That's Texas Baby!!!!

[felisviolaceous]

I just heard on the radio of Rita evacuees experiencing price gouging. Like $5.00 per gallon of gas, or $35.00 for a 12 pack of water bottles, and other outrageous prices for other foods and equipment to board up homes. This is on the road out of Houston/Galveston area. I was shocked and just wanted to beat some people up. I remember when 911 happened and Starbucks price gouged people trying to get water for the people that somehow made it out of the collasping buildings. Gotta LOVE them corporations!!!!
However, though certainly not small, the born-and-raised-Texas HEB not only not go up on their gas prices as they were steadily running out...they went DOWN when all they had left was super unleaded!! Last night after trying to wait in line after work, I instead went at 10pm in the evening and HEB had already run out of reg. and mid-grade unleaded. All that was left was Super and to my surprise it was $2.53 a gallon!!!! I only had $10.00 to put in which only gave me 3.9 gallons, but right now my car is a bit tipsy from the higher grade gas. ;) From what I heard on the radio, HEB is one of the first ones running out of gas because they are doing it right and trying to live up to the "Texas...the friendly state"!!!! And I also heard last night that Wal-Mart here in Austin had bumped their prices up by .20cents and hell the new Texaco across the street from the HEB that I filled up at, was up .04cents higher for reg. and by 10pm last night they were out. But it was just reg. that they were out of. I didn't go over to see if they dropped the price of mid-grade and super, but I'm willing to bet THEY DIDN'T!!!!

Comments

[beckyms.livejournal.com]

I don't think things can always be blamed on "corporations". There are plenty of unscrupulous individuals in the world. I'll bet it wasn't the CEO or board of directors of Starbucks that charged extra for water - it was likely a manager or owner (not sure of the company structure).

As for hiking up prices, I've heard good arguments for raising prices when there's a shortage or potential shortage. The extra money made on the price increase can then be turned around and used to acquire more of the product or to acquire good substitutes for the product. It also discourages people from buying as much of it at once and leaves more for other people to buy. As you pointed out, HEB was running out of gas. A lot of good their cheap gas did people who couldn't get there in time. (Not saying they did something "wrong", just saying having more gas available at a higher price might have benefited more people).

[felisviolaceous.livejournal.com]

The extra money made on the price increase can then be turned around and used to acquire more of the product or to acquire good substitutes for the product.

I'm sorry, you can't honestly believe that the company is going to actually put the 200% profit they just made due to this crisis back to their stores for the good of the citizens????
As for raising the prices to deter people from taking as much...I don't think so. The reason that manager hiked the price is because he KNOWS that whoever is actually stopping at his station is because they had NO other choice and if they don't fill up to full they will NOT make it to the next one. Especially if the traffic is that congested and you end up using a full tank of gas in just 5 MILES!!!! It may have not been the head of the corporation's fault, but they are certainly not going to say..."Give the money back".
Now, it is very likely that is was a small station owned by a single owner and well, in my opinion he just needs to be taken out behind the station and shot! But the bigwigs like WalMart aren't very far from the same attitude as that single owner. They may not be "gouging" but they ain't trying to help either.
As for HEB being out...I think they are secure enough money wise and more importantly helpful enough to take the hit of a couple days of no gas sales just so that those that are on the run from Rita can save money so they can rebuild when this is all over. It never made since to me why people price things so high that nobody can buy...if they price it lower the volume of sales will easily balance the lowered price and you get repeat business that way.

[zenhedon.livejournal.com]

It might not have been the CEO that set the policy but it's still "the corporation" in that the people they hire, and the way they think, is "corporate" - as in "make the most money possible, maximize profit". Setting fair prices is at odds with most American corporate mentalities. They don't care about whether people can afford it - they care about how much money they can make.

Same with wages, in reverse - "pay them as little as we can, to maximize profit". Employees are seen as a monetary drain on the company, something to be minimized (ie paid less...so there can be more profit).

There's nothing wrong with profit...but "profit above all else" should not be the primary goal of a business, IMNSHO.