Decoy Pricing on Daily Newspapers

The Economist magazine might have provided the most famous example of decoy pricing but there are other examples in publishing.

Take a look at pricing for the New York Post:

 

This example has more options and is a little more complicated than the classic example Dan Ariely found in The Economist magazine and wrote about in his book Predictably Irrational but it touches on the concept of decoy pricing or the “asymmetric dominance effect” effect.

The second "Good" offer (Monday-Friday) is a decoy that is asymmetrically dominated by all the others. It is completely dominated by the most expensive "Best" or "Daily Delivery" option which, for the same price, also brings delivery on Saturday and Sunday – the value of which has already been established as $2.50. It is also partially dominated by the two remaining options, both of which are cheaper.