Some local jackass at the community college says price gougers are heroes. Sample:
So people bringing supplies to FL would be a bad thing?
There are two different sorts of vendors during a disaster. The normal retailers, and the out of towners.
The normal retailers should not be price gouging. Their increased prices are not going to get them restocked faster. IF they were really diligent, and got an extra truck to come in before the storm hits, then it would make sense to charge a bit more to pay for that special delivery. If they are just running normal stock levels like pretty much every retailer ever before a storm hits, then what does it serve to charge more? You just get more money. It is not serving the community any better, you are not making more product available.
Now, people coming in from outside and selling stuff is a different matter. They are not gouging, they were not a market before the storm, so their prices are the prices that are worth them being a vendor. They are free to negotiate whatever they want, and if people refuse to pay the prices that they are asking, then they can either lower their prices or go home with a bunch of water in their trunk. But, unlike a retailer raising prices, they are actually increasing the supply of materials in a disaster area, so a premium on those goods is expected. If they want to ask $40 a case, that’s fine, but they are probably not going to get that, they will be getting maybe $20, if they are lucky. If people actually are selling for $40 a case, then more people will show up until the profit is more normalized. If I was in the area, I would borrow a bunch of money from my business, buy up the lots of water for far less than $40 a case (I’d be buying the whole load at once, makes it much more worth their while if they don’t need to sit around a disaster area for hours trying to peddle their overpriced water), and giving it away at my business for the PR. (then give the “receipts” for the whole deal to my CPA and see if he can make anything of it, either I get a tax break on charitable work, or I don’t, either way, I am happy just helping out my community)
That people keep talking about the two different groups as though they are operated the same and should operate under the same rules is what causes some of this confusion.
A retailer that recognizes its customers are not robotic abstractions in some primitive ideology, but real people and fellow community members upon whose business they would like to rely in the future won’t do it. But outside predators are the “heroes” to this guy and to his fellow primitive ideologues, not conscientious businesspersons with an eye to staying in business and keeping their customer base after the storm subsides. Hence it’s a Stupid Idea.
If you’d rather people suffer and do without than for an entrepreneur make money, then come right out and say it.
But do me a favor and please don’t “help” the next time disaster strikes my neighborhood. Because custom freight or taking the time to schlep out in your pickup is expensive, and the * rational* among us would like to have something to buy, thanks.
Ah yes, the holders of that primitive ideology do call it being “rational”, don’t they?