A bill that would “effectively ban manufacturers from dictating minimum prices to dealers” has been approved by the House Judiciary Committee according to a story on Sports One Source.
The Discount Pricing Consumer Protection Act of 2009, or H.R. 3190, was passed out of the full committee. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Henry Johnson, D-GA, currently has only two co-sponsors, including Rep. John Conyers Jr, D-MI. The Senate has yet to vote on a companion bill (S 148) sponsored by Sen. Herb Kohl, former head of the Kohl’s Department Store chain.
Will be interesting to see how this effects snowboard pricing next year.
[Link: Sports One Source]
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
all i picture is big box stores being able to sell new boards for 350 and prevail on a slim profit due to volume of sales and small local shops getting the shaft cause they cant compete
well it was nice knowing you local shops guess we’ll all be getting our gear online or with our jock straps and golf clubs
Support your local shop
If retailers want to keep a tighter price range on their product, all they have to do is raise their wholesale prices to the online/discount stores. But even with the discounts, the internet only accounts for ~20% of snowboards & softgoods sales according to TWB this week.