[notauser]

Given that poor people can't afford to hoard because of the cost of storage (especially in cities) and financing, isn't it better that rich people are encouraged to hoard when supply is plentiful?

The problem arises when rich people start hoarding at times when supply is constrained, because they can do it so much more rapidly and create a much greater shock to the system.

It was notable in London that severe shortages only really existed at stores you can drive to. Stores that you can only walk to have been much better stocked.

[roenxi]

> isn't it better that rich people are encouraged to hoard when supply is plentiful?

The market signal that would make rich people hoard masks in the good times would be ... an expectation that if an unexpected crisis arose then prices would rise to extreme values. Nothing else is going to make that happen. Not even most governments manage to resist economising and running down their medical supplies after the last health scare they faced.

I'm not going to hoard in good times because I'm not crazy; I know I can't be ready for everything. I'm just going to try and preempt everyone else at the start of a crisis. It won't work every time but that is the strategy that makes sense if the crisis response is includes 'stopping price-gouging'.

If we allowed price gouging, I might seriously keep a few extra boxes of masks ready for selling to others the next time this happened. I like money. I have some shelf space. The only question is will prices go high enough to justify using it.

[croon]

> I'm not going to hoard in good times because I'm not crazy; I know I can't be ready for everything.

We don't want anyone hoarding (or gouging). However keeping TP enough for 2 weeks when supply was ample, whould have prevented this ever being an issue, and no gouging needed. TP production has never been an issue, the system shock of people panic buying (too much) all at once was. People aren't shitting more than before.

I have about a month's supply of TP at home, and have only bought 10 rolls since this whole thing began. I am not a prepper nor a hoarder. I just like having a buffer of things I like not being without. There's a miniscule opportunity loss of storage and sunken cost, but I'm not spending any more than I would with just-in-time purchasing.

> If we allowed price gouging, I might seriously keep a few extra boxes of masks ready for selling to others the next time this happened. I like money. I have some shelf space. The only question is will prices go high enough to justify using it.

Great argument for not allowing price gouging then.

[code_duck]

>People aren't shitting more than before.

Like bananas, this is an issue of commercial and residential supply chains. Most commercial bathrooms have totally different toilet paper than home paper - thin, and on a huge roll. People are using the bathroom at home far more than before, since they’re not using it at restaurants, work or other public areas.

[WalterBright]

Anti-gouging laws cause sensible people to hoard at the first sign of trouble.

[TeMPOraL]

They also arguably make people hoard less. If you can't resell for a large profit, there's no point in buying more than what you feel hedges your risk. So you'll buy 200 masks instead of 20 000.

Disposable PPE is also funny in a way that it makes no sense to buy it unless you buy in bulk. If you can get 200 N95 masks for $20, it's OK. If you can buy 2 masks for $20, then you'd better spend $1000 or don't buy at all. A lot of people buying few masks each just wastes a whole supply of masks that could all go to one place (e.g. a hospital) where they would make a difference because there would be enough of them to be used properly.

[WalterBright]

> They also arguably make people hoard less.

There's no need to theorize or argue, the historical evidence is that price fixing (anti-gouging) leads to shortages (or gluts).

https://www.amazon.com/Forty-Centuries-Wage-Price-Controls-e...

[Firadeoclus]

Fear of gouging causes (some, whether sensible or not) people to hoard at the first sign of trouble.

[WalterBright]

The 1970s gas lines stopped immediately after Reagan, as his first act as President, signed an Executive Order eliminating oil & gas price controls.

Literally overnight. And they never returned since.

[lukas099]

Plenty of poor people are hoarding, at least here in the US. They make room.