Retail Prices

RICHMOND, Va. -- Prices for retail goods and services rose in several mid-Atlantic states in December, according to a survey released yesterday by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.The monthly survey of businesses in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, the Carolinas and the District of Columbia shows that prices for retail goods rose at an annual pace of 1.2 percent, below the 1.4 percent rise the previous month. Prices charged for services, meanwhile, rose at an annual rate of 1.0 percent last month, higher than November's 0.8 percent pace.

A Glen Burnie savings maestro who has appeared on "Extreme Couponing" will try her hand Wednesday at another money game: "The Price is Right. " Zadia Hardy, a 37-year-old project manager, traveled west earlier this year with a friend, first to hit Las Vegas. From there, they drove to California to check out "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and one of Hardy's childhood favorites, "The Price is Right. " She was thrilled to be chosen as a contestant. "I was extremely excited and anxious when they called me to 'Come on down!

This Connecticut-based company, which has its administrative and distribution headquarters in Glen Burnie, reported record sales and earnings for its fourth quarter and fiscal year.Revenues for the fourth quarter, which ended Jan. 31, jumped 28 percent and net income was up 39 percent, compared to the same period a year earlier.Duty Free is a leading operator of duty-free retail stores -- which sell liquor, tobacco products, perfume and other luxury items at 20 percent to 60 percent off average retail prices -- in U.S. airports.

No surprise that discounters such as Wal-Mart and Costco are booking higher sales. The stuff they sell - food and gas - is getting much more expensive, which swells the top line of the income statement. What's impressive is that they're also increasing the bottom line, although how long that can continue is an open question. A weak economy is driving more shoppers to seek low prices, which has helped increase discounters' sales growth beyond the inflation rate and compensated for their higher costs.

Maryland dairy farmers are in line for a pay raise, thanks to action taken yesterday by the Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board.The board, which sets the minimum prices of milk at the farm, processor and retail levels in Pennsylvania, voted unanimously to increase the Class 1 (drinking milk) price by 40 cents a hundredweight, or 3.4 cents a gallon.Milk cooperatives serving Maryland had already agreed to pay state farmers the higher price if it was approved in Pennsylvania, according to Myron L. Wilhide, interim president of the Maryland Dairy Industry Association.

MOSCOW -- Using his new powers for the first time to move toward a market economy, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev ordered yesterday that wholesale prices for many goods next year be negotiated between buyer and seller rather than set by the state.The presidential decree, unveiled on the evening television news, suggested that Mr. Gorbachev has decided to implement economic change unilaterally without waiting for an indecisive parliament to approve an economic plan."There are certain key issues today on which we as a country and as an economy cannot wait until a program is completely worked out," said Soviet Finance Minister Valentin S. Pavlov, discussing the decree in a televised interview.

It may seem like an issue that was long ago decided in favor of competition and against monopoly pricing. But London Fog wants government approval to set retail prices of its raincoats and deny its wares to retailers who try to sell them at a discount. The apparel concern, whose only U.S. manufacturing plant is in Baltimore, says this is necessary to protect the premium-quality image of London Fog outerwear.London Fog's competitors, including foreign coatmakers, are free to set retail prices for their products in this country.

A Glen Burnie savings maestro who has appeared on "Extreme Couponing" will try her hand Wednesday at another money game: "The Price is Right. " Zadia Hardy, a 37-year-old project manager, traveled west earlier this year with a friend, first to hit Las Vegas. From there, they drove to California to check out "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and one of Hardy's childhood favorites, "The Price is Right. " She was thrilled to be chosen as a contestant. "I was extremely excited and anxious when they called me to 'Come on down!

A new federal government report confirms something that Harold Lenhart has known for years: There is very little correlation between the price dairy farmers get for their milk and what consumers pay for the product at the supermarket."

Medicare's prescription drug program was supposed to cost less than buying retail, but a new analysis of South Florida drug prices shows that seniors who fall into the "doughnut hole" coverage gap often pay more than they would at the drugstore. The regular retail price at the lowest-priced drugstore beat doughnut-hole prices charged by Medicare drug plans 80 percent of the time, said a report released yesterday by Consumers Union, the nonprofit group that publishes Consumer Reports. In some cases, the drugstore price was 10 percent less.

WASHINGTON -- Striking down an antitrust rule nearly a century old, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that it is no longer automatically unlawful for manufacturers and distributors to agree on setting minimum retail prices. The decision will give producers significantly more leeway, though not unlimited power, to dictate retail prices and to restrict the flexibility of discounters. Five justices said the new rule could, in some instances, lead to more competition and better service. But four dissenting justices agreed with the submission of 37 states and consumer groups that the abandonment of the old rule would lead to significantly higher prices and less competition for consumer and other goods.

Medicare's prescription drug program was supposed to cost less than buying retail, but a new analysis of South Florida drug prices shows that seniors who fall into the "doughnut hole" coverage gap often pay more than they would at the drugstore. The regular retail price at the lowest-priced drugstore beat doughnut-hole prices charged by Medicare drug plans 80 percent of the time, said a report released yesterday by Consumers Union, the nonprofit group that publishes Consumer Reports. In some cases, the drugstore price was 10 percent less.

CD prices started to inch down last week, hovering around $10 for a new release at many stores, putting music at a similar price point on the entertainment meter as a movie ticket or a takeout pizza. The lower prices were the advance guard of wholesale price cuts announced early last month by the world's largest record company, Universal Music Group. As they have in the past, the mass merchandisers -- Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Circuit City -- went even further, advertising select CDs at prices below what Universal was charging them.

Armed with her bonus, Linda Betz of Parkville headed to Target at 8 a.m. yesterday for Christmas items at a discount. She emerged two hours later, pushing a cart brimming with decorations, wrapping paper, a stuffed snowman and holiday-themed gifts - for next year. "You can get some good deals for next holiday," said Betz, who works in the service department at Bob Davidson Ford. Because of the sales, "I spent about $100. It would have cost a couple hundred." She and her daughter, a PriceWaterhouseCoopers auditor, were going from Towson to Hecht's in White Marsh to shop "until the money runs out," Betz said, glancing at her daughter.

Ah, hot steamed crabs - so spicy, so tasty. So expensive. Crustacean lovers can expect to fork out as much as $200 for a bushel of large No. 1 crabs, a favorite summer backyard treat. "I'm sure I've got customers who look at my prices and say, `Man, he's making a killing,'" Brian Moore, general manager of Gibby's Seafood Market in Timonium, said as he sorted through bushels upon bushels of crabs, separating them by size. But that's not the case, he said, insisting that he's making no more money this year selling a bushel of large crabs for $189 than last year when the price was $169.

WASHINGTON -- Why? Why now? Why so much? For that matter, why at all? Simple. The oil business is still as much a racket as it is economic enterprise, and politics remains as important a component in the price of its products as oil, refining and transportation costs. And where politics intrudes, antitrust collusion and price-gouging flow right along with the crude. At first, last winter's price increases bore a straightforward connection to the attempt by the international cartel to reassert world market power by limiting production.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court yesterday gave manufacturers and wholesalers of consumer goods their first chance to dictate the prices of their products sold to retail customers -- a break with the century-old tradition that condemns price-fixing as illegal under antitrust law.In a ruling that could lead to lower retail prices for buyers of goods varying as widely as newspapers, gasoline, beer, cameras, cosmetics and appliances, the court unanimously overruled...

No surprise that discounters such as Wal-Mart and Costco are booking higher sales. The stuff they sell - food and gas - is getting much more expensive, which swells the top line of the income statement. What's impressive is that they're also increasing the bottom line, although how long that can continue is an open question. A weak economy is driving more shoppers to seek low prices, which has helped increase discounters' sales growth beyond the inflation rate and compensated for their higher costs.

LONDON -- Visitors to Britain are often shocked by its high prices, but only recently have the British become aware that they might be the victims of a huge retail rip-off.Not only are prices here, for everything from computers to hotel rooms to restaurant meals, much higher than those in the United States, surveys by the British media have found that they are steep even by continental European standards.British retailers point to several justifications for high prices: the high cost of shop space in a crowded country, high labor costs resulting from generous welfare state benefits and high tax rates.

A new federal government report confirms something that Harold Lenhart has known for years: There is very little correlation between the price dairy farmers get for their milk and what consumers pay for the product at the supermarket."