The Consumerist has a short little rant from one reader who complains that his local CompUSA refuses to price match online competitors.
According to Rick, the CompUSA has Linksys NSLU2 network storage drives for $100, whereas popular online-only retailer Newegg advertises the product at $83.99.
Most brick-and-mortar retail stores have price matching policies that only allow matching offers made for products advertised and available from other local retailers, which the writer of the Consumerist rant obviously doesn’t agree with. The article then goes on to state: “Brick and mortar’s will become ash and dust unless they step up and match or beat online undercutters.”
The only problem is that no one at the Consumerist bothered to check that realistically, the in-store deal is better if we’re talking about comparable service. Yes, the product is $84 at Newegg, but even with next-day shipping, the total comes to $102. So for a few dollars more in sales tax, Rick will be able to go home immediately with his product, rather than wait one (or more, as Newegg doesn’t always immediately ship your orders) day to get what he’s already looking at.
.