I’ve been reading the book Gouged: The End of a Fair Price and What That Means for Your Wallet (published 2026). Author Lindsay Owens describes the numerous and ruthless ways that products and services are designed to wring every penny out of consumers. He begins with some history: the type of pricing that most mainstream merchants use now, based on a price assigned to each entity they sell, isn’t really all that ancient: it dates to the late 19th century — “Fixed prices eventually gave rise to the price tag—first used, by many accounts, by John Wanamaker in the 1870s at his department store in Philadelphia.” (p. 14)
Once you have bought something, clearly, you want to make maximum use of it. This isn’t necessarily to a seller’s advantage. Obviously, when something wears out or breaks down, the person who purchased it would usually like to repair or recondition it, while the merchant normally would like to see it discarded and replaced by the purchase of a new one.
This results in a variety of policies and commercial behaviors — can you buy replacement parts? Is there a manual that explains how to fix the product? Can you even open it up (or does it have tricky ways to keep you out of the insides of your device)? Does tinkering invalidate a warranty or violate a license or purchase agreement? The book provides a number of examples of the ways that sellers and buyers have different interests in whether you can repair your item or whether you’ll be forced to buy a new one.
Another way that sellers improve their profits is to charge higher prices. There’s also the trick of licensing the functionality, the most famous for its cynical greediness being the self-rocking cradle called a Snoo that only worked when the manufacturer allowed it to work (that is, when you paid a continuing fee for service). Yet another form of pricing for higher returns is to have the prices vary according to demand: for example, a restaurant whose prices are higher during peak mealtimes, and lower at off-hours.
When many sales situations moved from brick-and-mortar stores to online commerce, a variety of new strategies emerged, as you surely know. Uber’s pricing strategy for increasing the price when demand goes up is one example, and there are others. The book documents a variety of schemes that enable higher prices to take effect when the opportunity arises. In other words: gouging works great online.
Can a person do anything about this? The author warns: “The truth is that when the whole system is rotten to the core, no one individual can fix it. Outsmarting price gouging on your own is like trying to solve climate change by yourself. The problem is just too big for one person to tackle alone.” (p. 150)
A number of examples of cynical and honorable behavior are very revealing. One of my favorite businesses, Costco, is among the most honorable and idealistic, with fixed goals for profitability even when higher prices/profits could easily work.
From the conclusion: “You’re not imagining it. Prices aren’t just higher—they’re sneakier, more volatile, and sometimes even illegal. If you’ve felt gaslit, I hope this book makes you feel seen. But I also hope it shows that we can fight back—and win.” (p. 175)
Book review © 2026 mae sander.
