I'm with tcook on this. Flowers on Feb 14 are many times more expensive than they are on Feb 15. Little chocolate bars are generally cheaper on Nov 1 then on Oct 31.

In a Capitalist society it's not uncommon to see prices fluctuate and sometimes "adjust" upwards by orders of magnitude just because of perceived demand. OTOH, it's quite common to see prices held steady just because that's what consumers expect. The price of an iPad for example never changes. And as pointed out, prices for toys before Xmas don't seem to increase.

There are elements of AC's business practice that I do think come close to profiteering (fuel surcharge) but on the whole I believe that what AC is doing is not illegal nor is it necessarily immoral. It is certainly opportunistic, but again that's the nature of the Capitalist society we live in.