We've all done it before.  Gone online, checked prices for some piece of electronics, found the best price at Best Buy, packed up the car, driven the 10 miles to the nearest store and discovered that the price in-store is higher than the price on-line. It happens so often that there are tips all over the Internet for how to get the on-line price instead. You could try to show them the on-line price from one of the computers in the store, but we already know that the in-store network shows higher prices. You could show them a printout of the price from their website, but they'll often complain that having a store costs more than having a website so it makes sense for them to charge more in the store or that pricing is different all over the country so they can't match the website. One clever blogger ordered in-store pickup from the website while actually in the store. She had to wait quite a while for the confirmation emails to all go through but, after 20 minutes, saved $100 on Stargate Atlantis DVDs.

So, what does this tell us about Best Buy? Well for one, they are essentially using bait-and-switch tactics by luring you into the store with one price and then giving you another. But the really sinister part is that they are charging people an extra fee for not having Internet access. You obviously have internet access and can avoid the problem, so who doesn't?

Since 2000, people have been noting that income has a direct relation to Internet access. Over time, this is getting better, but that "digital divide" still exists. Anyone can go into their local library and use the Internet and a lot of people do. But how likely is it that they'll be surfing Lifehacker or Gizmodo or one of the other blogs that talked about this issue? My bet is that most library-based Internet users have a specific task to complete and that's pretty much all they do. More phones are going online, but my G1 cost $200 plus $25/month for service.

What's my point? Capitalism is, in theory, a good system. People who work hard and are successfull get more money and people who work less and are less successfull get less money. But there are other ways than work to be successfull. People who already have more money (some call it "captial") can use it to get more money and people who have less money have to use more money to get by.

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