What this is going to do is punish people in non-metro areas.
The way that happens is the same way supermarkets work. In very competitive areas, cut rate prices, coupons and promos like doubling, etc. are offered very liberally. To make up for that profit loss, they pump up the prices and cut out promotions in areas where there is little to no competition.
In areas with a walmart and target and now amazon local delivery, prices are going to be crazy good.
Everyone else will suffer as they supplement the profit-loss.
I don't know about that. In Chelan, WA (population 3000, plus tourists, whole valley population maybe 10000 + tourists) 2 supermarkets, 3 if you count the fact that one of them has another location the next town over), prices aren't any higher than they are in Seattle, and both supermarkets have amazing deals occasionally.
I once bought a whole beef tenderloin for $5.99/lb during one of the specials. One supermarket has themed specials every 2-3 weeks during the summer and reasonable prices the rest of the time. They also really focus on meeting needs of everyone around, so you can find goat meat, intestines, tripe, cow feet, and shank for sale in their meat department, and the shank is about half the price that they originally quoted me when i requested it.
The fact is that if you are in a rural area, you already end up with lower housing prices and some other benefits. So I wouldn't be surprised if that compensates for the increased shipping efforts.
I am not saying I like the supermarkets. I wont do business with the local Safeway because of ways they have treated family members. However, I wouldn't say prices are higher.
There is no reason to think that prices elsewhere will get worse. If they could get away with charging higher prices in non-metro areas now, they would do it already. It is likely, however, that non-metro areas will fail to see the price lowering that other areas do.
The way that happens is the same way supermarkets work. In very competitive areas, cut rate prices, coupons and promos like doubling, etc. are offered very liberally. To make up for that profit loss, they pump up the prices and cut out promotions in areas where there is little to no competition.
In areas with a walmart and target and now amazon local delivery, prices are going to be crazy good.
Everyone else will suffer as they supplement the profit-loss.