Passport Prices

I recently went through the process of getting a new passport and was interested to see the government using some price discrimination: different prices for different people. People self-selected into the different pricing categories. Why? Because the government charged different prices according to how quickly you wanted your passport:

4 weeks - £72.50
1 week - £103
1 day - £128

Thus those who are in a rush and thus prepared to pay more, pay more. While those who are in no hurry and thus prepared to pay less, pay less. Clever. Much cleverer than just one standard price. And it is used by firms/governments all the time. Price discrimination by time is ubiquitous because there will always be some impatient people.