$40+ case of water
$9 gallon gas
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$40+ case of water
$9 gallon gas
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Illegal and should be thrown into jail
Texas AG's going to have fun with that.
https://texasattorneygeneral.gov/cpd/price-gouging
https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov...rricane-harvey
That website makes the point that not all price increases constitute price gouging under the applicable state consumer protection laws, but it'll still get investigated--and the business will have exposure. Maybe you could get away with stuff like that before cell phones and social media. Now it's all going to get captured.
The water one could almost make a case for. Not unusual to pay $1.50 to $2.00 for a bottle of water when buying a single at a gas station or convenience store. However the gas is easily gouging
Freshwater is a necessity. Seems like a damn crime to charge like that in a disaster.
I think it's a big problem for a retailer to refuse water to children, etc., but I will say that pricing is, at its base, a rationing mechanism. All markets are about allocating and rationing limited resources, and price is a very effective way of doing that rationing.
Other forms include long lines with whoever gets there first getting the water till it runs out, then whoever was later gets nothing.
Either way some will get the product, some won't. It's just deciding if money as a measure of need is better than time and timing as a measure of need is better. Honestly price usually makes more sense. It does advantage those with money but it also measures need and it does keep people from standing in lines and such.
But it depends on the situation. If you're refusing water to people in desperate need that's a problem for me. OTOH if this is a private situation and I own that case of water it's going to cost a pretty penny for me to part with it and risk my own needs, and that doesn't seem unfair. So the fairness notion mostly seems to apply to retailers and businesses, which may be OK but I do think it isn't required as much of private people.
LIke Doc said a case of water at those stores is at least $36 or so normally, so that's not honestly that crazy a price at a gas station. The gas is crazy high, but like I said you have to ration somehow.
I'm not defending gouging, just pointing out that all allocation of scarce resources is rationing process, and none of them are good b/c by definition not everyone will get everything they want or need. If there were enough resources to go around there would be no rationing, and if there isn't enough the someone is going without, and it's just down to deciding who goes without.