[MichaelZuo]

This obviously cannot be true, otherwise Costco would have been sued to oblivion for “dumping” their rotisserie chickens.

[andrew_lettuce]

Forget about Costco, if some people here are so convinced this behavior is illegal they should be going after every fast food company that offers anything like "get a free/cheap xyz with any drink purchase!" Where the subsidy is obvious.

[cyberax]

Costco gets to sidestep a lot of regulations because they technically are a private club with paid membership. The US anti-monopoly laws are also unusually weak.

In other countries, selling a $7 chicken if it's subsidized by the sale of other goods can indeed be illegal.

[hrimfaxi]

Do you have some countries in mind where that's illegal?

[MichaelZuo]

If you now acknowledge there is a carve out… couldn’t there be two carve outs? Or more?

It seems like you havent thought this through at all.