Jack wrote:

I would be interested to hear if anyone else has examples of Lowes
raising prices in order to then offer "sale prices".

Yeah, I bought more electrical stuff than I needed. Took the overage back to
Lowes.

They gave me $11.30 for $8.20 worth of stuff.

When I called it to their attention, they carefully examined the original
receipt and the return voucher. They concluded that the price of the stuff I
was returning went UP in the intervening week. "Keep the change," they said.