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Often companies don't charge based on productions costs, they charge based on what they can get people to pay. If every competitor in an industry agrees to do the same there's no incentive to lower selling price. The company doesn't have to worry about customers leaving for a meaningfully cheaper competitor because everyone is charging as much as consumers will bear. Without that "best/cheapest" outside pressure any efficiency increases can be put into lowering costs like labor and thus increasing profits. It's why prices don't drop and suddenly there's a lot more people within a few missed paychecks of serious trouble (the economy being roughly tuned to keep the most people possible paying as much as they can sustain).
Disclaimer: this is just my two cents, with some research but admittedly not a lot and no formal economics education. Feel free to tell me if I'm wrong.
You're not wrong. It's only criminal on paper and when it makes the news, but the fines to stop and prevent it are minimal.