JC Penney just went through a complete meltdown because the CEO forced out honest pricing instead of the inflate-prices-and-have-sales that was their SOP for more than a generation.<p>Turns out their customer base really liked the sense of saving money, even though the straight forward pricing was actually saving them more money.<p>This kind of a thing feels unethical - especially to those with an analytical mindset like a lot of programmers.  But the proof is in the pudding.  People (at least older people in the U.S.) prefer bargain shopping to straightforward pricing.<p>Culturally, there are differences like this around the world.  In Japan, they cannot grasp subscription models very well.  In many places in the middle east, negotiation is just a part of shopping.  In the U.S. we really like sales.  In Russia, you get in line and then ask the people around you what it is that you are buying (granted, haven&#x27;t been there since the 80s).