They do odd incremental pricing with a lot of things. I don't know that it's nefarious so much as it is nefarious. They know $14.99 is read by consumers as $15. $14.98 is a ratfucked $14.99. By the 0.80s we see it as $14.xx and it's perceptibly cheaper.
At a few of my retail jobs, the .xx system was shorthand for pricing types: .95-open box, .90-clearance, .97-manager's sale, whatever.
Doubles are just easy on the eyes, too.
well the whole psychology of choosing 99 cents was to make you think it's a dollar less than it actually is. Not sure what the utility of the 88 would be
Walmart's had half the shit in store at that sus price since I was in highschool, rumor back then Walton himself or one of his heirs had neonazi ties of some sort.
14.88 on pricing is actually a common discount on a normal original price. One possible one is 15% off 17.50 - there are some others. If it's not some weirdo little chud store it's probably just that.
Could be some kind of algorithmic pricing, where some machine decides "We noticed people will pay $14.88 more than any other price in the $10-$20 range" and assigns that value by default. Just a self-reinforcing cycle of stupid consumerism.
Yea I can see this being an extension of some data driven bullshit more than a dog whistle.
"People think 14.99 is less than 15. Wait now people recognize that as the same let's go to 14.89 then people will see its not just a cent off. Wait the data says people reaction to the number 9 is an extension of the original trick better go down to 14.88."
Not saying it's definitive but seems more likely than trying to appeal to the festive fascist demographic.
Someone's order rang up as that today at work. I used to chuckle at people buying an item or tipping to avoid $6.66, but in an instance like this I'd also be buying a muffin.