Profiteering from the CV outbreak: a tale of greed

Price gouging is illegal in California and really being enforced now!

Our shutdown/shut in went in to affect at midnight. It’s going to be a long 3 weeks. The only grocery we will really need is...of course....toilet paper!

If you have American Supply Company nearby, they may be selling TP to the public. It’s a major janitorial company. Ours was selling to the public but as of a few days ago, they have stopped.

I am beside myself.

Someone, may God rot his socks, has cleverly started a rumour of a fuel shortage in our city.

Well, there will be now! If you are ever reaching for a perfect example of a "self-fulfilling prophesy" just watch this space.

The TP frenzy is still rippling across the country, nephew 2 in N Alberta went for his grocery run to Peace River and sent me a pic of the empty aisle🙄. Niece in TO said they had to borrow a car to go in search of some because they were truly in need. Meanwhile Galen Weston sent out an email reassuring us that they are taking sanitary precautions in stores, that there is no supply shortage and that their stores will never price gouge. Really, what was that $28 toilet paper last week then?

I was wondering... about the price gouging. Here in our small Pacific island, we do have laws against price gouging in the event of a natural disaster, etc... Perhaps you can check if you have a similar law in your area?

I once went online to our local Attorney General's website to learn more about gift certificates not having an expiration date even if the letter states an expiration date... I do recall seeing something there to report things like price gouging. Perhaps you have something similar?

I am one of those people who takes a spoon of peanut butter and spread it on the end of my banana then take a bit and I just repeat the process. This is something I have done sense I was a kid...Love it! But peanut butter and banana sandwich is good. I just don't always wants the bread.

Book, the banana is sliced on top of the peanut butter then bread folded over. Mom loved PB and even grilled sandwiches just like grilled cheese. I still do that once in awhile. Wonder how a grilled PB and sliced banana would be?

You need to get bananas!

GREAT to see you Book, stay well. Back to sleep for me.

I forgot about getting bananas. Do you put the sliced banana on top of your half sandwich? Or on the side? I've seen in YouTube that people actually put peanut butter on their banana. Never tried it...

Hey Book! Whenever the midnight snack urge hits me I have half a peanut butter sandwich, with sliced banana if I have one, and a glass of milk. Helps me get back to sleep too. Comfort food?

I went to the grocery store today. They've re-stocked the shelves. Lots of 20 lbs. and 50 lbs. bag of rice. I bought a loaf of bread, a small jar of crunchy peanut butter (generic, not name brand) and small bag of baby carrots. Total came out $9.17. I brought my own recycled bag, so less $0.10. This is my go-to 'hunger food' when the midnight snack urge hits me. Doc told me that instead of eating unhealthy junk food, I should snack on something with protein - like peanut butter sandwich. (Ahem... I had oreo cookies with strawberry fillings as a snack for the past 3 nights. It was sooo worth the $1.50!)

I bought a loaf of bread, two small bottles of ginger ale, a small container of cut up cantaloupe and a snickers bar my last grocery run.
The check out line I was in the cashier seemed hysterical so I took my stuff to the other counter. I said loudly "I'm not getting on the crazy train"😒

If you go to your usual store, and the store doesn't have something you intended to buy, go home and come back another time.

Do not go further and further afield until you find the item and then buy six of them instead of one; because if you do that, YOU are the cause of the problem.

There are very, very few things that we can't cope without for a while. So if you want this depressing, frustrating nonsense to end quicker, give your retailers a chance to restock and then act normal.

Cali,

Expensive! More than usual if it’s ordinary chicken. We expect to pay more for organic and free range.

That it what I thought! I know at Costco I usually pay $22 for a bag of frozen breasts and the fresh ones are around $25 for 6 breasts. And at Safeway I don’t think I’ve ever paid more than $14 for a pack of 2 breasts. These ones at the locally owned store were nothing special, they were not organic Or free range, just fresh boneless breasts the store had packaged. Even the single breasts were $12 + up. I didn’t buy any. I’ve got a pack of 2 breasts from Costco in the freezer and a big bag of raw breast chunks so we will be alright. They did have a few packs of ground beef left.

Gershun there is picture circulating in social media of someone at Costco....and now I can’t remember WHAT their cart was full of but it was absolutely ridiculous and I wondered WHY Costco allowed them to buy such a huge quantity! Wish I could remember what it was because it was something in high demand.....
At Nob Hill today they had signs up saying they were limiting how much chicken and eggs you can buy....but They didn’t even have any chicken or eggs!

one of the mom & pop stores on the east side of town was selling cases of Costco water for 8.99! They are 2.99 at Costco AND the store doesn’t have to pay tax or CRV so talk about price gouging!

i did see that the 2 jerk wad brothers in Tennessee who bought thousands of hand sanitizers in several states have been forced to donate it! It’s a shame they also sold some for a hefty profit but hopefully they get a huge fine when it’s all said and done! I have not been able to find ANY cleaning products in over a week. We have plenty of hand soap because I tend to get carried away when bath & body works has their after Christmas sale LOL....and I found a bottle of equate sanitizer under the sink too.....but we are low on Clorox spray. Hopefully with the shelter in place order, people will start staying home and stores won’t be wiped out of everything anymore.

Yesterday they reported on the news someone at a Costco took all the meat left on the meat counter. They blurred out their face but yes their cart was full to overflowing with meat products.🙄

I had gone to the grocery store that afternoon looking for ground beef. None to be had. Toilet paper aisle empty and canned goods aisle mostly empty.

Went to buy sanitizer at Big Lots the other day. The bottle was small and quite expensive. I asked the clerk why so expensive they usually sell for a dollar. He said it was supply and demand. I did not buy it and left the store. This is greedy and not fair to our fellow Americans who want to stay safe.

Worried

No that is not normal! Chicken breast should not be 20 dollars for 2 breast. Chicken should not be 7.99 lb. Its chicken! What is wrong with these stores. It is price gouging!😨

One of our stores raised the price for Ben & Jerry's ice cream to 7.99 and bleach from 4.00 a big bottle to 10.00 for the same bottle!😨

OMG on the person who got their cart taken! 😱

What is wrong with people? I know I ask this question all the time!!😠

Cali,

Organic. free range chicken or what? Even if so, kind of high for that small amount. I buy organic and free range, but I buy whole chickens to roast.

I am not at all surprised by the greed in my city. But I am surprised the same nonsense is happening in my parents small town.....someone just posted in the towns FB group that their sister was at the ONE grocery store in town buying food for a family in need and she had chicken and paper towels in her cart, turned her back for a minute and someone took her cart! one of my local grocery stores is all out of chicken.....the small locally owned store has breasts....but I think they’ve jacked up the price since that’s mostly all the meat they have right now! I think it was priced at $7.99 a pound if I recall correctly....they had them packaged -1 or 2 in a pack. A 2 pack was $20! For 2 breasts! Is that normal?

Correction:  I should have written "mostest"  and not "moistest."   The auto correct kept changing to "moistest" even when I tried to post this correction.

Shell, sometimes those "with the moistest" are also the cheapest!

Remember, when available, hand washing is SO MUCH BETTER than hand sanitizers. Plain old soap and water. And yes, did hear this story. Greed and avarice aren't unheard of in times of crisis, but overall I think we as a people usually are better in times of true crisis. We will see the best and the worst now.

I agree with you GardenArtist. It is horrible what these people do to people in need! We have a big shot guy living in my small city who has millions of dollars, but yet, will use people for money or have employees that he just won't pay and of course the employees quit and the big shot guy gets mad and spreads lies about them! Some people really don't have any compassion or a heart!!!

CWillie,  your comment on frozen food lockers in town is prodding my memory but I'm still unable to reach back over time.  I have a vague memory of that now, but can't picture anything. 

Life is sometimes so strange that it changes so much we forget things that were very important at one time in our livs.

NeedHelpWithMom, unfortunately, the "underbelly" of society is literally omnipresent to sneak out and capitalize on unfortunate events.    Our Governor has already established (Exec Order or law?? unsure) penalties for price gougers.  

What I don't understand though is the complete lack of compassion and sympathy for those suffering; they're just people to be exploited.    I hope someday these shysters are in a similar position but get no help from anyone.

This kind of greed absolutely happens. Of course, it’s always during the worst of times for it to occur. After Hurricane Katrina the rent doubled here in New Orleans. Houses were being sold in ordinary average neighborhoods at crazy high prices. They knew people would need housing because homes were destroyed.

The other despicable thing that happened was with car dealerships. They sold cars that had been flooded. People were always having issues with those cars.

People were getting sick in the FEMA trailers due to formaldehyde levels so rental prices went sky high. Rentals were scarce and in demand. Greedy landlords had no problem gouging residents who lost their homes.

It’s sad that some people take advantage of people during the worst of times.

In regard to food, I remember grandma canning food, especially making fig preserves from her fig tree. Yummy! I wish I had asked her to teach me how to do canning.

Keeping a big supply of food on hand was the way I grew up too, I don't think it was necessarily a hedge against hard times though it was more related to the way our food was supplied. As rural people often do we had a big garden and fruits and veggies were canned and frozen when in season in order to last the year. Spuds and onions went in the cellar. Mom raised chickens and they all went in the freezer (when I was young we had a frozen food locker in town, anybody else remember those?). People today still commonly buy a quarter or half of beef from the local abattoir. We grew white beans so there was always a 5 gallon pail of those on hand. At various times we even had cows and hens for milk and eggs. I still watch the sales and stock up but I'm mindful that I'm only one person so now I only get one extra jar of pb, not half a dozen.

See where I live we have unpredictable cold weather; therefore, my parents always kept us stocked up on canned goods as well as on meat and therefore I do as well. Plus, I have a camper that is always fully stock and yes there is even toilet paper and lots of other paper products.


Freqflyer, I have to have my chocolate...maybe I should have stocked up...LOL!

I don't know why stores are raising their prices unless it is just out of greed! Glad I am not the only one that notice it!!!

It's interesting to read various articles on "stocking up", "stockpiling", and just plain old planning.    My father grew up on a farm, worked in the auto industry after the War, and he and Mom just naturally planned ahead then as well as when we were growing up, knowing that auto related suppliers would shut down when the Big Three changed such important features as the size and shape of the fins on the cars.

My parents had always grown as much as possible of their own food.   Dad built a pantry in the basement and Mom filled it with canned goods.   So we grew up thinking in terms of planning ahead, especially for the winter months until we could garden again.

It surprises me that so many people live from week to week, w/o any backup supplies (although candy is one exception b/c one should never run out of chocolate).   

Beyond the basics of just having enough for more than a few weeks ahead, it also makes me feel kind of sad that so many people don't know how to plan, or adapt, or be creative, and are facing such anxiety over perceived insufficient stockpiles.

I saw no one stocking up on flour, so I'm assuming they don't bake their own bread.   Homemade bread is a treat everyone should experience!  There's nothing like the fragrance of home made bread in the oven.  And it's kind of a family bonding experience as well.  

I think many people have segued into a more spontaneous mode, buying what's needed for perhaps a week or so and relying on supplies always being available.

But it's not just food.   When blizzards or winter storms are predicted, there's a run on shovels and salt.   We live in a cold weather state; we've had blizzards since I was a child, and it never ceases to amaze me that some residents don't even have shovels until a blizzard or storm is anticipated.   

I don't intend to be critical, or condemn anyone.  I think instead that these experiences we're undergoing now can offer insight to people on how to bring more security into their lives, and eliminate the anxiety that many (including me) are experiencing now.

I am also have a stockpile, something I learn from my Mom. My parents had a large pantry in the basement filled with can goods, detergents, soap, etc.

Any time my sig other says we are out of an item, I would go "shopping in the basement" finding the item he needed. Hey, when something is on sale, I don't pass up a good bargain :)

But with the C-19, my main concern was that the grocery stores would close up, so I was in a panic mode for awhile. Thankfully all the grocery stores in my area will remain open, may cut their night hours for customers so that employees can stock the shelves.

Shell, I also noticed higher prices on some items. Which didn't make sense as those products, even if they were from other parts of the world, were already in the States, so why raise the price? I could see the increase once the inventory at the distribution centers were out of stock, and items had to be ordered. Expect a jump in the price of fish from overseas, and those great cookies from Italy and Germany. Oh no, chocolate could be on that list :0

So Saturday I went shopping to pick up a few needed things and went to Aldi's for some can goods which is nothing for me to buy 12 cans of kidney beans, corn, and etc. There was a limit on how many can goods you can buy which was no biggie because I stock up for a month anyways so I didn't need much. However, Aldi's didn't have the small cans of mushrooms so I went to Kroger's and I could not believe what I saw...they raised there prices. A small can of mushrooms normally cost $1.19 now it is $1.29 for the same can of mushrooms. And the worst part is it has the price on the shelve stated $1.19 but ring up as $1.29. Ben and Jerry's ice cream went from $5.99 to $7.29. They raised all there prices. I was shocked!! This is price gouging. Talk about greed!!!

I saw this article also, and it is pure greed. However,, I am a "stockpiler" all the time, and a few weeks ago hbs and I did our 3 month Wally world run, I always buy 3 huge packs of TP ( about 27$ each,, hubs cringes) because Mom has bowel issues, and she even worries if we get down to 12 bars of Dove soap for Gods sake! We went to our local grocery yesterday,, OK,,I admit I was getting concerned,, but I was after PET FOOD! No cleaning products,, except bleach.. lots of bleach left there, and at our $$ store. I am glad Amazon is reacting,, hope they keep it up.