Should People Sell Items at Marked Up Prices During National Disasters?
Should People Sell Items at Marked Up Prices During National Disasters?
Price gouging is a common practice in times of national emergencies and disasters. The current Corona Virus epidemic has resulted in price gouging in many essential commodities. Epidemics and national disasters are seen as opportunities by sellers and entrepreneurs to hoard goods and make a kill by selling them by extraordinary high prices. Most sellers do not know the hoarding of products and price gouging as a crime or unethical. They view epidemics and national disasters as an opportunity of their lifetime to make extraordinarily high profits. The essay will discuss whether people should or should not be allowed to hike prices of goods during national disasters.
Should people be allowed to sell goods at high prices during national disasters? The article by Jack Nicas has narratives of Amazon sellers who had raised the prices of sanitizers and antibacterial wipes. Noah Colvin, an Amazon seller, saw the opportunity to make a kill after the United States announced the first Covid-19 death on March 1, 2020. Colvin, together with his brother, went out on an expedition to buy all the sanitizers and antibacterial wipes from local stores in Tennessee. The first impact of the move by Colvin and other hoarding sellers can be seen from the struggle of Mikeala Kozlowski to get a bottle sanitizer from local stores in Dudley, Massachusetts. Hoarding essential goods and limiting the access of commodities is one of the reasons why sellers should not be allowed to sell products at marked-up prices. The other purpose is that when prices of basic or essential goods go up, not everyone can afford the commodities. Mr. Colvin, an Amazon seller, bought bottles of hand sanitizer at 8$ each; he then resold the products for 70$ each, which was an incredibly high profit for him. However, his move and other similar sellers may have limited the access and purchase of the commodities. Mikaela, in the article, indicated how she struggled to find a bottle of hand sanitizer for less than 50$ in her locality.
Why should people be allowed to sell goods at high prices during national disasters? Considering the other side of the argument, people should be allowed to sell products at market prices. One of the reasons why that should be done can be seen in the article by Jack Nicas. Amazon, after receiving complaints of hike in prices in Covid-19 essential commodities, decided to suspend the accused sellers. The move to suspend the sellers resulted in them lacking a platform to sell the commodities. Considering that most of the sellers had cleared nearly all the products in local stores meant that the commodities were scarce in most of the localities. Most of the Amazon sellers mentioned having piles of face masks, hand sanitizers, and antibacterial wipes. The reason why they should be allowed to sell the commodities is to enable the government and other health institutions to acquire them for use on Covid-19 patients. At least by allowing the sellers to sell them, there will no longer be a scarcity that would enable the government to plan on their next move in combating a national disaster.
What are my experiences in goods hoarding and price gouging? My family and I have experienced price gouging long before the Covid-19 epidemic. We experience price gouging for several times each year. One of the most evident experience is remembered buying commodities at exorbitant prices was during Hurricane Katrina. My family was one of the affected by the Hurricane in Mississippi. We were cut off from power and did not have any backup generators to light up our home. We, therefore, sourced for a generator from the locality only to discover that the commodity was scarce and very expensive. We saw a listing of a gasoline generator for 1500 USD. However, thee generator before the hurricane was sold at 500 USD. We had no choice but to purchase the item because we needed it. From experience, it could be said that the seller was wrong for selling the product at a market price. However, the fact that he was able to sell it to us because we desperately needed it could not be assumed.