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What Is The Wisconsin Minimum Mark-Up Law?

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The Wisconsin minimum mark-up law (also known as the Unfair Sales Act), sec. 100.30, is a law that was passed in 1939 forcing retailers (gas stations) must markup their prices for motor vehicle fuel either 6% above what they paid for it or 9.18% above the average terminal cost advertised in their area, whichever is greater. One point to note is that the 9.18% is not the retailer’s marginal cost but it is a terminal price, which is more than likely higher than the gas station’s actual cost, putting consumers in a worse position. As the main controversy of the law lies within the premium pricing of gasoline, the law also applies to the sales of prescription drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, and other products sold within the store. When first …show more content…

Since we are able to make wholesale purchases and get large discounts on our gasoline, we no longer have to markup our gas prices and we can keep a very low profit margin on our gasoline, which will in turn attract customers. With the increase in customers, we should be able to reasonably expect our in store sales to increase as well, which is where we expect a majority of our profit to come in from anyways. Moreover, from Chevron’s perspective, we should be worried that the current ruling does not get appealed because if it does we potentially can be worse off than we were before because of being forced to change our prices drastically which has a negative impact towards our market.
From a personal perspective, I agree with the ruling of the law to be unconstitutional as well. Although the recent ruling of the law does not cause a concerted action for the fixation of gasoline prices, it still does indirectly impose a form of price fixation. The prices are not fixed but it still forces gasoline retailers to set their prices according to Legislation, which otherwise would be illegal. This type of parallel pricing which is imposed if the law were to stay in place is exactly what the Sherman Act prohibits. Moreover, the main arguments to the law being in place are basically that smaller independent gas station owners will be driven out of business by the larger competitor’s ability to lower their prices. Rarely, however, does it occur that

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