As a small, family run brick & mortar retailer of children’s items, we need MAP to stay in business.  It’s not fair for discounters to undercut the rest of us, as the wholesale price is always the same no matter what price you sell the item for - so basically the steeper the discount given, the less margin and the bigger customer perception you “charge too much” if you’re more than the cheapest price seen. 

We honestly can’t afford to carry products that don’t set a MAP to keep things fair between sellers.  In today’s economy, customers will go where the price is cheapest - why would they buy something from us when they could get it from a discounter online for less money (and usually free shipping to boot)?  We’ve had people come into our shop to see an item in person and then go off and buy it from some online bargain store instead.  If this goes into effect, small local businesses will be forced out.  When will someone finally protect those of us that are the little guy??

I’d say this is something the government has no right to get involved with. If enough people dislike MAP and refuse to buy their stuff, the companies will stop doing it.

The fact that these companies do this does help small independent stores (the ones people often say they wish there were more of) stay in business.  And the market will correct itself if the consumer really cares one way or the other.

There are plenty of car seats out there - -don’t buy a Britax if you don’t like their “price fixing” policies.  Don’t ask the government to fix the problem for you, do it yourself.

You each make great points. Cerise, I find your observation about people “shopping” at your store and mining your staff for advice to be particularly compelling, as I’ve spent way too many hours of my life at big box stores where people know less than nothing about the products they carry (less because they make stuff up rather than admit they don’t know) - not because I’m seeking a rock-bottom price but because we have few of the stores in our area like the one you run!