For over a decade, some Wingham businesses have been conspiring to keep prices high, by agreeing not to compete, and to setting prices from gas to cigarettes to movies.
In a shocking letter to the editor, Home Video owner confesses an agreement between Mini-Mart, Former Royal T owner and Home Video. Apparently this agreement was implemented to ensure that there was minimal competition and high prices.
“When I bought there was an understanding between myself, the Mini Mart and the previous owner of the Royal T to keep our cigarette prices and other articles the same.â€. Andy Jarvis – Home Video
In interviews with former gas station workers, we have found that gas prices have been allegedly set by one station in town. This station would then call all the others in town as well as Teeswater and the former Diesel Car Diner. In the past, virtually all stations complied with this price increase request. We have not been able to determine if any intimidation was used to get these stations to comply initially, or if they just did as they were asked and reaped profits by keeping gas prices high. We do not know if these agreements are still in effect today.
Costs To Wingham
Keeping prices high has an obvious immediate impact on family budgets as they pay more for movies, gas, cigarettes etc. These high prices also have a detrimental ripple effect. Many Winghamites shop out of town to be able to purchase these items at a reasonable cost. For many, driving to Goderich to fill up on gas, saves enough money to pay for the round trip, then they go shopping at Wal-mart or Foodbasics. People in surrounding communities head to Hanover, Listowel or Goderich for shopping, as prices are cheaper, and there is no “draw†for them to come to Wingham to shop. Currently our biggest draw is 99 Cent new release movies.
This lack of in-town-shopping has led to many vacancies on Josephine Street as entrepreneurs are reluctant to take the leap and start their own businesses in a community where people are enticed/forced to shop out of town to save money.
We would like to thank Andy Jarvis of Home Video for bravely stepping forward and blowing the whistle on this cartel. You can read his letter at http://www.thewinghamfreepress.com/story.shtml?story=452&site=1
Price fixing in Canada is an indictable criminal offence under section 45 of the Competition Act.
For information on price fixing, check out:
Competition Bureau
competitionbureau.gc.ca
Toll-free: 1-800-348-5358 (Canada)
We would like to thank everyone that helped with this story, and we hope this is the start of some fair competition and pricing in Wingham.
Danny of The Wingham Free Press Team
danny@WinghamFreePress.com