Best Buy; price gouging during emergency!

[Lallapalalable]

http://thechive.com/2011/08/27/not-cool-best-buy-1-hq-photo/

This has me concerned, for obvious reasons.

 

[Duvelthehobbit666]

That's just horrible.

 

[Nashy19]

Am I missing something, why can't you bottle your own water for free?

 

[Thomas Doubting]

Am I missing something, why can't you bottle your own water for free?

that was the quesion i didn't want to ask.. maybe the tap/faucet water is not that good or they are too lazy, no clue
i wouldn't pay that much for water even if i had to drink from puddles as the only alternative

 

[CommonEnlightenment]

Am I missing something, why can't you bottle your own water for free?

I think there might be cooties in the water.

Plus, I think it would be considered UnAmerican to bottle your own water. And the last thing you want is to be considered UnAmerican. :lol:

 

[Thomas Doubting]

Am I missing something, why can't you bottle your own water for free?

I think there might be cooties in the water.

Plus, I think it would be considered UnAmerican to bottle your own water. And the last thing you want is to be considered UnAmerican. :lol:

is being broke because one has to spend all his money on water considered American? 0_o
and i left out food batteries and whatever else they let skyrocket in such situations.. really lame

 

[CommonEnlightenment]

I think it might be a failure of marketing. If they did it correctly the sign should have stated that it could be used as automobile fuel.....

 

[ImprobableJoe]

That's NOT PRICE GOUGING!!!

Best Buy is not a grocery store. It is an electronics store. They sometimes have a couple of coolers with sodas, juices, and bottled water near the registers. Because they sell by individual bottle, they charge more than you pay for bulk quantities, usually between $1.50-2.00 a bottle. The prices for the 12-pack and 24-pack are in line with the price for individual bottles, so there's not any actual gouging going on.

A little skeptical thinking goes a long way...

 

[Aught3]

That's NOT PRICE GOUGING!!!

Best Buy is not a grocery store. It is an electronics store. They sometimes have a couple of coolers with sodas, juices, and bottled water near the registers. Because they sell by individual bottle, they charge more than you pay for bulk quantities, usually between $1.50-2.00 a bottle. The prices for the 12-pack and 24-pack are in line with the price for individual bottles, so there's not any actual gouging going on.

A little skeptical thinking goes a long way...

Nice one Joe, I was trying to figure out how many bottles there were and convert it to Kiwi dollars... then I just read your post instead, cheers!

 

[ImprobableJoe]

Nice one Joe, I was trying to figure out how many bottles there were and convert it to Kiwi dollars... then I just read your post instead, cheers!

Well I DO live in Florida, the "Sunshine State", so I tend know where all the cold drinks are in any store, and how much they charge! :mrgreen:

 

[kenandkids]

That's NOT PRICE GOUGING!!!

I disagree. The ordinary cost of those are under ten dollars, even at Best Buy. Yes, I know they simply adjusted for number as if these were the cold single bottles, but they are not the cold single bottles. The manager saw that people were buying out grocery stores and thought to turn a quick high profit, nothing more.

 

[CommonEnlightenment]

 

[ImprobableJoe]

I disagree. The ordinary cost of those are under ten dollars, even at Best Buy. Yes, I know they simply adjusted for number as if these were the cold single bottles, but they are not the cold single bottles. The manager saw that people were buying out grocery stores and thought to turn a quick high profit, nothing more.

You can disagree, but you are wrong. The ordinary cost of those at Best Buy are the prices as marked. The fact that they are bundled in plastic doesn't make them any cheaper. At least here, Best buy doesn't sell water by the dozen or 2-dozen package. Those packages might be cheaper at the grocery store, but that doesn't mean they cost that much at Best Buy.

A 24-pack of beer is cheaper than four individual 6-packs of beer. If I grab four 6-packs of beer, they aren't required to discount the four 6-packs to the price of the 24-pack. Why do you think it is different in this case?

 

[kenandkids]

The ordinary cost of those at Best Buy are the prices as marked. The fact that they are bundled in plastic doesn't make them any cheaper. At least here, Best buy doesn't sell water by the dozen or 2-dozen package. Those packages might be cheaper at the grocery store, but that doesn't mean they cost that much at Best Buy.

Joe, here in Washington Best Buy does sell these packages and they are under $10. The fact that they are bundled does make them cheaper at every store I've ever been to, and after hitch-hiking in every contiguous state except for the New England states north of Pennsylvania, I've been to many, many stores. There is a reason that the signs were hand written, the original signs had a much lower cost.

 

[ImprobableJoe]

Joe, here in Washington Best Buy does sell these packages and they are under $10. The fact that they are bundled does make them cheaper at every store I've ever been to, and after hitch-hiking in every contiguous state except for the New England states north of Pennsylvania, I've been to many, many stores. There is a reason that the signs were hand written, the original signs had a much lower cost.

Here in Florida they don't. Tie goes to the runner.

 

[Lallapalalable]

Am I missing something, why can't you bottle your own water for free?

Not too many people have the ability to carry several gallons of water when evacuating, so the bottled stuff may be a necessity for some.

Joe, here in Washington Best Buy does sell these packages and they are under $10. The fact that they are bundled does make them cheaper at every store I've ever been to, and after hitch-hiking in every contiguous state except for the New England states north of Pennsylvania, I've been to many, many stores. There is a reason that the signs were hand written, the original signs had a much lower cost.

Here in Florida they don't. Tie goes to the runner.

Is this store in (commie) Florida? No. Ken is right, and living on the Jersey border I can assure you they do discount bulk over yonder. Ill admit 'price gouging' may be a bit harsh, but still.

Win goes to the winner.

 

[scalyblue]

/agree that the store was not price gouging.

When I worked at best buy (in florida), the water case packs were not SKUed, the individual bottles were. They cannot sell the casepacks, they have to scan a bottle and qty it to 24. If they mark it down to normal levels, it will be below the store's wholesale cost and the store will lose money on its general ledger. (though I'm sure the company would still net a profit)

Somebody is still going to get PCRed though, you are *not* supposed to use hand written signs at all. They should have used a corporate printed sign that said 1.69/ea or w/e the price was.

 

[ImprobableJoe]

/agree that the store was not price gouging.

When I worked at best buy (in florida), the water case packs were not SKUed, the individual bottles were. They cannot sell the casepacks, they have to scan a bottle and qty it to 24. If they mark it down to normal levels, it will be below the store's wholesale cost and the store will lose money on its general ledger. (though I'm sure the company would still net a profit)

Somebody is still going to get PCRed though, you are *not* supposed to use hand written signs at all. They should have used a corporate printed sign that said 1.69/ea or w/e the price was.

I'm with you in that the stores can't scan cases if the sell them as singles. The registers won't process the bulk discount that people expect.

 

[kenandkids]

I'm with you in that the stores can't scan cases if the sell them as singles. The registers won't process the bulk discount that people expect.

That doesn't make sense in the least... Many stores sell a single item and the same item in bulk. Every case of an item, in this example water, has an external scanning code. That is how batches are recalled instead of whole product amounts.

This sounds much more likely that your BBs in Florida do not sell them in bulk, yet most of the rest of the country does. It's just like grocery stores, selling both the singles and the bulk at different costs per oz.



edit: In fact, up here self checkouts are a big deal. When you scan a single beer it asks whether or not the item is in a pack or single. I know Florida is incredibly regressive and backward, but I'm sure you can get someone from another state to upgrade your stone age software... :lol:

 

[Lallapalalable]

The article updated saying that, for one day (8/28), the stores will price match local supermarkets as a gesture of good will.

The main point was that people are being evacuated (mandatory for many, and last count I saw said ~1mil.), and getting h2o is a priority for many people. Having a large company not accommodate for the situation, while not entirely unethical, just shows that they arent committed to the communities they serve (which is a staple core value for many businesses).

The very least they could have done from the get-go would be to sell it for no profit (even though we all know bottled water is the bread and butter of Best Buy's income).