6 Days Still No Power!

[b61mack]

If you missed us pa/nj/ny members we are sitting in our cold dark, homes. I think my mind has been cleansed, no tv, no internet. I even think i even, lost some weight. No tv, so no munching. It seems The 100 years storms are an annual, event. NJ and PA, are experiencing a gas shortage, Jimmy Carter where are you, NJ has odd and even days now. The supermarkets shelves are bare, The one's that are open are on generators. I spoke to a lineman from OHIO, they will being here well into the new year. Of course at double time. A local gas station said he raised his price, for safety reasons. I waited in a gas line for over an hour, yesterday. POLICE ARE IN THE GAS STATIONS to enforce the odd even plates. ( I CAN SEE THE HEADLINE Insuranceman GETS CAUGHT, WITH THE WRONG PLATE NUMBER, HAD ODD WHEN HE SHOULD HAVE HAD EVEN) It kind of kills the insurance selling business. Down at the NJ shore the houses are gone. If we door knock that area, do we walk into the ocean to find the door, to knock on. I have never seen so many downed trees, and peeled roofs, The business to be in is the roofer, generator sales, and tree business. The contractor will be busys, I my start back doing my mold remediation. But first i need my power....lol...

 

[Josh]

How does raising it's prices make a gas station safer?

 

[b61mack]

That was his statement to the newspaper. He was just price gouging. I guess in his home land, that is a common practice. Hey his cousins are goosing us over there, they my as well goose us here too.

 

[shonceman]

Having experienced a cat 2 hurricane, I have some, very small, idea what you're going through, although I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the enormous scope of the property damage and the population affected. Katrina hit New Orleans a few months after we moved to Texas. I now have several customers who fled the devastation & chaos there and still live here. What they have described to me sounds like what I'm hearing about Sandy. We'll be praying for you and your family. Are you and yours safe? Did you get much property damage in your neighborhood? How's your place?

 

[xrac]

I have experienced 6 days without power and it ain't no fun.

 

[Focus LTC]

That was his statement to the newspaper. He was just price gouging. I guess in his home land, that is a common practice. Hey his cousins are goosing us over there, they my as well goose us here too.

Ahhhh price gouging. The reality is that there is a major shortage of gas in the region.

The price system is a better way to ration a limited supply then odd even days.

If he raises the price to say $6 or $7 a gal, this will ensure that those with a lot to lose will be the first to fill up.

- A grocery store running a generator has a lot to lose if they don't fill up, they will gladly pay.
- A utility crew earning double time would gladly pay to fill up their truck so they could keep working.
- An ambulance company would gladly pay to stay in business. With an even odd system, half their fleet maybe out of commission and on their day to fill up, there may not be any gas.
- A contractor with a full schedule of tree removal would gladly pay so that he could keep working.
- A house wife that needs to run to the post office and the grocery store would not gladly pay $6-$7 per gallon. She would probably only buy 2 or 3 gallons because that's all she really needs to get around town.

"Price gouging" benefits everyone when supplies are limited. No lines, no shortages, those that really need it get, those that don't only get the bare minimum, suppliers get to stay in business when selling a much lower volume than normal.

Price controls with even/odd rationing only guarantees long lines, and "sold out" stations. House wives get full tanks, contractors and grocery stores get the shaft.

30 years later and we still haven't figured out that "price gouging" works best...

 

[shonceman]

"Price gouging" benefits everyone when supplies are limited. No lines, no shortages, those that really need it get, those that don't only get the bare minimum, suppliers get to stay in business when selling a much lower volume than normal.

Price controls with even/odd rationing only guarantees long lines, and "sold out" stations. House wives get full tanks, contractors and grocery stores get the shaft.

30 years later and we still haven't figured out that "price gouging" works best...

You make some good and interesting points. The law of supply and demand is clearly a primary principal in a free market economy.

Still, it's a lot easier to wax philosophical about all of that when you're not the person paying the 6 or 7 dollars per gallon. A catastrophe like this often brings out good will and generosity in many of our neighbors. Unfortunately, the same catastrophe brings out the greed & avarice in others.

 

[somarco]

Raising prices keeps out the riff-raff and adhere's to the idea of a free market system.

 

[xrac]

You make some good and interesting points. The law of supply and demand is clearly a primary principal in a free market economy.

Still, it's a lot easier to wax philosophical about all of that when you're not the person paying the 6 or 7 dollars per gallon. A catastrophe like this often brings out good will and generosity in many of our neighbors. Unfortunately, the same catastrophe brings out the greed & avarice in others.

At times like this we see the best and worst of people.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Ahhhh price gouging. The reality is that there is a major shortage of gas in the region.

The price system is a better way to ration a limited supply then odd even days.

If he raises the price to say $6 or $7 a gal, this will ensure that those with a lot to lose will be the first to fill up.

- A grocery store running a generator has a lot to lose if they don't fill up, they will gladly pay.
- A utility crew earning double time would gladly pay to fill up their truck so they could keep working.
- An ambulance company would gladly pay to stay in business. With an even odd system, half their fleet maybe out of commission and on their day to fill up, there may not be any gas.
- A contractor with a full schedule of tree removal would gladly pay so that he could keep working.
- A house wife that needs to run to the post office and the grocery store would not gladly pay $6-$7 per gallon. She would probably only buy 2 or 3 gallons because that's all she really needs to get around town.

"Price gouging" benefits everyone when supplies are limited. No lines, no shortages, those that really need it get, those that don't only get the bare minimum, suppliers get to stay in business when selling a much lower volume than normal.

Price controls with even/odd rationing only guarantees long lines, and "sold out" stations. House wives get full tanks, contractors and grocery stores get the shaft.

30 years later and we still haven't figured out that "price gouging" works best...

If we're going with the most pure example, if you allow gas station owners to jack the price, then yes, the grocery store owner gladly pays that $8/gallon for gas.

However, when he opens the door he realizes none of his employees are there to run the store since the stockers and cashiers couldn't afford to get gas so they could get to work.