“Gouging” .
Fuck That. Pricing for motel rooms has ALWAYS been a market based thing. Trust me, much of the time the property makes very little profit as a motel during the week. Weekend pricing/special event pricing is ALWAYS higher
Gasoline? Ever notice that that pricing varies weekend to weekday and then is even higher on special holidays? Labor day? Memorial day? Independence day? Yep, Market Based Pricing.
Same with some food items.
Same with….surprise! Plywood in an area about to be impacted by a hurricane.
Snow shovels after a blizzard.
No discounts on generators after an ice storm.
But folks are angry because some dude is selling his hotel rooms, in an area where folks are willing to pay a LOT right now for a dry bed and a hot shower, for a higher price. Don’t wanna pay $300 per night for that dry bed and a private room to shower in? Don’t. No one is forcing you to do so. You can stay in a shelter with other displaced folks and be treated like cattle FOR FREE… I will bet that the dude is having to clean rooms himself or pay (or house and feed his staff and their families ) a lot to get staff to clean rooms and operate his motel for those guests.
Or the guy who owns a gas station has decided that his gas is worth $10/gallon. He’s likely having issues with his staff ’cause they are flooded too….But he is open. Hey, it is his gas. Don’t like the price? Don’t buy it.
Bottled water for $75 per case? Go find your own clean drinking water. You could have stockpiled a couple of cases that would be fine (and cheaper) if you’d bother to prep a bit ahead. The store owner has it, and it is his to sell at whatever price he chooses to sell it for. Don’t like the price? Buy it somewhere else. Or next time, learn from this lesson and stock a few cases of water at your home. (Or buy a Berkey water filter so you can purify your own).
Either way, if you need it (or want it, in the case of a motel room or gasoline), and someone has it, then you can either pay their price or choose not to. If their price is too high, then no one will purchase it, and they will have to lower it. IF someone will pay it, then that is the market price. When I own something it is I who chooses at what price to sell it. Not the buyer, and certainly not the Government.
Complaining about “gouging” is just whining because you were too fucking stupid to prep or plan properly.
But having (and maintaining) things like generators, food, water, cash, and TP on hand "just in case" is for those nuthead doomsday preppers. So is having a plan to get out of Dodge if necessary…
I don't feel sorry for them…
B,
As someone who has family (brother, two sisters, and their families, and my Mom who's in an Alzheimer's facility,) located in the Houston areaI, I think your post is cold, callous, and uncaring about the human suffering going on in Texas. Based upon the information presented to those in the area at the onset, they followed the recommend to secure and stay indoors. Later, after the rains were greater than forecast, it was amended to evacuate some areas. These people who were "too fucking stupid" to prepare, had never seen the RECORD rainfall amounts anywhere on the planet. For you to be critical of their actions in " Monday morning quarterbacking.
Governor Abbot announced today that price gouging is against the law in Texas and would be looked into once the current situation was stabilized. According to the following article:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/08/29/hurricane-harvey-price-gouging-concern-texas/614886001/
A Mr. Trevino of the regional Better Business Bureau called $8 a gallon for gasoline gouging. It was also claimed that a $1 bottle of water being sold for $4 or $5 gouging. I would assume that a $300 hotel room that normally went for $200 would be a free market rate, a 50% markup. But a $300 rate for a $45 Motel 6 room would be gouging, a 600+% markup.
I would not wish the current situation on anyone, even you B. It is disingenuous for you to use the current condition as proof of your sheltered and biased viewpoint.
Dale
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Dale this is the most ridiculous thing I've read in a while.
With the exception of your mother and others like her, I have no sympathy for you people that caught with your pants down.
If you has actually read this blog for any length of time you'd realize your attack on him is unwarranted. He's actually a giving person. Read the blog…. or don't. He doesn't have to justify his self to you.
It's people lIke you who needs.the government to wipe you ass everytime that causes the majority of the headaches for everyone else because people like you wont do anything to help yourselves, like putting back some water and fuel and can food for hard times.
Normally I'd say that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure…
But given the pissin' and moanin' you just posted, about all I can say is that…. an ounce prevention weighs more than your brain.
Grow a pair and quit bitching.
So, Dale, Pricing has gone up for motel rooms all across the country this weekend. Rooms are selling for 3 and 4 times the "normal" pricing because of demand on the Labor day holiday travel.
Is that "Gouging"? Is that illegal?
Water at concerts sells for $4 a bottle, but $0.99 in the conveneince store a block away. Is that "gouging"?
Please, define the difference.
Motel room rates went up during the eclipse too. That's the free market in action. The difference is choice. One can choose to go or not. In SE Texas, people need the shelter. Again, raising the room rate is one thing. Taking advantage of those in need is another.
'
A beer at the ball park is $7.50. When you're there, it's a captive audience, but again you can choose to drink or wait til the game is over. In SE Texas, your choice comes down to pay up or die. The circumstances behind the situation dictates whether or not it is gouging. Taking advantage of those in need is abhorrent, would you not agree?
Matt, thank you for the personal attack. It tells me all I need to know about you as a person. B and I have exchanged emails through our personal accounts so he knows who I am. I respect him even though we have differing viewpoints. B is more conservative than I am, I'm more liberal than he. Doesn't mean we can't debate positions on differing topics.
Dale
And what? I have to apologize now? Nope… forget that. I personally don't care what you think of me…. B either for that matter. But he probably knows that….I just happen to agree with him on almost everything.
Seems to me that if I knew someone or had such great respect for him as you now claim, (and maybe you do) you woulda took it up with him there first before you called him cold, callous, & uncaring publicly on this blog.
And for the record I don't know B, nor do I communicate with him via email. I have read his blog for years now and with the exception of a cop killing a man last year that had a gun permit and the concept of a federal law for conceal carry vs states rights I've agreed with him the entire time.
I've read where he got stuck in a snow storm and was handing out his own water supply to cars around him, I've read where he helped clear a roadway breakdown that had stopped traffic completely (if I remember correctly) only to get "jumped on by some highway patrol cop having a bad attitude day just because he was there trying to help the younger guy that had broken down. There are numerous more events that point to the opposite of your cold callous and uncaring description.
So yeah I had problem with your description of him and I gave you my description of you…. tought stuff dude.
Go ahead and take the last word as we will never agree.
Seems to me if you wanted to debate him as you claim you might not start said debate by personally attacking his character. Think about it.
Apologies B for jumping in. I know you don't really need anyone to defend you he just hit me wrong at 2 am in the morning and I simply didnt appreciate anything he had to say.
The only thing that gives a diamond its worth is its rarity. The same goes for real estate in Manhattan, World Series ticket "resales," as well as bottled water and generators after a hurricane.
Yes, there is suffering. No one's knocking that. How many of these people even gave a passing thought to preparedness though?
Do, Dale. Lemme see if I get this right:
It is OK for the Free Market to work except when people think they need something. So if folks want to go to a motel that has power and hot showers rather than stay in a shelter, then they get to set the prices rather than letting the Free Market work…..Did I get that right?
Same with water or beer. In a hot stadium, It is OK to charge $7.50 for a water, but not after a hurricane.
Is it OK for the government to choose to house folks at your private home? Even if they choose to compensate you what they think is a fair price?
How about if they TAKE your stockpiled food and water and give it to those "in need"?
See, that water the dude is selling for $99 a case is HIS property. So is the motel room. It belongs to the owner, not the masses and not the Government. It isn't up for redistribution and it isn't the governments job to take it or decide what it is worth. Just as they can't force folks to let others stay in their homes, they cannot force you to rent to anyone for a price they feel is acceptable. Same with the water.
What you are seeing in Houston is the same Free Market pricing that you think is ok elesewhere. It just happens that this time, there was a hurricane. Again, there is a shelter available, if less comfortable and less private than the motel room.
You have made an emotional argument but not a logical one.
So, if people NEED a car, are you gonna give them yours? How about if I say that the "Fair Price" for your car is $400. You get compensation for your car. You may not think it is a fair price, but those folks NEED a car…..
Matt:
Thank you for your support.
C"mon B. Taking advantage of those in need is wrong and your argument doesn't hold water. It's not when people THINK they need it, its when the choice is buy or die. People don't NEED that $7.50 beer at the stadium, they WANT that beer (the stadiums here in Detroit let you bring in your own sealed bottled waters (2 per person)).
Using your argument's logic after a hurricane, you don't NEED that water, you can choose to die. I guess one could always choose to drink the water that's running through the streets too, that's free. Tainted, dirty, possibly contaminated water but I guess one could take their chances.
The government isn't taking and redistributing the water between the haves and have-nots. The government is the referee in this game, trying to curb the greed of the haves and provide for the need of the have-nots. They've said they will deal with the gouging of people once the situation stabilizes. It may be months from now, who knows.
The shelter situation is different in the sense that emergency shelters have be set up for those that NEED it. If someone can afford to pay the $300, go right ahead. If they WANT the room with privacy, pay for it. But karma is a bitch, and when things return to normal, there are those with long memories. People won't forget the prices they were asked to pay.
As far as your car analogy, a vehicle is a WANT, not a NEED. There is always public transportation or one can just hoof it. I WANT a Gulfstream G-V, but it ain't gonna happen (but it would have if I'da won that damn Powerball).
In closing, there's good people and there's bad people, and there's a group that's in between. I would hope, in an ideal world, the good would help the tweeners, and the bad would get their just rewards.
Dale
Pete, I don't know how many people were PREPARED for 50 inches of rain in 24 hours. I don't even know how one would prepare for something of that magnitude. Either build an Ark or evacuate, I would guess. But prior to landfall, the experts, people who's job it is to make the predictions, first called for up to 30 inches of rain, and recommended to secure and stay. Only after it became apparent that this storm was titanic in its rainfall was the order to evacuate given, albeit too late for many.
Here in the Midwest the weatherman routinely calls for 10-15 inches of snow. Then the storm dumps 2 inches. The reverse is true also, calling for a dusting and you get 8 inches with drifting. Unless you have a magic crystal ball, you'd probably follow the advice of the "experts" and hope they're correct.
Dale
See, Dale, that's the difference. I plan on the "dusting" of snow, but have plans in place for the 2 foot that sometimes happens. I have gear and supplies in the car, water, food, at least 72 hours of idle time in fuel, etc. Even TP.
Just in case.
And it wasn't, BTW, 50 inches in 24 hours, but rather over three days. Which is a terribly big amount of water, mind you. Likely more than we could handle in the midwest, as well.
But I will guarantee that every place that flooded this time has flooded sometime in the pat. People choose to live in flood plains. They gamble. Most of the time they win, but once every 25 years or so, they LOSE.
I'm glad you see the difference between need and want when it comes to the motel rooms. Now if only you could see the part about private property and forcing someone to sell at a price the government thinks is fair. Remember: the dude who was selling that water at an inflated price DIDN'T have to sell it, or stock it, or even have it to sell. Instead, he had it when other (who didn't prepare) wanted (or needed) it. Had they planned ahead like Mr High Priced Water, they'd have had plenty…and at cheaper prices.
And understand this: Where I live, there is NO public transportation. One either has a car, a bicycle, or one walks. You statement shows you are a city person. Dependency on others is often a characteristic of city folk. I begin to see now why you think the way you do.