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> People hoarding aren't trying to create artificial scarcity https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/technology/coronavirus-purell-wipes-amazon-sellers.html https:
by _bxg1 7y ago
> People hoarding aren't trying to create artificial scarcity
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/technology/coronavirus-purell-wipes-amazon-sellers.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/technology/coronavirus-pu...
> On March 1, the day after the first coronavirus death in the United States was announced, brothers Matt and Noah Colvin set out in a silver S.U.V. to pick up some hand sanitizer. Driving around Chattanooga, Tenn., they hit a Dollar Tree, then a Walmart, a Staples and a Home Depot. At each store, they cleaned out the shelves. Over the next three days, Noah Colvin took a 1,300-mile road trip across Tennessee and into Kentucky, filling a U-Haul truck with thousands of bottles of hand sanitizer and thousands of packs of antibacterial wipes, mostly from “little hole-in-the-wall dollar stores in the backwoods,” his brother said. “The major metro areas were cleaned out.”
- jbay808 7y agoAnother example: https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/03/13/amazon-blocks-account-of-couple-who-bought-up-lysol-wipes-at-costco-and-resold-them-online-for-profit.html https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/03/13/amazon-blocks... > Ranga said that a six-pack of wipes, which might sell for $20 at Costco, could fetch four times that online, representing a “big opportunity.” He said the couple had spent about $70,000 on Lysol wipes and liquid cleaners over the past few weeks I don't think someone buying $70k of Lysol is doing it because they're worried they'll run of enough for themselves! And nobody would buy from them if there was stock remaining at Costco.
- hansvm 7y agoI think the argument being made is that these individuals are creating scarcity as a byproduct of their intended goal, not as a goal in itself. If they wanted to profit from the scarcity they induced, they would attempt to resell the items they bought in the original locales rather than at online venues.
- jbay808 7y agoI think Costco would void their membership pretty quick if they were reselling right there in the parking lot. Edit -- but apparently that's not enough to deter some from trying: https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/fimz9k/was_leaving_costco_in_langley_and_saw_this/ https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/fimz9k/was_leavi...
- anigbrowl 7y agoThey can't realize their goal of profit if the scarcity doesn't exist, now can they?
- erik_seaberg 7y agoNot everyone is scalping, but everyone is buying more for themselves because they're suddenly worried about future supply. There would still be a temporary shortage without the scalpers, maybe slightly less severe.
- jbay808 7y agoHow much TP do people really need for themselves? Why are the shelves cleared out of TP and not, I don't know, dish detergent? Why is its future supply more in danger than any other good? If everyone coordinated buying a month's supply of TP one weekend, would all the stores really run out? I'm not so sure... At Costco it's hard to buy less than one month's supply at a time already, unless you have a big family
- erik_seaberg 7y agoIf a pack of TP lasted as long as a jug of dish detergent, it wouldn't fit in a car trunk. In volume/day TP is second only to water and food and much higher than any other staples. If a million people normally buy one pack per month spread out evenly on weekends, but all of them think hey, maybe it's a good idea to get two packs this weekend, that's 2M packs where they had stocked for typical sales of 1M / (52 / 12) = 230K.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- nitrogen 7y agoI don't think "hoarding" is the right term to describe this behavior. "Profiteering", "scalping", "gouging", etc.
- loeg 7y ago"Arbitrage."
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]