new ways to cheat people (legally) out of extra money.

      • Paul Freeman

        I get the feeling that scalpers have had their day. Ticket sales are all online and digital.

        There was a case in Australia, I recall, where an active shooter was on the streets and Uber’s surge pricing came into effect. On that occasion they had to pay back fleeing customers the extra money charged.

  3. Drilon Bajrami

    The price of EVERYTHING is soaring, as you so eloquently put it in verse, Paul. Even the price of a Premier League game live costs the same as rent would, or even more in some cases. And we’re talking nosebleed, least expensive, worst seats in the house tickets.

    In fact, I bought a vacuum sealer yesterday for £63 on sale from like £85 or so. It has a power output of 125W. The vacuum sealer I bought 3-4 years ago, from the same company, cost only £35 and had a power output of 140W. So, now you have to pay double the price for an item with less power!

    The capitalists won’t rest until we’re squeezed dry! Less disposable income means you’re closer to bankruptcy and even more dependent on your job — just the way they want and designed it. People are far less likely to put up a fuss when they’re in fear and anxiety, rather than comfort and happiness.

    Reply
    • Paul A. Freeman

      People can only take so much, or so you’d think.

      I visited my old stomping ground at Plough Lane (AFC Wimbledon) and was shocked at how commercial it is now – and that’s third tier! As for cinema tickets, up 50% since last year.

      In 1984, Winston Smith believed the people would rise up until he realised they could controlled by the weekly lottery and low-grade entertainment. He even has the telescreen, the forerunner of the mobile phone, and says man will lose his freedom when the television screen becomes a two-way device. He didn’t however predict that we would be the architects of losing our freedom, rather than the state.

      Good luck to your Premiership team, Drilon, and thanks for reading.

      Reply
  4. Julian D. Woodruff

    2 comments, Paul. 1) If “post-haste” was ever meant other than facetiously, that day is gone. (Mail in Canada is ever unreliable, with Canada Post regularly threatening strikes.) 2) It helps to pick your pleasures with your purse in mind. Yesterday my wife and I visited the Charles Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park, FL (next to Orlando). Quietly spectacular. At $5 a throw ($6 general admittance), I don’t know how they do it. Too bad opera and classical concerts (not to mention Pop) aren’t like this.

    Reply
    • Paul A. Freeman

      Back in the 1980s, the Royal Mail was still reliable. As for picking your pleasures, usually outside of work, at weekends in Mauritania, I do 10km walks on Saturdays and Sundays, interrupted by grocery shopping and a coffee and modestly-priced breakfast in one of several locations.

      That said, I’m currently in the UK where ‘spending a penny’ once cost a penny, but is now 50p!

      Thanks for reading, commenting and sharing in my frustrations.

      Reply
  5. Mary Jane Myers

    Dear Paul

    I chuckled out loud while reading your eight clever heroic couplets. My favorite line:
    no future scrimp-and-save financial mess.
    Ah, yes, the perpetual issue of more month than money!

    I’m actually a fan of algorithm-generated “free market” transparent real-time prices on the internet. Let the customer decide.

    A personal anecdote. In October 2007, the Royal Shakespeare Company put on six performances of King Lear with Ian McKellen at UCLA. The face amount of the tickets was $90. I went to “StubHub” on-line, and bought a “comp ticket” originally given away for free by the local classical music station. The price? $750. Gulp. What am I doing? A sucker is born every minute? No, quash that self-criticism. I received more than fair value for my $750. In fact, that performance was one of the most mesmerizing theatre experiences of my entire life. What a thrill, to have the opportunity to see Shakespeare performed by a world-class company. I had neither the leisure time nor the money to be able to travel to London’s West End to attend theatre performances.

    Generalized inflation of course is a thief of prosperity, and decimates the middle class. Since the US went off the gold standard in 1971, prices have become unhinged from any constant and fixed store of value. And now, the $38 trillion in government debt poses a huge threat to our country’s very existence.

    Most sincerely
    Mary Jane

    Reply
    • Paul Freeman

      King Lear with Ian McKellen. I can see why you would pay over the odds. Even so, when genuine fans are excluded by dynamic pricing which benefits those with expendable income, I do take issue. An elitist element is introduced that undermines fairness.

      Reply
  6. Margaret Coats

    Indeed, Paul, greed knows only the limit of what it can grab. And when the greedy grabber is a machine, there’s no way to correct it. I do my best to set and check limits on each price as the purchase is taking place, but I may still end up with charges for unwanted and sometimes unusable “add-ons.” The machine is now aware of my precautions, and has scaled back its depredations. It knows it cannot add hundreds of dollars to my bill, but will try a measly two or five! If there’s any likelihood of price surging, I abandon the purchase or get a much more knowledgeable person to do it for me.

    Reply
    • Paul A. Freeman

      Sometimes, one’s hamstrung, Margaret. A couple of years ago I bought tickets for my wife son to fly from Dubai to the UK. An emergency came up, and a few hours later I needed to buy a ticket myself – which cost 100 pounds (more than 100 dollars) more than earlier.

      Reply

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