When Manhattan's R. H. Macy & Co. started a price war last spring, it trimmed the tag on Sunbeam Mixmasters to $26.59, more than $3 below the wholesale price. Last week Sunbeam slapped a $6,000,000 triple-damages suit on Macy's, charging it had unlawfully restrained trade by using Mixmasters as loss-leaders. The price war followed the U.S. Supreme Court decision that retailers such as Macy's, who hadn't signed contracts with manufacturers, need not abide by fixed pricing.* During the war, Macy's Mixmaster sales, says Sunbeam, jumped from 3.3% of New York's total to 56.2%. Even though Sunbeam now refuses to sell...
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