Department of Justice and Sticky Note Price Protection

Over the threat of a lawsuit from the Department of Justice, 3M has stopped its acquisition of Avery Dennison Corp.’s Office and Consumer Products Group. Avery makes labels and sticky notes.

The DoJ was afraid that the acquisition would make sticky notes expensive and hinder innovation. Really?

Imagine if the public was reduced to writing notes on pieces of paper that were not sticky. Oh the horror of using a piece of tape to put a piece of paper on the wall! Thank you DoJ for saving us from such solutions because sticky notes would become unaffordable!

It seems that if the merger happened that 3M would have 80% of the market share for labels and sticky notes. Has the DoJ forgotten that if 3M did charge more that the public would flock to the other 20% and buy the cheaper product? Do they not understand that 3M charging more would destroy their brand because the 20% would quickly swell to 30%, 40%, or more? 3M would have to stay competitive.

What is the DoJ doing sticking its nose in the business of trivial products that we can do without but use because of convenience? Labels? I'll write with a marker on whatever I was going to label. Sticky notes? Again, paper and tape!

Justice? There was NO CRIME here! NO THREAT! This was business!

If the DoJ is so worried about the price of sticky notes, why isn't it suing the Obama administration over its energy policy and what it has done to the price of gas, which is more necessary than sticky notes?