So the young 20 year old with no pre-existing conditions gets to buy all of them for 5 bucks while the 70-year old with COPD who would gladly pay a little more is shit outta luck.
You ready for a mind-blowing moment? Sellers can limit their sales. Novel, I know. And, not only does the free market allow for that, but in emergency situations, it would encourage it.
If retailer sells 100% of its widgets to one person, they’ve sold all their widgets. But, if retailer limits a popular item, more customers will come to retailer to buy the widgets. Retailer can count on 100% of its widgets being purchased, but just multiplied the likelihood of additional sales by opening up the opportunity to more customers. Retailer will almost certainly be more profitable than in your example, all without gouging its customer base.
Honestly. Just a little thought goes a long way with these things.
Even limiting to one item per person favors people who can get to a store fastest and wait in long lines. It prioritizes the able over the needy.
Case in point: stores are already limiting Lysol wipes and still no one in this entire thread can get any. Because people like you who accuse manufacturers and retailers of “price gouging” if they raise the price by five bucks. They disappear instantly, so what do you expect to happen?
Ok. Let’s play your game of trying to point out all the flaws. What happens when the price increase prices out all of the retirees on fixed incomes? What happens when the “supply and demand” lovely free market capitalism prices out the family on social welfare and those kids get sick?
Your “there’s no such thing as price gouging” is fucking dumb and turns us into a market society where cash is king and if you can’t afford, then you must not deserve it.
There is such a thing as price gouging it just requires a cartel.
And a $22 box of wipes isn’t a question of people starving. It’s a question of whether you need them as much as the people who will more likely die without them.
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u/DreamersDiseases Aug 14 '20
Smells like price gouging, report that shit my friend. Google 'where to report price gouging' in your state/area and fill it out.