Back Issues & Abstracts

Comment:

Peter R. Maier, Effective Marketing and the Robinson-Patman Act: Volume Incentives, Functional Discounts, and Promotional Allowances, 55 TEXAS L. REV. 473 (1976).

Volume discounts and incentives, functional discounts, and promotional allowances are among the marketing techniques that American manufacturers use to promote effective product distribution.  The Robinson-Patman Act restrictions on price discrimination jeopardize the attempts of manufacturers who use these techniques to improve distributional efforts.  In this comment the author assesses current legal restrictions on the use of these marketing devices and concludes that economic and political considerations warrant easing the current strict prohibitions that inhibit their use.