Price Gouging Discussion

[ken0042]

I think this is something that might be worth of it's own thread. We have seen two images making the rounds. One is a receipt for 24 bottles of water charged at about $2 each, and the other is a liquor store charging $20 for ice.

No for the ice, that one does strike me as price gouging if the photo is legit. The one othwer possibility is that the store owner put the sign up in order to save the ice for those who need it to protect from food spoilage cause by power failures. Maybe he had a run of people buying it for parties, and decided it should be rationed?

As for the 24 bottles of water; that one bugs me a little in how viral it has become. For one thing, does that store even sell bottled water by the flat? If they do- is that the water they sell by the flat? Seems to be an odd brand; one that is usually sold by the individual bottle. Did somebody walk up to the cash register with 24 individual bottles, and they were rung in the way they were packaged?

Assuming it is gouging; it is that wrong to start charging full retail for products that are going to sell out? I bought bottled water on Thursday; not because I was out or in a panic, but because my stockpile was getting low. I always keep some bottled water as part of my emergency plan. While I'm no "doomsday prepper", I do have enough supplies on hand to live comfotably for 2 weeks without any utilities or outside help. That is also factoring in taking in another family, as I'm sure neighbours will be coming asking for supplies. So in this case, wouldn't this be an example of why you should be prepared for an emergency?

One of the arguements in favour of ticket scalping is that by allowing scalping you ensure there is always inventory available. While I understand this is different in that it's a nessesity, doesn't the gouging serve the same purpose? I think this comparison comes back into being more fair because there's also difference being the person who owns the items now didn't buy them with the intention of gouging. They just happened to be prepared.

[puckluck2]

The other one that bothers me is the fruit tray for $60. That's not gouging, it's not like cut up fruits are a high demand product during a flood.

[Brannigans Law]

The law is pretty clear; the prices of goods cannot changing during a state of emergency. I suppose we can debate the merit of that law but it's the current law of the land. (this is from Nenshi himself from yesterday)

I stand by it and support it. Gouging people when they're in need is a scumbag thing to do. Don't want people to buy too many? Set a limit on how many bags of ice or bottles of water a household can buy.

[MelBridgeman]

Exactly you can come up with "reasons" all you want. prices can't change

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

Exactly you can come up with "reasons" all you want. prices can't change

But with the bottled water; did the price change?

I agree the ice looks shady, but the water seems to be more likely that it isn't.

[TurnedTheCorner]

Did it get confirmed that the Co-Op fruit tray is simply priced that way every day?

[Rathji]

I have been in that exact situation with water like that in a small town in southern Alberta. I needed a bunch for bottles for my kid, and the only place that had any only sold it by the bottle, even though we grabbed a case from the stack. I don't see that as being any different.

The likely difference here is that the store might have sold water by the case, but those cases were all sold out.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

Did it get confirmed that the Co-Op fruit tray is simply priced that way every day?

Yes it did, I called out someone complaining about it on twitter today. They checked and got confirmation that it is regular price.

[WhiteTiger]

The picture of the ice is fake. It could be any cooler anywhere, anytime. It's a standard ice cooler. It was PAIRED with a pic of the Queensland Liquor store, but that doesn't mean that the store was selling it for that.

The water was bought from a place that only sells individual water. You want a pack of 24, fine...but you are paying individual price. People pay $2 or more for water all the time. This is not price gouging (at least, not right now, but we aren't speaking in general...)

The fruit tray is a rip off from the get-go, and that's it's regular price.

EVERY other instance has been "I heard someone say" or "A friend of a friend got charged..."

This is a highly emotional time, and people simply aren't thinking straight...just reacting off the cuff.

While stores are legally obligated to not raise prices during an emergency, they are by no means legally obligated to lower them, either. I hear people calling for stores to be giving water away, etc...

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by ken0042

But with the bottled water; did the price change?

I agree the ice looks shady, but the water seems to be more likely that it isn't.

That's the question - 2 weeks ago if you bought a flat of water would you still charge the per bottle price? Could you even buy a flat at most of these places?

50 bucks for a flat of water is still horrible optics - legal or not.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

That's the question - 2 weeks ago if you bought a flat of water would you still charge the per bottle price? Could you even buy a flat at most of these places?

50 bucks for a flat of water is still horrible optics - legal or not.

I am going to say yes.

Places like Home Depot occasionally get flats of cheap water brought in, but it isn't like most other stores, since they don't own the stock they have. It is more like Costco, where the merchandise is essentially on consignment, so they have almost no control over prices at the store level.

I could be wrong, but that's my understanding.

[zamler]

The real crime is people buying water in a bottle.

[corporatejay]

If you buy Jones Soda from safeway or co op they charge you 2 bucks a bottle x 12, that's standard rate. Sometimes stores don't just sell things at a discounted "case rate".

[Flames in 07]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

That's the question - 2 weeks ago if you bought a flat of water would you still charge the per bottle price? Could you even buy a flat at most of these places?

50 bucks for a flat of water is still horrible optics - legal or not.

I don't know. It doesn't look so bad to me. It's simple math to figure out its not that expensive. Mob mentality ruled on that one and many others.

[Ducay]

People who fall for the Coop thing, the ice thing, the water thing, just based on twitter pictures, are as dumb as those purporting them.
Like, how gullable are you? Do you really believe everything you read on the internet? (To everyone in general who falls for this, including a bunch of facebook "friends", how embarrassing)

[Sliver]

I really don't like this thread. Unless somebody we can all agree to trust is going to go around verifying all these claims, we should not be propagating what can be completely baseless accusations. As soon as one negative thing is said or implied about a company - whether true or not - it lives on through the Web. I think if you're going to post anything here you need to bring indisputable proof with you or the post should be deleted.

[jayswin]

Agreed. Not a fan of social media witch hunts. Info just spreads too quickly, to too many people, and it's often like a game of telephone with mis-information.

[jar_e]

Metro somewhat confirms the ice story

http://metronews.ca/news/calgary/715...armas-a-bitch/

[Badger Bob]

It's the same with any other sellable item. In the Saturday edition of WSJ, there was an article about wine in restaurants. Normally, it should be marked up to 4x the wholesale price. That should include restaurant costs for stemware, salary for semmeliers, etc. If these factors don't come into play, you're getting ripped off. Then ask yourself what they're doing with food prices at the same establishment.

[jschick88]

@manmeetsbhullar Price gouging is not only immoral, it could be illegal. Take pics, keep receipts, fill out online complaint http://www.servicealberta.gov.ab.ca/562.cfm