I’m all for the free market
but in a time of hysteria
the free market gets hijacked.
Amazon went after 3rd party Sellers whom were price gouging.
The Wife bought last week Car Cup Holder Kleenex 50 count dispenser 4 pack via Amazon Prime $17 and change. Target had the exact same 4 pack for $7.50 regular price. Amazon accepted the return and picked up the shipping. They didn’t accept my review about their price gouging.
Amazon, eBay and Facebook, worried about accusations of “profiteering,” cracked down on resellers.
Abhorrent and despicable. No one forces you to pay $50 for a bottle of hand sanitizer.
But these folks seem to think they know whats best...now you can’t get it at all. We don’t like your price so you can’t sell any of it at any price.
What bs.
“They’re not bad people”
Yes, they are.
#Preppers like us are getting that last laugh watching all sheep panic buy when we have been telling y'all for 20 years how and why to be ready and all you grasshoppers just wanted party!...
Which is why I am offering for sale at the usual low price 2 bags (16 lbs each) of Friskies Tender and Crunchy Combo gourmet cat food.
They're all yours for only $100 apiece.
Guaranteed Fresh! Regular Low Price. I promise.
This offer comes with one beautiful My Pillow for Cats. I promise your cat will thank you. My cats don't just like...they love their My Pillows. They sleep on them 16 hours a day.
Walter E. Willias had a column with the same conclusions.
The first thing I noticed after my state passed its first “anti-gouging” law a few years ago was that more and more businesses don’t even bother opening after serious weather events like snowstorms. The number of gas stations closed after a major snowstorm was shocking — because this was the type of business that NEVER closed in the past. Once they lost the ability to raise their prices in a time of high demand, the owners of these establishments simply realized that there was no reason to make heroic efforts to open their doors during difficult times.
Probably the dumbest John Stossel piece I’ve ever read
Just for fun, go to Ebay and look for Campbells chicken noodle soup.
If you think this bad, just wait till the looting and robbing starts.
Fuel cans. Bottled water.
I used to think that “price gougers” should be shot. But after surviving the 2004-2005 hurricane season on FL, high prices are the only way that one can get ANY supplies.
If you can’t charge what the market will bear there is no incentive to bring supply.
The problem isn’t so much with charging high prices during a shortage. It takes extra time, effort and transportation to bring items from an area of availability to an area of shortage.
The problem is that some of these folks created the shortage by raiding all of the stores in their region, buying up all of the local stock, and then selling it at inflated prices because of the shortage they created.
That is way different from buying supplies from a region where they are plentiful and selling them in an area of shortage.
I agree with Stossel on almost all products.
The one exception I have is jacking up gas prices as people are evacuating when a hurricane is approaching.
OTOH, as soon as the stores saw the hoarding, they could have put limits on what one person can buy.
That would keep the supply going without raising prices.
Some price gouging ends up making more of a scarce commodity available in a time of need.
Some people only oppose price gouging when the price goes above what they can afford for something they want.
Most everybody seems to be addressing “price gouging” in regard to goods. What about services?
For instance, is it ok or not ok for medical services, doctors, nurses, hospitals, etc. to raise prices to whatever the market will bear and let those who can’t pay the price suffer or die?
If I own something, then I and I alone should be the one to set the value that I hold on it and would sell it for.
If I set that value right, then I make a tidy profit. If I set it too low I lose money. If I set it too high I get stuck with 8000 rolls of TP that no one will ever buy.
Anti-gouging is a direct violation of my property rights. If something is mine (and if I bought it or made it, then it is mine) then whose business is it how much I sell it for?
A natural by-product of price gouging is looting and stealing.
If you are in favor of price gouging in times of panic or emergency - then you are OK with looting and stealing during these times also.
Keeping stock low is good for profiteering,notice how few deliveries stores get when warehouses are full.