“We’re sold out.” 

Those were words that kept being uttered back to my mom and me as we tried to prepare for the coronavirus by buying a few essentials back at the beginning of the month. Apparently, we were too late in our thinking, and the stores had already been wiped out of things that are normally abundant, like hand sanitizer and hand soap. 

When news first broke out about the novel coronavirus, present only in mainland China at the time, people around the world, especially here in the US, thought that preparing and being worried about it was foolish. As things started to progress and spread around the world, Americans began to stock up in the event of a two-week quarantine or just to feel less anxious about the virus in general. 

Consumers buying an extra case of water, an extra pack of toilet paper, a bottle of hand sanitizer, or a few more cans of food seemed fine at first, as the situation would only get presumably worse. However, many other buyers had a different idea: to buy as much as possible of the most-coveted items — and not with the intent of personal use or sharing with friends and family, but to sell on websites like Amazon, eBay, and Walmart to frenzied shoppers, desperate for the products at a significant mark-up. This mark-up is known as price-gouging. 

Popular products that were only available sold by third-party sellers, like face masks, hand sanitizer, and disinfectant wipes, to name a few, were priced at astonishingly high prices, yet people still bought them. For instance, hand sanitizer sold for upwards of $40-70 a bottle when I checked back in early March, when things had not yet escalated to this point. I remember my mom and I visited seven different stores with no chance of finding even a drop of hand sanitizer. 

Many of the websites, including Amazon, have now removed countless listings and suspended thousands of selling accounts for violation of their fair pricing policies. These sellers now face consequences even legally for their actions, and rightfully so, for their work in wiping out stores and communities of necessities to keep everyone safe. 

The idea of price-gouging is not only unethical but unconscionably selfish. I often wonder why in a worldwide pandemic people think it is a good idea or even have the nerve to hoard and sell items for outrageous prices. The answer, though, is simple: there are far too many greedy people in this world who take advantage of anything and everything, no matter the circumstances. 

Buying everything off the shelves in all your surrounding stores hurts the community exponentially, as people who are trying to buy in moderation and people who actually need to utilize the products are left with nowhere to go. If hoarders were more considerate, then perhaps the elderly would not have to go to store after store to even get a single roll of toilet paper. Buying out the whole stock of masks only leaves the healthcare workers on the frontline in danger the most on top of everyone else. Leaving supplies for the community only loops around in the long-run, as people will stop venturing out to continue looking for things they are actually out of or products that will keep people healthy. 

Now that these hoarders aren’t allowed to sell their stockpile, many are left wondering what to do with it. Hopefully, after reflecting on their despicable actions, they are considering donating their accruals back to their communities where they will actually be put to use.  In the process, we can only hope to learn the importance of being a good citizen.