Do prices ever go down?

Goodshape

For things like a pint, a bar of chocolate or a packet of crisps... do prices ever go the other way?

Surly it's conceivable for the manufacturing costs to go up or down... why not the prices in the shops?

sovtek

It's a matter of competition. If a shop or pub can get away with making a %100-%200 profit on an item, it will. If another shop wants to undercut that and get more business, it can. If on the other hand...say every pub owner gets together and form a group (along with hotels, restaraunts...etc.)that agree to fix their prices... then there is no competition to provide lower prices. Or take another example of grocery stores (Dunnes and the like) getting exclusive deals with distributors and then edging out any competition then there is no incentive to have lower prices (and bribing politicians does the trick as well).
Yet another example is the government imposing a tax on imported cars (against EU law) that make it impossible to compete with over-priced Irish dealers.
And still there is the 3 insurance companies that provide Ireland with extortionate premiums. All the while blaming "compensation culture". In America we also have the "compensation culture" but still have much lower rates because we have competition.
If foreign companies were allowed in to compete with the big 3, then insurance rates would significantly drop.
The thing is eventually no companies will invest in Ireland because of the high costs involved as well Irish business will move their operations. In the end things will be much like before the so called Celtic Tiger. If Bertie wants to pride himself being responsible for that, he can as well pride himself for killing it.
There is a reason continental Europe enjoys a better standard of living and infrastructure than Ireland and the UK. People need to look closer at the reasons why and maybe try some of their solutions.