Toys 'R' Us hit by antitrust probe over pricing of baby products
Filed under: Company News, IBM, Microsoft
Federal antitrust officials are as busy as they were when they were breaking up the old AT&T or looking at breaking up Microsoft (MSFT). The government is currently reviewing the proposed search joint venture between Yahoo! (YHOO) and Microsoft and examining IBM's (IBM) practices in the mainframe industry. Even the NFL is under the microscope.
And now, the Federal Trade Commission is after Toys 'R' Us.
According to The Wall Street Journal, "The Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether the retail giant may have violated an 11-year-old FTC order to abstain from anticompetitive tactics." New charges might be leveled against the company because of its pricing practices on certain baby products such as high chairs and car seats. One of the issues is that Toys 'R' Us may have tried to get other retailers to raise prices.
A successful price-fixing case would hurt the toy chain financially as well as damage its reputation with consumers.
The Toys 'R' Us case raises an interesting question. Have the number of antitrust cases that the government is investigating increased since the Obama Administration took office? Or does it just seem that way? Democrats are known for being more zealous in their protection of consumer interests than Republicans are. Or, perhaps that is just an image built up over the years which no data actual support.
Whatever the reason, there are several large probes of anti-competitive practices against big American institutions going on now. And Toys 'R' Us is going to have some reputation problem this holiday season.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-17-2009 @ 10:54AM
werjcnkkk said...
Why don't they look into the predatory pricing of walmart. We have sat back and watched them destroy not only small family businesses, but also small and medium size chains. I have worked for walmart and I know how they run, as soon as they eliminate the competion in an area, their prices skyrocket. Products should not all be dissposable, sometimes cheap is expensive. Go for quality people, it works better in the long run.
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10-17-2009 @ 12:00PM
Ted said...
Wal-Mart is definitely a "cancer" in our communities - destroying good businesses with their cheap products and deplorable marketing tactics. But, it's not this cancer that will ultimately kill us...it's the uncontrollable bleeding of US jobs to cheap overseas labor markets, freezes on US hiring practices, growing unemployment and the fall in value of the US dollar - which will lead to unbelievable inflation - that will be our demise.
As I view it, America definitely needs progress to be made in healthcare reform...BUT, if our gov't manages healthcare like they have mismanaged our economy...we'll need more caskets than cradles.
There must be intelligent life out there...somewhere; but, as voters...we haven't found him/her yet. Maybe it's time to just throw them all out and start again and, while we're at it, eliminate the BIG banks and form our own community banking systems which will be held accountable to the citizens of the local communities... NOT to the "circus" of Wall Street.
10-18-2009 @ 9:40PM
hoss said...
I Love
Walmart...Leave them along Unions
10-19-2009 @ 9:58AM
duane said...
went to my local walmart last evening. at the time i went i thought i'd be able to go in and get out since it was sunday and at the time during a busy nfl schedule with some great games on mind you. i approached the story and turned the corner and saw the parking lot was full. got into the store and it was full of women and men (with football jerseys on). this plays out everyday all over america. so buddy tell me do you think they are listening to you?
10-17-2009 @ 11:06AM
Yrral said...
Glad to see the probe against Toys. Once of the joys of seeing my kids grow up was never having to shop at one of their outlets again. They never had sales, always were the highest price, were frequently the only place to get particular items. I felt like I was shopping at the company store whenever I went there...plus the places were penitentiary like in their set up and glum for a kid store.
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10-17-2009 @ 11:10AM
David said...
werjcnkkk said...
Why don't they look into the predatory pricing of walmart. ......................... Feel free to do so...... The biggest complaint against Walmart is that they undercut everyone else....... Not sure what your problem is unless you are of the Political Thought Police that just doesn't like Walmart..
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10-18-2009 @ 12:09AM
Flash said...
The majority of what they sell is made in China and other sweat shops around the world and their prices are higher than other stores.Investigate the unsafe toys and clothes being sold there then go after the prices.I t is unbelievable how many stores are selling things made in China and Sweatshops.Americans are good enough to buy their products but not good enough to make them.
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10-17-2009 @ 12:29PM
Shelly said...
This articles makes very little sence to me. How does price fixing work? Just because they charge too much for some items does not mean other retailers must also over price items. In fact by overcharging they would get customers to simply buy somewere else.
I do think ink cartridges have some sort of scam going on. I do not believe it costs even 1% of what they charge customers for the cartridges. This is what they should investigate. We'd be paying maybe 2 or 3 bucks for the ink cartridges if they would be priced fairly I think.
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10-17-2009 @ 3:52PM
Chuck said...
I agree that ink cartridges are expensive. Have you looked into the re-fill option ? There are a number on-line that seem to work well at a great savings. Just "google" ink refills!
10-18-2009 @ 7:14PM
bummed1 said...
Have you ever tried refils? They are scratchy, don't last as long as a new cartridge. Yes, the new cartridges are overpriced, but at least you are getting quality. Also you dont know how long a refill has sat in a warehouse somewhere. Also, to me, it seems they use an inferior ink......I had to keep cleaning my print heads constantly.
10-17-2009 @ 1:35PM
PJD120 said...
Amen, amen, amen Shelly, I totally agree with you. And yes the ink cartridge companies are scamming us and they need to be investigated too. I don't care what kind of printer you buy, they are all way too expensive. What I have been doing now is just getting my cartridges refilled but I still think that is too high, its $10 for black refills and $15 for color refills. Yes Shelly we are being scammed and this is very sad.
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10-19-2009 @ 1:40AM
Derek said...
The problem with the printer refills is like several people have said, lower quality and they don't last long. if your spending 10 and 15 dollars on the refill cart. why not just spend the 89 dollars on a kodak printer? The carts. are 10 and 15 dollars to replace not refill and you get the better quality and longevity. I'm a photographer and stopped using a 500 color laser printer to do my prints with because the 89 dollar kodak printer does a much better job with far less cost than any other printer.
10-17-2009 @ 3:09PM
Dewey said...
I don't think I have ever run across so many whiners on one site in my life. Your brat kid wants a particular toy and you are so pathetic, you feel you HAVE to go to a store that is raping their customers to make your kid happy for a week or two. Then you whine because you spent too much money on it and you blame the store. Did you ever stop to think that if you and people like you DIDN'T shop there, they wouldn't still be trying to do that??! No, you didn't. That would require a spine on your part and we can't have that. SO call on the government to once again shred part of our constitution so you don't have to stand up for what's right as a consumer. COWARD!!! I'm suprised, by the posts on this site, that most of you still aren't living under the safety net of mommy and daddy.
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10-17-2009 @ 9:49PM
Marc said...
Dewey is ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!! Don't buy the damned toy, so you can bitch 3 weeks later about being screwed!!!
I am sorry here, but YOU make the choice, not the child, unless you both have the same mentality!!
10-17-2009 @ 3:44PM
Chuck said...
The FTC needs to be working on "real problems" like fuel oil and gas pricing. We are being held hostage by big oil!! Regarding Toys R Us, I doubt that toys or baby strollers got our economy into the shape it's in!! Another industry to look into is transportation. With all the government involvement there is no competition in rail/AMTRAK. At least the Wal-Mart "whinners" don't have to shop or work there. Wal-Mart did more to lower prescription drug prices than Congress will ever do!!
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10-17-2009 @ 4:33PM
Realist said...
This is a comical article. Big oil should be the target if the FTC. Talk about price fixing!!! Energy price manipulation DIRECTLY affects both business and the individual. For some reason when it comes to energy companies its HANDS OFF. This shows me government is the real problem!
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10-17-2009 @ 4:39PM
bill said...
It's a love hate relationship with Wal-mart. I hate it when they hurt my local retail friends, but I buy there because I hate paying more elsewhere. The way to stop Wal-mart is just stop buying there - but none of us will - it's just human nature to try and save money.
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10-17-2009 @ 6:51PM
Mike said...
They should look at the price's that hospitals charge. We have a government that shuts there eyes to one thing, and not another.
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10-18-2009 @ 4:14PM
jetokc said...
Obviously Mike has no idea what it cost to operate a hospital. One reason it is so expensive is because of all the charity care and the amount of patients who do NOT pay their bills. You are probably one of them. Next time you need an emergency room, maybe there won't be one around. Then what would you do??
10-17-2009 @ 7:39PM
Roland C. Woodaka said...
Here we are getting our kohones in an uproar over a toy manufacturer while traitorous Bush-Cheney criminal Republican gang that accepted bribes as campaign donations to guarantee their "friends" with corrupt no bid black market priced materials to our armed services!
Is there any body out there?
Roland C. Woodaka
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