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This is interesting. I'd long assumed that the Aussie way was normal. Here, resale price maintenance is flat illegal, a prosecutable offence. Has been for years. (Of course there are doubtless lots of wrinkles I don't know about).
Books used to have a price printed on the cover and that was it. Then the law changed, and prices appeared as "recommended retail price". Then printed prices vanished completely. Imported books with pre-printed prices usually had stickers over the prices.
For instance, my 1972 Fontana paperback, printed in UK, of "Caravan to Vaccarres" has the legend: UK 30p Canada $1.25 Australia 95c New Zealand 95c South Africe 75c. (Love those prices.)
My 1973 UK paperback of John D MacDonald's "One Fearful Yellow Eye" has a similar legend, but there's an asterisk against the Australian price and the footnote: * (Recommended but not obligatory)
By 1980 my Dick Francis UK paperback "Reflex" has a local price sticker covering the legend, and the sticker reads "Recommended Only". (The price itself has faded completely from the sticker).
My 2007 UK-printed "Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid" by Bill Bryson has no printed price anywhere, qualified or unqualified. The local shop I bought it from has its own sticker and price on the back.
I suspect periodicals are exempt: I doubt I could haggle over the price of the morning newspaper, which does have a printed price.
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