The Price Isn’t Always Right
How much are you willing to pay for a pair of athletic shoe...
English, 01.04.2020 22:11 20heldmadison
The Price Isn’t Always Right
How much are you willing to pay for a pair of athletic shoes, a new phone, or the latest video game? We all make decisions about spending, and the companies that sell us products often follow what we as consumers tell them. If we think the price for an item is too high, we won’t purchase it, and the price will probably come down. If one company can sell products for a lower price than others, then they all have to sell their products for a lower price to stay competitive.
Prices can also change from one place to another. Imagine you are on vacation in New York City from Cincinnati, Ohio. If you want to buy a bottle of water while strolling through Central Park, you may be in for a shock. The same brand of bottled water you buy at home may cost twice as much in New York City.
Travel to another country, and the difference in price can be even greater. Go to a store in Germany to buy a garden hose, and you’ll soon realize you’re not at a hardware store in Kansas. In Germany, each part is sold separately. You’ll have to select from a set of hoses, each more or less expensive, with the difference in price based on factors such as how thick or long or sturdy the garden hose is. And you’ll have to pay extra for parts like the nozzle that screws onto the hose. Once you’ve found all the parts you need, you could end up spending between $65 and $120 for your new garden hose!
If you go to a store in the United States to buy a garden hose, the prices will also vary, but the parts will probably come attached. There will still be a wide price range, but all the prices—from the cheapest to the most expensive—will be much lower. You’ll probably spend between $10 and $40. What accounts for this difference? Two of the biggest factors are sales taxes versus value-added taxes, and perceived value.
In the United States, states need to make money to help pay for the services they provide. So they charge taxes on items sold. This is called sales tax, and is usually around 7 percent of the original cost. If the sales tax is 7 percent, and a garden hose costs $10, then you’ll have to pay $10.70 for the hose.
One of Germany's fiscal policies is to collect taxes in many stages during the production of items. This is called value-added tax. The makers of raw materials such as rubber sell their materials to hose manufacturers, and they pay 19 percent of what they make to the government. Hose manufacturers sell their items to retail shops like hardware stores. They also pay 19 percent of what they make to the government, minus the taxes the raw material makers have already paid. The retail stores sell the hoses to people like you, and they pay 19 percent to the government, minus the taxes the raw material makers and manufacturers have already paid. These extra costs to businesses get passed along to the consumer in the form of higher prices.
Even with different tax costs, however, sometimes the difference in price between two places is hard to explain. It fluctuates slightly, but the price a store in Germany asks for a garden hose is probably higher than the price a store in the United States asks. The price a consumer is willing to pay for a garden hose—its “perceived value”—is a lot higher in Germany than in the United States. People in Germany just think a garden hose is worth more than do people in the United States.
Most consumers look for the best quality item for the lowest possible price. The price they’re willing to pay is influenced by many factors, such as how much they earn at work, how much they need the item, and how much they pay for necessities such as food, clothing, and housing. These factors change so much from one place to another that it’s no wonder prices vary, too.
This price variance could soon be changing, however. As more people gain Internet access, they’re researching item prices in other countries. Slowly but surely, the demand for cheaper garden hoses is spreading throughout Germany, and the phrase “getting hosed” no longer has two meanings.
Part A
How does the author develop the central idea that the reasons for price variance can depend on emotions as well as logic?
The author goes into factors such as consumer earnings and the price of necessities.
The author analyzes two different systems of taxation.
The author discusses the influence of perceived value.
The author says that over time, prices for garden hoses are falling in Germany.
Part B
Which sentence from the text develops the central idea?
"One of Germany's...policies is to collect taxes in many stages during the production of items."
"As more people gain Internet access, they’re researching item prices in other countries."
"People in Germany just think a garden hose is worth more than do people in the United States."
"These extra costs to businesses get passed along to the consumer in the form of higher prices."
Answers: 2
Other questions on the subject: English
English, 21.06.2019 15:50, allytrujillo20oy0dib
You are reading an informational text for english class, and you find a lot of words you don't know. your teacher says you don't need to look up all of them in the dictionary, only the ones you need to get the main point of the text. how could text features you figure out which words to look up?
Answers: 1
English, 22.06.2019 01:50, jurnee77
Plagiarism quiz read both the paragraph below and the information following it that identifies the source using the american psychological association format. then read each of the numbered statements and determine if each is plagiarized or not. circle “yes” if the statement is plagiarized, “no” if it is not, and then fix the “yes” answers). original source the presence of the taiwanese on everest was a matter of grave concern to most of the other expeditions on the mountain. there was a very real fear that the taiwanese would suffer a calamity that would compel other expeditions to come to their aid, risking further lives, to say nothing of jeopardizing the opportunity for other climbers to reach the summit. but the taiwanese were by no means the only group that seemed egregiously unqualified. camped beside us at base camp was a twenty-five-year-old norwegian climber named peter neby, who announced his intention to make a solo ascent of the southwest face, one of the peak’s most dangerous and technically demanding routes—despite the fact that his himalayan experience was limited to two ascents of neighboring island peak, a 20,274-foot bump that required little more than vigorous walking. krakauer, j. (1998). into thin air: a personal account of the mount everest disaster. new york: anchor books, 122 - 3. student samples yes 1. there was a very real fear that the taiwanese would suffer a calamity that would compel other expeditions to come to their aid(krakauer, 1998). no) 2. many climbers overestimate their abilities, as krakauer (1998) explains when he writes of peter neby, whose himalayan experience in the past “required little more than vigorous walking” (122 - 3). no 3. jon krakauer (1998) discusses other concerns besides those of unpredictable weather and his own climbing group’s capabilities. for example the existence of a taiwanese group on everest was a matter of serious unease to most everyone else on the mountain. yes/no 4. krakauer (1998) states that the taiwanese group was not the only inexpert climbers to attempt mt. everest: camped beside us at base camp was a twenty-five-year-old norwegian climber named peter neby. . [whose] himalayan experience was limited to two ascents of neighboring island peak, a 20,274-foot bump that required little more than vigorous walking (122 – 3). yes/no 5. the author asserts that the taiwanese “were by no means the only group that seemed egregiously unqualified.” yes/no 6. in his book into thin air, jon krakauer (1998) discusses many of the dangers he noted prior to his disastrous attempt to climb mt. everest in 1996. among them were encounters with other groups and individual climbers who were ill-trained and ill-equipped to handle the demands of such a climb.
Answers: 2
English, 22.06.2019 07:50, GreenHerbz206
She took up a scalpel and slit the monkey's abdomen, making a slow and gentle cut, keeping the blade well away from her gloved fingers. the spleen was puffed up and tough, leathery, like a globe of smoked salami. she did not see any bloody lesions inside this monkey. she had expected that the monkey's interior would be a lake of blood, but no, this monkey looked all right, it had not bled into itself. if the animal had died of ebola, this was not a clear case. she opened up the intestine. there was no blood inside it. the gut looked okay. then she examined the stomach. there she found a ring of bleeding spots at the junction between the stomach and the small intestine. this could be a sign of ebola, but it was not a clear sign. it could also be a sign of simian fever, not ebola. therefore, she could not confirm the presence of ebola virus in this animal based on a visual inspection of the internal organs during necropsy.
Answers: 3
English, 22.06.2019 16:00, Lakelife12
Read this passage: "your being dramatic," said eliza. "i don't think its dramatic to say that your going to fail the humanities class if you don't pass it's final exam," replied her mother. which revision corrects the misspelled words in the passage?
Answers: 3
You know the right answer?
Questions in other subjects:
Physics, 09.07.2019 17:00
Biology, 09.07.2019 17:00
