Actually, price gouging is good and should be legal

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Sig Hansen

Sig Hansen

Well-known member
If retailers were charging $13 for a 6 oz bottle of hand sanitizer and $49 for 12 rolls of toilet paper, far fewer people would be hoarding it and we would see a huge reduction in panic buying, thus providing everyone the opportunity to buy either product while reducing shortages. Unfortunately there are laws against it, because people and governments think they can supersede the law of supply and demand.

Debate me
 
 
tried too hard Sig.

There have to be legit arguments for price gouging, those just aren't it. I don't know who decides what's gouging and what isn't. Is there a government department for that?
 
Sig Hansen said:
If retailers were charging $13 for a 6 oz bottle of hand sanitizer and $49 for 12 rolls of toilet paper, far fewer people would be hoarding it and we would see a huge reduction in panic buying, thus providing everyone the opportunity to buy either product while reducing shortages. Unfortunately there are laws against it, because people and governments think they can supersede the law of supply and demand.

Debate me
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A serious stretch, and not practical. All of the service industry workers that live paycheck to paycheck, that have recently lost their income, cannot pay $49 for a 12 pack of toilet paper. They would have to find another solution, possibly even resort to stealing what they need.

Price-gouging laws protect the store owner too. In the past you could wind up looted or dead for price-gouging low-income and desperate folks.

Try again.
 
Maybe it wasn't price gouging, but in the immediate aftermath of the Loma Prieta earthquake stores could sell items but their cash registers had the electricity off so everything was sold in even dollars for lack of change. (Now that's a run-on sentence for you)
Monterey was spooky. No lights except highway 1 traffic headlights. We were on the phone with Dad back here in Ohio. He had been watching the world series as had I. He was giving us a running account of what was going on north of us from what was being shown on television.
 
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I vote with Sig.

A couple of years ago after a hurricane a guy rented a truck, filled it with generators and headed south. He was promptly arrested for profiteering and the truck was impounded. He lost money and people who needed generators were not allowed to buy them.

Who did that help?
 
eastisbest said:
tried too hard Sig.

There have to be legit arguments for price gouging, those just aren't it. I don't know who decides what's gouging and what isn't. Is there a government department for that?
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Ohio Revised Code...

1345.03 Unconscionable consumer sales acts or practices.

1345.99 Penalty.
Fine up to $1K (note per transaction).

PS: There was Gas-station out east of Columbus (Pickerington?) that was nailed for gouging
after 9-11 or Operation Desert Storm.

:>---
SALT
 
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chs1971 said:
I vote with Sig.

A couple of years ago after a hurricane a guy rented a truck, filled it with generators and headed south. He was promptly arrested for profiteering and the truck was impounded. He lost money and people who needed generators were not allowed to buy them.

Who did that help?
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That’s different. That guy took unneeded supply from one market and brought supply to an area with needed demand. Would have been better to donate or take small margin though.

The situation with sanitizers is the guy bought up the entire supply that already had demand. I think that guy should get prison time.
 
queencitybuckeye said:

Let Prices Rise to Combat the Coronavirus | Mitchell Harvey

When there’s a sudden shift in demand, it’s important that we let the prices rise. Why? Because the higher prices encourage supermarkets to increase deliveries and ensure that stock is replenished. Crucially, it also rewards supermarkets for keeping stores open when international supply chains...
fee.org
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To be clear, I’m not against prices rising, I’m against people buying out the supply and gouging.
 
chs1971 said:
Why? His time and effort is not worth anything?
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Sure. A small margin and knowing he did something good should be his profit. That’s just my opinion. I couldn’t justify a huge markup to people in need. Heck, I’d probably just end up giving most of them away tbh.

Do we at least agree on the sanitizer guy?
 
eastside_purple said:
Sure. A small margin and knowing he did something good should be his profit. That’s just my opinion. I couldn’t justify a huge markup to people in need. Heck, I’d probably just end up giving most of them away tbh.

Do we at least agree on the sanitizer guy?
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I think that's more funny than anything else.
 
wolves82 said:
A serious stretch, and not practical. All of the service industry workers that live paycheck to paycheck, that have recently lost their income, cannot pay $49 for a 12 pack of toilet paper. They would have to find another solution, possibly even resort to stealing what they need.

Price-gouging laws protect the store owner too. In the past you could wind up looted or dead for price-gouging low-income and desperate folks.

Try again.
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The alternative is what we have now: empty shelves with retailers and manufacturers struggling to keep up. If someone can't afford to spend $49 for 12 rolls toilet paper then buy a pack of three rolls for $13, etc. But nobody's going to walk out with a cart full of toilet paper because that would cost like $300 instead of $40. Raising price forces the consumer to justify if they actually need an item or if they can get buy without it or with less of it. Do you really need 12 rolls of TP in the short term? No. Buy your three rolls and that should last most households about 5-6 days I'd imagine.
 
eastside_purple said:
Or they could just impose limits on essentials so everyone can purchase a reasonable amount.
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Limiting items is totally ineffective because the limitations are so easy to get around. Just buy as much as you can in one purchase, go out and put everything in your car, then go back in and load up again. Kroger has had limitations in place for at least ten days now but they were out of pretty much everything last night. Meat, canned goods, and almost all frozen food was totally gone.
 
wolves82 said:
A serious stretch, and not practical. All of the service industry workers that live paycheck to paycheck, that have recently lost their income, cannot pay $49 for a 12 pack of toilet paper. They would have to find another solution, possibly even resort to stealing what they need.

Price-gouging laws protect the store owner too. In the past you could wind up looted or dead for price-gouging low-income and desperate folks.

Try again.
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This is all nonsense.

Please don't try again.
 
Where do all the rolls of toilet paper end up?
Other than the obvious answer, these typically are not hoarded in a closet in the purchasers home for any real length of time.

My sister is personally responsible for her share of panic buying this week. She bought 144 rolls of TP. She then asked around the neighborhood if anyone needed any TP and if they did, she gave them a pack for free.

This makes her feel good about helping others in a time of crisis. Keeping prices at current levels prior to a crisis is the moral thing to do for many obvious reasons.

I HAD A FRIEND ( notice the tense) who thought it was a great business move to buy up all the salt supply at our local stores right before a snow storm moved in, then would sit in the parking lot of a shoe store and sell the salt he bought for $4 a bag for $10 a bag.
I needed a few bags for my business and I pulled up and asked him for five bags. When he told me the price I told him to keep his salt.

Not buying the concept that excessive profit is beneficial for public safety.
 
D4fan said:
Where do all the rolls of toilet paper end up?
Other than the obvious answer, these typically are not hoarded in a closet in the purchasers home for any real length of time.

My sister is personally responsible for her share of panic buying this week. She bought 144 rolls of TP. She then asked around the neighborhood if anyone needed any TP and if they did, she gave them a pack for free.

This makes her feel good about helping others in a time of crisis. Keeping prices at current levels prior to a crisis is the moral thing to do for many obvious reasons.

I HAD A FRIEND ( notice the tense) who thought it was a great business move to buy up all the salt supply at our local stores right before a snow storm moved in, then would sit in the parking lot of a shoe store and sell the salt he bought for $4 a bag for $10 a bag.
I needed a few bags for my business and I pulled up and asked him for five bags. When he told me the price I told him to keep his salt.

Not buying the concept that excessive profit is beneficial for public safety.
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What actually happened is your sister bought up all the TP, gave it away to her neighbors who most likely didn't need any, but were perfectly happy to take some toilet paper for free so they did.
 
Sig Hansen said:
If retailers were charging $13 for a 6 oz bottle of hand sanitizer and $49 for 12 rolls of toilet paper, far fewer people would be hoarding it and we would see a huge reduction in panic buying, thus providing everyone the opportunity to buy either product while reducing shortages. Unfortunately there are laws against it, because people and governments think they can supersede the law of supply and demand.

Debate me
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I can't stand it when stadiums try to capitalize on a market by selling inflated goods to a captive audience. Water for $3 a bottle. Some of you probably recall when the Cincinnati Bengals turned off the bathroom sinks water supply on a very hot day because they wanted people to stop filling their water bottles with city water that was potable, and tried to force them to buy their excessively overpriced water.

After quite the public ridiculing the next week on sports talk shows and news stories, as well as some pressure from concerned health agencies who treated dehydrated fans following the game, the water was ordered turned back on and public safety was restored. There never was a true water shortage, there was a controlled water shortage based on opportunity and price controls.

Keeping prices steady is best for public safety when it involves products that are essential such as food, clothing, fuel, electricity etc.
 
Sig Hansen said:
What actually happened is your sister bought up all the TP, gave it away to her neighbors who most likely didn't need any, but were perfectly happy to take some toilet paper for free so they did.
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No. She actually found several people who said they were very happy to take her gift as they could not find any for themselves.

We ordered a bunch strait from Amazon so we should be sitting pretty in a day or two.
 
Supercede the laws of supply or demand?

I would not like to think money provided to those in need by government sources would simply be funnelled at extreme profit margins to businesses.

You idea of inflated prices based on product demand is what gives business as bad of a look as ambulance chasing gives lawyers.
 
You people seem to be conflating major retailers with people that are buying up all the supply then trying to sell it privately for a profit. The whole point of a retailer raising the price is to prevent a few people from needlessly buying out a limited supply of goods and hoarding it for themselves. The example of one guy buying 1000 of something and then selling them in a parking lot somewhere is really pretty rare. What actually happens is everyone buys double or triple the normal amount of something while it is still available, then it sits in their house unused or goes to waste.
 
chs1971 said:
I vote with Sig.

A couple of years ago after a hurricane a guy rented a truck, filled it with generators and headed south. He was promptly arrested for profiteering and the truck was impounded. He lost money and people who needed generators were not allowed to buy them.

Who did that help?
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Most guys who do what he did do not collect and turn in sales taxes or other taxes making them have an unfair advantage over those who do retail through the proper channels.
I get mad when I have competition from other businesses that enter my market without proper license, insurance or inspections. I have to abide by FDA and USDA regulations as well as other state and local over site, while many simply skip these steps and never get caught or if they do, fine very little.
Kids who set up a lemonade stand should never see the light of day for many years for the harm they bring upon society. Same with Mr. Generator guy.
 
D4fan said:
I can't stand it when stadiums try to capitalize on a market by selling inflated goods to a captive audience. Water for $3 a bottle. Some of you probably recall when the Cincinnati Bengals turned off the bathroom sinks water supply on a very hot day because they wanted people to stop filling their water bottles with city water that was potable, and tried to force them to buy their excessively overpriced water.

After quite the public ridiculing the next week on sports talk shows and news stories, as well as some pressure from concerned health agencies who treated dehydrated fans following the game, the water was ordered turned back on and public safety was restored. There never was a true water shortage, there was a controlled water shortage based on opportunity and price controls.

Keeping prices steady is best for public safety when it involves products that are essential such as food, clothing, fuel, electricity etc.
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I'm not sure about Bengals games, but at every Reds game you can buy $1 bottled water outside the stadium. And if you're paying $100-300 for a Bengals ticket but complaining about $3 water then I don't know what to say to you. (I think waters cost more like $5 now anyway)
 
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D4fan said:
Most guys who do what he did do not collect and turn in sales taxes or other taxes making them have an unfair advantage over those who do retail through the proper channels.
I get mad when I have competition from other businesses that enter my market without proper license, insurance or inspections. I have to abide by FDA and USDA regulations as well as other state and local over site, while many simply skip these steps and never get caught or if they do, fine very little.
Kids who set up a lemonade stand should never see the light of day for many years for the harm they bring upon society. Same with Mr. Generator guy.
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If you're talking about Uber/Lyft vs Taxi industry type of situation, then I agree with you to some extent. This is not the same thing though.
 
Sig Hansen said:
Limiting items is totally ineffective because the limitations are so easy to get around. Just buy as much as you can in one purchase, go out and put everything in your car, then go back in and load up again. Kroger has had limitations in place for at least ten days now but they were out of pretty much everything last night. Meat, canned goods, and almost all frozen food was totally gone.
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If the retailer is serious about enforcing that limitation, that can be easily detected and prevented. At the very least it makes it more difficult for someone to buy all the supply in bulk. Of course water and frozen meals were gone, they are high demand items, likely bought in smaller quantities and by people who need them....not one guy buying the entire supply and reselling at a 1000% markup.
 
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