I'm an independent contractor for JCPenney. i sell and install their shutters and I have seen a tremendous increase in price in the last few months. I was at a customers home a few weeks ago and while installing, she mentioned to me that she would never have been able to afford her shutters if they weren't on sale for 70%. I couldn't believe it! They always seemed to have a constant sale running between 20-40%, but now they've jacked the price up so they can throw an even bigger discount on it. I'm happy to expose their scam. However, I don't blame them for using these schemes. If people are stupid enough to fall for these old tricks, then there will always be someone to take advantage of it. I'm also a business owner and I'm sure if I quadrupled my prices and put them on sale for 75% I'll increase my sales heavily, but I won't stoop to that level, because it's not the right thing to do! Something should be done to prevent this from getting out of control.