Not at all. This was a “thing” at one point; the phrase was, “Equal Pay for Comparable Work.” In other words, “It’s not fair to the women that they are paid less because they are less capable of doing the amount of work that the men can do in this job.”
If you charge more than everybody else, it’s “price gouging”
If you charge the same as everybody else, it’s “price fixing”
If you charge less than everybody else, it’s “predatory pricing” (you’re trying to force everybody else out of business so there will be no one else to go to when your prices go up significantly)
“But what about after that?” It’s a comic strip – there is no “after that”; somewhere during summer is “Reset Day,” when everybody’s ages go back to where they were in the previous year.
I don’t know about other areas, but in Las Vegas, it’s because too many homeless people were coming in with to-go cups. Or at least, that’s why they removed them from the casino floors (and no, it’s not because you were now expected to ask a cocktail waitress for one and then leave her a tip for it).
Oh, so THAT’S why Kat’s last name was revealed a while ago (and then suddenly completely forgotten, when her mother was called “Mrs. Kat’s Mom”) – so she could be differentiated from another Cat.
Actually, every supermarket and drugstore I have been to lately is still stocked full of Halloween candy.
This would have been the perfect time for a crossover: “Who makes your stocking decisions, anyway?” (bring out Ralph’s wife from “Drabble” here)