According to the story of JC Penney, people like their discounts. When the company tried a "fair and square" pricing strategy, it was a huge failure and they got back to the usual way.
Well, the customers didn't like it, but the business continued to fail after changing back. Stock price declined, stores were closed, and eventually the company declared bankruptcy.
It may have been one of those "customers wanted the faster horse" situations where the business tried to build a faster horse.
