The Wall Street Journal investigated online pricing and discovered that your price may vary indeed. \({ }^{41}\) Using your zip code, online retailers determine the price of your stapler, your saw, or even your language program, based on whether that retailer has competition in the area (whether there is a Staples and an OfficeMax near your home) as well as other factors such as the costs of rent, labor, and other economic factors in your area. According to the Journal, Staples, Rosetta Stone, and Home Depot consistently adjust prices on items based on information these companies obtain about you, the online buyer. Some of the online retailers even vary the types of items available to you online based on your zip code. The study found the strongest lower price correlation with the distance from where the buyer is to competitors. So, someone 10 miles away from you may pay more for a set of markers because the online seller assumes that it would not be worth the drive for that buyer to go to the competitor's retail store. However, there are some price differences that appear to be unrelated to geographic proximity to competitors but may truly be due to economic factors. For example, you are going to pay more for your office supplies if you order from your zip code in Manhattan or Staten Island and less if your zip code happens to be in Brooklyn or Queens. The products are the same. For example, prices on a simple Swingline stapler varied by \(\$ 1.50\) in a 10-mile area, even though the staplers shipped to the geographically different customers are the same. Rosetta Stone customers buying multiple levels of language lessons from the United States receive a 20\% discount, but buyers from the United Kingdom and Argentina never see the \(20 \%\) special. Home Depot has six different prices for a \(250-\) foot spool of wiring. And the wire is most expensive in New York and least expensive in Ashtabula, Ohio. Even credit card offers vary by geographic location. Discover offers special credit card rates to consumers in Denver, Kansas City, and Dallas. But consumers in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Los Angeles, California, will not see those special credit card offers popping up on their screens. Known as part of credit card companies' acquisition strategies, the companies are mum on why they target certain areas and not others in soliciting new users. There is no violation of the Robinson-Patman Act and its prohibitions on price discrimination as long as the retailers can show that they are pricing to meet the competition or according to differences in costs (such as labor and rent). The interesting question that the practice presents is that these are online prices so that the differences in cost may not actually exist. That is, the shipping may well be the same regardless of retail store costs in that area. However, the connection between the location of competitor and the online price then falls into the protected area of price differentials to meet the competition...........

 Discussion Questions
1. Do pricing differentials help or hinder competition?
2. Should the online retailers disclose the pricing differentials?