50$ toilet paper roll?!

With the spread of the Coronavirus, we are facing many issues that are outside anywhere close to what we would normally expect. The fact that the Virus is killing tens of thousands of people is scary and the core of the issue, though this is rather obvious. What I want to get to is more of the external effect of the virus. On a big scale, the pandemic is causing economies to crash and businesses to file bankruptcy. Fewer and fewer people are willing to travel now and airports around the globe are empty. But the real issues are the ones that hurt and bother are peaceful daily lives. For some reason, people have concluded to going to the store and buying all the toilet paper they can possibly obtain. With this people are unable to buy toilet paper for a reasonable price. The reason such thing has occurred in the first place is due to the availability of information. People can obtain and share information freely, causing such an issue. Though the specific aspect that I want to go through today is how people have started to sell rolls of toilet paper for ridiculous prices online. 

 

Paige Cushman writes an article about how a man from Arkansas was selling half a roll of toilet paper for 50$. After hearing this you man not be surprised about others who are selling rolls for 10, 15 and 20 dollars. Toilet paper is a must-have an item on a daily basis, and I would say is an issue that should be taken much more seriously. Because all of this can be done behind a screen, it happens so often. Reading about this, I felt that it is times like now, that we must cooperate the most.

 

https://katv.com/news/local/arkansans-sell-toilet-paper-on-facebook-during-pandemic

6 thoughts on “50$ toilet paper roll?!

  1. I totally agree with you about this annoying and customers buying instantly. Are this number of demands is because American people never saw such a pandemic situation before? There’s a lot of uncertainty, a lot of information going around, a lot of impending doom, and so I think part of it helps people to feel like they have a little bit of control over what’s happening to them in their lives. If there’s one thing I can do it’s at least be prepared. Also, when people watch others buying toilet papers have a domino effect so they feel they have to be like others and act fastly. I think one of the reasons is this, although while people self-isolate themselves, they tend to buy essential items all in one time so they stay inside more. Consequently, when the demand for these items goes up the price with no choice goes up as well. Not all people are guilty of this issue, just few people are enough to mess up the markets. The way that government use is limiting the purchase of this cannot be enough to stop this problem, and since there are many that get suffer from this, the government has to act more strict. Also, informing people about the consequences of buying more than their needs is a good way to reduce demand.

    https://www.today.com/health/why-are-people-stocking-toilet-paper-during-coronavirus-pandemic-t175942

  2. I completely agree with you. This pandemic has lead to mass hysteria, and people are panicking and making very rash decisions – like reselling toilet paper for absurd prices. I think that there are certain measures that need to be taken to avoid this because it is extremely unreasonable and crazy. I have noticed that some grocery stores and supermarkets have started to limit the number of products to one or two per customer. This is a great way to avoid people buying items in bulk, but families could easily go to the store together and have each member buy a pack of toilet paper. There are also some good people out there that are returning items to stores that they bought in bulk like toilet paper and diapers, so others who were not able to get any can still go purchase some. This whole thing is just crazy, and it especially stinks for people that did not feel the need to panic, who now actually just need toilet paper because they don’t have anymore. Hopefully, something can be figured out soon to stop this issue, because now they don’t even have toilet paper in stock on Amazon.

  3. The spread of the coronavirus has led to many things including mass hysteria. This random push towards stocking up on toilet paper is completely unreasonable and has led to many other odd situations like the resale of toilet paper for such a high price. But, it leaves me thinking, where do these random fears start? Are individuals seeing a reduction in the amount of toilet paper at stores, so they think they need to get as much as they can just in case they run out. Are they hearing about toilet paper selling out on the news? Is someone telling them they need to stock up so they don’t need to leave their homes? Or, are they getting this misinformation from social media?
    The spread of misinformation on all media platforms is a trend that we see happen very often, and I’ve always wondered, who is to blame? Is it individuals faults for falling for it, is it the news site’s fault, or can it just keep being traced back to the point where it’s no one or everyone’s fault? Regardless, it’s interesting to see the spread of situations like this one especially is global situations like the one we are in currently.

  4. I think this price gouging is horrible. People taking advantage of others in desperate times is very close to war profiteering which is a criminal offense. This article is about a man who bought over 17,000 bottles of hand sanitizer to try and resell them to make money. Instead of reselling the bottles at a slightly larger price of around $5, he raised the price of the bottles and sold them from anywhere between $8 to $70. Soon after Amazon delisted all of his listings and banned him from the website. When he moved to eBay, eBay banned the selling of masks and hand sanitizer. This now leaves him with 17,000 bottles of hand sanitizer and nowhere to sell them. I think it is great the companies are keeping people from price gouging essential items during this pandemic.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/technology/coronavirus-purell-wipes-amazon-sellers.html

  5. I very much agree with you in that the rush on toilet paper is both annoying and unnecessary. I do not completely understand the phenomenon, and think it must boil down to a few thousand crazy people thinking we are going into a months-long lockdown, and the rest of the population buying toilet paper just because they see the stores are running low and want to get it while they still can.

    No matter why the toilet paper is flying off the shelves, the main issue you pose is not one of scarcity but one of price gouging. It seems that selling a half a roll of toiler paper for 50 dollars, as you cite in your blog, is a clear example of price gouging, which is illegal. Price gouging is defined as “when a seller increases the prices of goods, services or commodities to a level much higher than is considered reasonable or fair.” This practice is illegal, and therefore must be reported when seen.

    Another recent example of price gouging in the news was when Matt Colvin bought up 17,000 bottles of hand sanitizer and attempted to sell them for $70 a piece on Amazon. His supply was seized and he got in trouble for price gouging. Not only is buying up hand sanitizer and toilet paper and reselling them for a higher profit mean and taking advantage of people, it is simply gross. People need these things for basic hygiene, and to add to the shortage is disgusting.

    Sources:
    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/technology/coronavirus-purell-wipes-amazon-sellers.html
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_gouging

  6. I very much agree with you. People are acting very crazy with the whole toilet paper thing. I saw on the news the other day that many places are thinking about putting in an act where all these people who are buying all the toilet paper and trying to resell it will not be able to return the items that were bought in bulk from their stores after the pandemic is over. I think this is good because people shouldn’t be taking advantage of the pandemic by hoarding daily essential items and then screwing other people over by selling them at a higher price. With that being said, the sooner this pandemic is over the better because then these people will have a whole lot of excess goods that they cant take back to the store and people will not longer have to buy from them.

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