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TJ[_3_]

wrote:

Most people in this group are far more affluent than most small
station owners yet you rich people want to tell a poor station owner
that he has to lose money just so you can have cheap fuel. Most
station owners barely break even on fuel but make their money on sales
of merchandise.
For that matter, after a disaster and you need ice, THANK GOD for the
guy who has ice and sells it for $10.bag. If you wait for govt help,
you wont get it till its too late. Somebody who sees the need and
manages to get ice to somehwere that needs it by some unusual means
deserves what he charges.

Not in New York. There was a derrichio (not sure of the spelling. heavy
straight-line winds during a severe thunderstorm) that put most of the
city of Syracuse and surrounding suburbs out of power for as much as a
week following Labor Day 10 years ago. Keeping food cold became a
problem and there was suddenly a shortage of ice and generators. An ice
storm the winter knocked out power over most of northern NY, NH, and VT,
as well as parts of Ontario and Quebec. Since most heating systems won't
function without power, generators suddenly became very important, and
some enterprising businessmen started charging some five times the
regular price. As a result, NY's price-gouging law was enacted. A few
years later, another ice storm knocked out power in a large area, and
somebody tried to test the law by selling generators for exorbitant
prices. They were stopped, tried, and the resulting fine was
substantial. A year later they were out of business.

I repeat: price-gouging is extremely bad for business. Even where it's
not against the law, it ruins the reputation of the one doing it. People
recover from disasters, and when they do they remember who helped, and
who tried to take advantage. Guess who they take their business to?

That said, I see no problem with someone raising prices to cover unusual
but legitimate expenses of providing an essential service. But if
somebody with a warehouse full of generators before the disaster
suddenly starts charging 10 times normal price for those same
generators, that's just plain wrong.

BTW, we didn't raise our produce prices after that Labor Day storm. If I
recall correctly, we LOWERED them. Sold a lot of stuff, probably made
more money than we would have had there not been a storm, and the good
will we garnered has been invaluable. We're still in business, stronger
than ever.

TJ