Price gouging is illegal in most states, including Florida. Yet some companies and individuals just can’t resist the impulse to make as much money as possible off of the suffering of others. Hurricane Irma has already caused immense devastation in the Caribbean, and is now likely to hit southern Florida. As people stock up on supplies, many grocery stores are reportedly out of bottled water. And Amazon is cashing in by raising prices on essential goods.
The company says it doesn’t engage in surge pricing. They do, however, use “Dynamic Pricing,” which is a different euphemism for the exact same thing. The site uses an algorithm to automatically increase prices when there’s high demand. But the real gougers are the third-party sellers, who are selling bottles of water for up to twenty or thirty times their usual price.
Out of water everywhere here & #amazonprime has $5 water cases for $22-40. $1 bottles, are $16. Shame on you @amazon @AmazonHelp #Irma prep pic.twitter.com/Gvf2NGg3Rh
— jada schiessl (@jadaschiessl) September 5, 2017
https://twitter.com/AmyWatzittoya77/status/905403376996900864
https://twitter.com/TheReal_DannyA/status/905394329463787520
Just last week, Best Buy had to apologize for selling $42 packs of water in their Houston stores during Hurricane Harvey.
https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein/status/902571298521399296
Price gouging specifically targets people in need and preys on their desperation. That’s what separates it from typical “supply and demand.” Raising prices by this much during a state of emergency is not only illegal, it’s disgracefully unethical.
Florida’s Attorney General says that as of Wednesday night, Amazon has suspended 12 third party retailers. But water isn’t the only need being exploited. The price of gas has reportedly risen dramatically at the stations that still have a supply.
https://twitter.com/therealohgeeduh/status/905252860010614785
As counties are starting to get evacuation notices, a lot of airlines are also raising prices on their remaining flights, in some cases by about 1000%.
Totally unacceptable, a $358 flight from Miami to NYC went up to $3578. Why should expect anything decent from these airlines??? F ing RATS! https://t.co/rjdH6J0yOL
— Joseph Nodarse, CEO & Founder of Hudson, Riley. (@joerileyhudson) September 6, 2017
The outlier here is JetBlue, which announced that they’re capping flights out of Florida at $99. They’ve also added flights and are waiving cancellation fees. Businesses are capable of displaying humanity. JetBlue is helping people in need, and in the long run, that reputation will likely earn them far more than the thousands of dollars other airlines are making a grab for.
People remember corporate gestures like this for a long time. Well done, @JetBlue. https://t.co/fiq00lg943
— Pat Kiernan (@patkiernan) September 7, 2017
(featured image: Shutterstock)
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