Let’s say a store has been selling large snow shovels for $15. The morning after a major snowstorm, the store raises its price to $20. Is this acceptable?

A large majority of business people in my seminars answer that yes, it is acceptable to raise the price of shovels after a storm. They invoke the law of supply and demand; they quote the example of people street-selling umbrellas when it rains; they explain that the competitive context would not let them survive otherwise; they blame the customers for not having anticipated the storm, and many other reasons that resemble excuses.

In reality, they don’t really think about whether it is acceptable or not for the store to raise its prices. They react, and then they think about how they can justify their “choice.”

Their reaction mostly comes from an implicit and unconscious identification with the business owner. From this perspective, they expect that raising the price of the shovels will help them make more profit. This is the way they think.

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