Posted on 05/30/2005 10:00:15 AM PDT by Asphalt
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- An Alabama woman is seeking class-action status for a lawsuit against a Dillard's Inc. hair salon for allegedly charging black women more than white women.
Debbie Deavers Sturvisant alleges that a hair salon in a Tuscaloosa, Ala., Dillard's department store charged $35 to wash and set her hair, while white women paid $20 for the same service.
Sturvisant's lawsuit could bring a whole new level of attention to the general practice across the country of charging differently for hair care based on ethnicity.
Officials in Arizona, California, Florida, Maryland and Massachusetts have already addressed race- and sex-based pricing differences at hair salons.
"The stereotype is that all black hair is the same. But that's erroneous...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Do I fit in that group, I am male and married with no kids, and regularly outvoted?
Well that's different. I'll say that charging a black person and a white person two different prices to style the same type hair is wrong. When I used to go to a salon, some girls made it seem as if they didn't want to do my hair. I was so big inconvenience to their assembly line wash and set situation. I've been to do different salons and home is best :-)
Well, sweat pants, t-shirts, underwear, etc. at Wal-Mart are $1-2 more for the biggie sizes.
I just checked walmart.com and for t-shirts and underwear there seems to be no difference on price, at least online.
I TAKE THAT BACK, some prices are different based on size...and some are the same. It seems that all are same except 2XL...does that sounds right?
Same here. It has to do with the time it takes to style than color of skin. I recommend she takes her business elsewhere if she doesn't like the way Dillard's conducts itself.
There's always a little sign on the racks/shelves in my Wal-Mart: "Only $5.95 (Larger Sizes $7.95)" I don't mind--it's only fair.
Usually, 2X and up (or sometimes 3X and up) are a bit more, like a buck or two.
But, I was bucking for a discount for my petite wife...what about us? Seriously, I couldn't care less. If we did this exercise with everything it would never end.
In the computer age, it's easy as pie. Use color-coded tags, and an LCD to display the price for each color code. Each size could be priced down to the penny.
The only problem, as you've hinted, is that it seems so damned petty.
It is petty with millions of pieces of clothes. I just hope Dillard's wasn't charging a white person and a black person with the same kind of hair, different prices.
You and I know that Nike knows the cost difference between a size 8 and size 12...and they average it.
This could happen with everything. In fact, some feel DRM (digital rights management) is leading toward a more perfect (from an ecomomist POV) world, where we can all pay different prices for DVD's. Those of us who would only watch a bought DVD 5x would pay one price, and one who would watch 100x would pay another.
Sometimes too much, is too much. I think we need to stick to basics.
The same service should always cost the same price, and race or sex should have no effect on that.
True.
Likewise, vendors should be free to charge different prices for different services rendered. So long as they differentiate based on the service provided and not based merely on the race or sex of the customer seeking the service.
I don't have a problem with that.
Test question: Bo Bice and Carrie Underwood should pay the same fee?
(a) Yes, both have long hair
(b) No, Bo is a man and Carrie is a woman..she should pay more
(c) Yes, they both suck.
(d) No, no because of sex, but because Bo wants a simple straight cut, and Carrie wants a new 'Style'.
P.S. I might have had one too many this memorial day. Not too many to say thanks to the Armed Forces who have served and died for my freedoms.
I like Bo :-) but the salon I used to go to used to charge one fee for a 'trim' and another for a 'style'. I pick none of the above :o)
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