Word: pump
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Before she gave birth to her first daughter back in October 2003, physicians and fellow mommies alike gave Darcy Trzupek the same advice: If you need a breast pump, get the Medela. "I didn't want to mess around with something that was going to break," says Trzupek, 41, a stay-at-home mom from Chicago. Especially when a hungry, wailing baby is involved...
...Trzupek, an experienced coupon clipper and Web-browsing bargain hunter, searched far and wide for a deal on the Medela. But she says she noticed something odd: the pump was listed at $300 everywhere she looked. For five months, she held out for a discount. Nothing. Finally, a week before going into labor, Trzupek gave in and shelled out $300 for the pump at Babies "R" Us (BRU), the retail outlet that parent company Toys "R" Us started more than a decade ago. Result: satiated baby, smaller wallet. (See seven new iPhone apps for moms...
...that breast pump part of a widespread price-fixing conspiracy that protected the profits of Babies "R" Us, the country's dominant big-box baby retailer? According to a federal judge, it appears that could be the case. On July 15, the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia granted class-action status to a complaint that Babies "R" Us coerced manufacturers of high-end strollers, car seats, high chairs, strap carriers and breast pumps into preventing Internet retailers from discounting their products...
...Breast-Pump Bullies? While Judge Anita Brody's July 15 opinion wasn't a final ruling on the case, Babies "R" Us is portrayed as a tough negotiator intent on protecting its top marketplace position. The other companies named in the suit - Medela; Maclaren; BabyBjörn; Regal Lager, the agent supplying BabyBjörn's products to the U.S. market; Peg Perego, the Italy-based maker of strollers, car seats and high chairs; and Britax, which sells car seats and strollers - come across as weak accomplices in the scheme, which Brody distinctly labels a "conspiracy." For example, Brody writes...
...University of Texas School of Law. "But if this is an instance of a powerful retailer trying to protect itself instead of trying to provide a service to the consumer, it has to be seen as a potential winner." So all you moms who splurged on that $300 breast pump a few years ago: start looking for the receipt...