The Great Freight Debate Continues

Very recently, in the local newspaper, there was a full page advertisment of a large liquor chain, selling Beer Wine and Spirits, offering 20% off all wine if you purchase 6 bottles or more.  The same company is offering 30% off in their mainland outlets with the same conditions.  I decided to contact the company and, after leaving two messages, somebody eventually returned my call.  The answer to my question of why the difference in the discount was, words to the effect of, "we maintain an everyday low price Australia wide in our outlets but due to shipping costs to Tasmania, we can not offer the same level of discount as our mainland states.  Our store operators would not be able to carry the cost".  When I mentioned that Tassie wines would have little or no freight costs he maintained his stance on the "...everyday low price...".  Most of the places I source my bargain wines from are on the mainland.  The most I pay for postage is $10 a carton & if I buy multiple cases (for friends of course) they offer free postage.  Some places will give free postage if you spend a certain amount of money with them and, for people like me (again for friends), that is often quite easy to do.  I wonder how many large companies use the shipping cost as an excuse to take advantage of a certain demographic and sometimes I am sure we don't even know we are being ripped off in this kind of circumstance.  'Til next time and remember to live simply, laugh often, wine alot.