Gouging has already started....

[trapperjohn]

so called "price gouging" actually is the markets way of making sure demand doesnt outstrip supply, an excellent article by an economist is here:
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/ts20040914.shtml

 

[Correia]

$200 for a Glock mag is not evidence of gouging.

It is evidence of substance abuse. My gosh, is this guy smoking crack? Licking toads? What kind of idiot is going to drop $200 on a Glock magazine?

Otherwise agree with TaxPhd. As long as there is competition, then gouging is not a factor. Artificially limit competiton and it becomes a factor.

 

[Mr Jody Hudson]

Market Forces at work!

IF there were not people sensitive to "gouging", especially the govt. then there could have been people willing to invest in generators in Texas, PA, or WA and drive them to FL for a "PROFIT"

Generators would be bought far away and brought in. In exchange for the investment and risk and time and money and travel and ... And then there would have been generators for those with money equal to the supply and demand.

And some MORE people would have bought a truck load of generators and taken them to FL and then more supply would be there and the "gouging" prices would go down to the lowest prices available and still not sold until all gone or up and down and up and down until supply and demand equalize...

OR... if too many generators showed up there would be generators "dumped" onto the market too cheap so that the investors could bail out get some money back take the truck back and go home... leaving UNDERPRICED generators in the wake!

 

[TaxPhd]

Finally, some more voices of reason!



Scott

 

[armoredman]

We've seen Glock mags here in AZ for $15 or less. The flood is beginning....stock buildup, unnatural restrictions on demand, gonna be some evening out there in that supply/demand cycle...

 

[GLOCKME]

Gotta love the free market system..If you put up the capital,ya either boom or bust...
There are plenty of great deals right now for the looking..

 

[themic]

although they're legal now, it may take a while for supply to catch up with demand! the machines gotta run, the trucks gotta drive, the stockboys gotta unload boxes, and the accountants have to fiddle with their numbers.

i wouldn't expect prices to normalize for at least a few weeks.

i figure... we've watied ten years. a few weeks for normal prices ain't so bad. course, i don't have any firearms that take hi-caps anyways.

 

[SkunkApe]

The situation matters not. If I have batteries and I want $10 for them and you need batteries and have $10...that's a deal.

Don't do it! I have batteries for only $9! PM me.

 

[TaxPhd]

 

[joe sixpack]

I just thank your choice of diety that I need not concern myself with
such nonsense.

cheers, ab

 

[Flyboy]

Another good townhall.com article, this one from Jeff Jacoby:

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/jeffjacoby/jj20040823.shtml

 

[kernal_panic]

the post about shortages in florida is all to real. good luck buying a blitz gas can right now. there aren't any.

 

[telewinz]

Gouging" doesn't exist.

Tell that to the people buying plywood down south.

 

[TaxPhd]

Why is selling something at a market determined price considered "gouging?"

When do you expect merchants to sell their goods for a price less than what the market requires?

If you think there are times when merchants should sell for less than what the market requires, are there also times when they should sell for more than what the market requires?

The lack of even a basic understanding of economics is really quite shocking.



Scott

 

[Correia]

Tax,

That is because guys with majors like ours had to spend all of our time in college taking classes like several levels of Econ and Corporate Finance, getting our brains hammered into a mush like substance, while everybody else got to take all of the fun stuff.

 

[TaxPhd]

ROTFLMFAO!!



Scott

 

[SgtGunner]

Just want to address the gouging issue and the fact that someone brought up the hurricanes of late. I live in Port Charlotte Florida and my home as well as most around me got devastated by Charley a month ago. Fortunately I only have about 30K in damage, not so lucky some others in my community whose homes and businesses no longer exist.

"econ" classes aside GOUGING IS REAL..... you can scream free market economy all you want but until you go without hot water or power for 3 weeks and see some moron selling generators out of a truck for over 1K that sold the day before the storm for 299 to 80 year old retirees who were lucky enough to have a house to worry about powering after the storm. I have seen all manner of human scum come into my neighborhood and charge 300 to saw up a 4 inch diameter tree because it was sitting across someones driveway and they had to get out and were not as lucky as me to be able to physically do the work. The contractors all raised their prices by about 40% overnight after that storm and you think it can be justified by supply and demand?

I think it says alot about the way our society is deteriorating. Making a profit or a living is one thing but to try to gain far more than any reasonable market value from other peoples misery is just lowlife behavior.

 

[ctdonath]

Gold goes for hundreds of dollars an ounce because there isn't much of it but lots of people want it.

Plywood, gasoline, chainsaws, generators, all are usually cheap because very few people want them - maybe 1 in 1000 on a given normal day. But when - suddenly - 1 in 10 people want them on a hurricane-active day, or everyone wants them, the value skyrockets precisely for the same reason gold costs so muc: there isn't much of it but lots of people want it.

A thing is worth no more or less than what someone is willing to pay. If someone will pay $1000 today for a generator that cost $300 yesterday, or $10/gallon for gas having gone $2/gallon yesterday, then that is precisely what it is worth. One reason I buy bulk ammo at $0.10/round today is because I might be in a situation tomorrow where I'd be willing to pay $1000/round.

No, SgtGunner, "price gouging" does not exist. Today, nobody will pay more than $X for Y; tomorrow everyone is willing to pay $X,000 for Y - why should I charge less for what it is worth? nobody is more worthy of Y than anyone else, so it simply goes to the highest bidder.

 

[dustind]

SgtGunner: Do you really think someone is going to sit around with a truck full of generators without some kind of insentive? If it was not for those prices those guys would not even be there. Then in stead of choosing to buy at a high price or choosing to go without, the only "choice" you would have is to go without.

If prices do not go up, supply will go down. Price caps do not work.

 

[ctdonath]

If you are dismayed at people bringing generators a long way by truck to a generator-starved area just to sell them for a price-gouging $1000 each, then obviously there is a profitable market for YOU, SgtGunner, to go sell them to the same needy market for less!

...no? why not? not profitable enough to you? well then...

 

[dustind]

telewinz: Would telling them about so-called "price gouging" be better than telling them all of the plywood was sold a long time ago and there is no supply?

 

[bad_dad_brad]

It is a simple concept. It is called "what the market will bear." The tenet of capitalism.

Everyone just wait a few months and you will be able to buy your favorite hi-cap mag at a reasonable price but right now . . . demand is high and supply is low, which will drive the price of any commodity up.

 

[TaxPhd]

I think I got it. The sentiment seems to be:

"I understand about the laws of supply and demand, but since something bad happened to me, those laws should be set aside, so that I can buy what I want at the price that I want to pay - regardless of what the market requires."






Scott

 

[bdhawk]

i think that if someone takes advantage of someone by overcharging, we should not do business with them. that being said, we would be hard pressed to find anyone to do business with if we stuck with that policy.

mike dillon, for instance charges $8.99 for four grip screws. they are not gold or any other precious metal. he charges $4.95 for 1/2 ounce of oil. that's $1267.20 for a gallon!! what could possibly be in it it to make it cost that much? we don't really want to quit doing business with dillon?

I.D.P.A. has a rule, penalizing for 'failure to do right' rule. 'failure to do right' should apply to everyone doing business. in other words, would mike dillon want to pay $8.99 for four grip screws? i kinda doubt it.

 

[Mr Jody Hudson]

On the other hand, regarding Dillon, each of us could buy a box of grip screws for each of our pistols, for whatever the cost, stock them for perhaps decades, and have four grip screws any time we want for free... after paying for the box of screws, of course.

By the way, I want a really cool gold bracelet made of about 9 oz. of pure gold and crafted by a master goldsmith, because I sold mine decades ago.

Does anyone know where I can get such a bracelet made for say... $40 or $50 dollars - I was gouged on the last one and had to pay $5,000 for it when gold was at $40 an oz. which was certainly expensive... too expensive I thought at the time. Please let me know if you have a quart of gold fillings, or something or if you know of someone who does... perhaps for $1 plus the gouging shipping costs...