IX. Прочитайте и переведите текст. All products and all services have prices

PRICING

All products and all services have prices. The price depends on different things such as credit terms, delivery, trade-in-allowance, guarantees, quality and other forms of service. It's hardly possible to determine such a price which can produce the biggest profit during a long period of time. The price may be too high to produce a large volume or too low to cover costs. No other area of marketing operations has been a subject to bad practice. Many businesses persue unsound price policies for long periods of time and are not aware about it.

Prices can be determined in different ways. For example, the prices of meat, cotton and other agricultural products can be decided in large central market where forces of supply and demand exist. This is pure price competition. The prices on industrial products (iron,steel, etc.) are usually decided by large companies. As a rule the amount and price of goods sold to large number of buyers is controlled by a few competing sellers. Prices also can be set by the government, usually for different public services - railroads, electricity, manufactured gas, bus services, etc.

If demand increases, prices rise, profits expand and new investment is attracted. But other factors may be involved as well. Prices are related to each other in different ways. Ultimately, everything is related in price, since the consumer can buy and must pay for everything out of a particular, limited amount of money.