$40.00 for case of water at a Best Buy in New Jersey

Not Cool, Best Buy

As hurricane Irene bears down on the Jersey Shore, the Best Buy in Howell, NJ has taken it upon themselves sell cases of Dasani water for $40.56.

Read more at:

thechive.com...


Seems to me a fine case of price gouging.

Price gouging is a pejorative term referring to a situation in which a seller prices goods or commodities much higher than is considered reasonable or fair. In precise, legal usage, it is the name of a crime that applies in some of the United States during civil emergencies.


Though some say this is a good thing, as normal pricing will just allow people to hoard.....what says ATS?

Price gouging is Illegal..


sue..sue..sue..

Originally posted by MidnightTide
Not Cool, Best Buy

As hurricane Irene bears down on the Jersey Shore, the Best Buy in Howell, NJ has taken it upon themselves sell cases of Dasani water for $40.56.

What are New Jersey's price gouging laws? If I recall, Florida and a few other states have real nasty laws on this and take it very seriously. At least the stories out of those states when a major storm strikes sure give that impression. Isn't this the kind of think Christie is supposed to care about?

Originally posted by MidnightTide
Not Cool, Best Buy

As hurricane Irene bears down on the Jersey Shore, the Best Buy in Howell, NJ has taken it upon themselves sell cases of Dasani water for $40.56.

Read more at:

thechive.com...


Seems to me a fine case of price gouging.

Price gouging is a pejorative term referring to a situation in which a seller prices goods or commodities much higher than is considered reasonable or fair. In precise, legal usage, it is the name of a crime that applies in some of the United States during civil emergencies.


Though some say this is a good thing, as normal pricing will just allow people to hoard.....what says ATS?

edit on 27-8-2011 by MidnightTide because: mods - move this if in the wrong section....

I live in the south, I know that every time a hurricane is coming, or has already passed, gas stores LOVE to price gouge. I've also seen generators marked way up also. It's sad really.

reply to post by baddmove


absolutely

and why in the hell is best buy selling water??

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000

Originally posted by MidnightTide
Not Cool, Best Buy

As hurricane Irene bears down on the Jersey Shore, the Best Buy in Howell, NJ has taken it upon themselves sell cases of Dasani water for $40.56.

What are New Jersey's price gouging laws? If I recall, Florida and a few other states have real nasty laws on this and take it very seriously. At least the stories out of those states when a major storm strikes sure give that impression. Isn't this the kind of think Christie is supposed to care about?

edit on 27-8-2011 by Wrabbit2000 because: quote mistake

Maybe you should give him a day or so to respond? You know, with the hurricane and everything he might be a little too busy to read ATS but nice attempt at bashing Christie.

I used to be angered by stories like this,but John Stossel wrote a good article on this topic awhile back. Your premise is correct, I would walk in and load up my SUV and take the entire load, under the circumstances if it was $3.00 for the case. And, so would most of you. We can rally against the greed, but its a mechanism that keeps some of the supply for a great many more people. And, as Spock would say "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

Originally posted by BrianC

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000

Originally posted by MidnightTide
Not Cool, Best Buy

As hurricane Irene bears down on the Jersey Shore, the Best Buy in Howell, NJ has taken it upon themselves sell cases of Dasani water for $40.56.

What are New Jersey's price gouging laws? If I recall, Florida and a few other states have real nasty laws on this and take it very seriously. At least the stories out of those states when a major storm strikes sure give that impression. Isn't this the kind of think Christie is supposed to care about?

edit on 27-8-2011 by Wrabbit2000 because: quote mistake

Maybe you should give him a day or so to respond? You know, with the hurricane and everything he might be a little too busy to read ATS but nice attempt at bashing Christie.

I didn't intend to bash him. Sorry if that was the impression. I actually support him, as it happens. It was part of the general question about New Jersey's attitude on it, which I'd imagine the media there will be talking about soon, if not already. I know things like that are settled under blue skies, after the event. I'm just unfamiliar with laws on things like this in the Northeast and was curious.

Yeah and the movie theater sells a bottle of water for $4, Any major outdoor festival with no option for water sells them for about $5 for a bottle. I dont think an extra $.75 per bottle is necessarily goign to hold up in court as price gauging. Plus water isn't exactly impossible to find there at the moment. You can still tun on your faucet.

And yeah...It is a little odd that Best Buy is selling water!

Originally posted by baddmove
Price gouging is Illegal..


sue..sue..sue..

Interesting. It is price gouging if wally world or some other commercial entity sells the water for a huge mark up, but if I go buy the water while it is cheap and then resell it later; what is that? A wise investment?

reply to post by Ultraman2011


It would be easy to keep someone from loading up their SUV at $3.00 a case. You limit the number of cases each person can by at one time. The purchaser is welcome to visit other stores if they want more.

Originally posted by Ultraman2011
I used to be angered by stories like this,but John Stossel wrote a good article on this topic awhile back. Your premise is correct, I would walk in and load up my SUV and take the entire load, under the circumstances if it was $3.00 for the case. And, so would most of you. We can rally against the greed, but its a mechanism that keeps some of the supply for a great many more people. And, as Spock would say "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

Lenord Nemoy said the same thing in the last "Transformer" movie, and the connotation was completely juxtaposed.

24 bottles per case of what looks like 8 oz dasani water.
Last time I checked Dasani water, a branch of Coke company runs about: 1.40 per bottle.

33.60 per case, not including any tax, so the case should cost about 38 dollars for all 24 bottles of water. This is not price gouging unless it is normally less, way less than what it is selling for.

Now if it was a case of generic bottled water, that sold for a normally about 1.00 dollar per bottle, and only 26 per case including tax, then yeah it would be price gouging.

reply to post by FusionInFL


In theory perhaps. But, someone would slip the store owner (or lowly paid staff member) the extra $40.00 and break the rule. The store owner is not necessarily all that altruistic in this situation. His behaviour simply ends up working.

reply to post by MidnightTide


I live in the south as well, hurricane? You can expect price gouging will soon follow. Never fails. This is horribly illegal and I hear about people being prosecuted for this every time. But Best Buy? Thats not just some average joe taking advantage at his local gas station. That is a nation wide huge corporation. That order had to come from the top. They should be shut down, I will never shop at Best Buy again.

Well first of all, Best Buy selling cases of water is pretty funny to me.

It might seem unfair to do this, but you could've kept extra cases of water in your house for these kinds of situations... It's not a store's job to make sure you're prepared.

Originally posted by billy197300
reply to post by MidnightTide

 

I live in the south as well, hurricane? You can expect price gouging will soon follow. Never fails. This is horribly illegal and I hear about people being prosecuted for this every time. But Best Buy? Thats not just some average joe taking advantage at his local gas station. That is a nation wide huge corporation. That order had to come from the top. They should be shut down, I will never shop at Best Buy again.

That's quite a stretch. Sure Best Buy is a nation wide corporation, but there's still somebody who runs that particular store. I'm pretty sure the CEO of Best Buy didn't call all his stores in NJ and say "hey charge a bunch of money for water"

It is price gouging and it is par for the course. I see it all the time in my hurricane prone state. After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita you were unable to find a hotel room anywhere along I-10 in Louisiana and Texas. Single rooms in decent motels that would normally sell for $65.00 per night were suddenly charging $150.00 per night and every hotel and motel was doing this.

reply to post by TheSnowman


Meh, your probably right. It's still wrong, and if the corporate big wigs don't know what is going on in their own company they should start. Just my opinion though.

reply to post by billy197300


Unfortunately, that's the purpose of a corporation. You own it, make most of the money, but aren't responsible for almost anything.