Even worse. We have what’s called MSRP (Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price) and the “Suggested” part does a lot of heavy lifting. Two crazy examples

• Car dealers will add a “dealer markup” sometimes in the tens of thousands range above MSRP if a car is in demand
• Nintendo actually threatened to pull their products from Amazon (I think) because they dared to go under the suggested price (more like mandatory)

Basically it’s a free for all where the consumer is saddled with trying to find the best deal, if there is one.