The Ultimate Price Gouge

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I've always been prepared. Not sure why. Just me.

Living here, in the country, we're some distance from necessities, which includes fuel for our vehicles.

One experience that demonstrated our preparedness was the devastating ice storm of January 2009. I was alone because Buck had died a few months earlier and ended up without power for over 11 days.

Because I have always kept a well-stocked pantry and the freezer was fully stocked, I had no challenge with food. Even with no electricity, I still had the facility to cook because the cooktop in the kitchen was fueled by gas. Yeah! As was the water heater. Yeah times two. Even if I couldn't have used the cooktop, I still had an outdoor gas grill I could have utilized.

I'd already stored plenty of water because we often have short power failures here and always stayed prepared for that.

As for paper products, we are home free there, too. We use very few paper towels, so a multi-package of those lasts for a long, long while. On the other hand, we do need toilet paper and I always make sure we have an ample supply. To that end, I've discovered I can buy the stuff from Amazon for less than it can be had on sale in my store. As a result, and this sounds pretty funny and based on our normal use history, we won't have to buy any until after February of next year. We do have plenty of room to store the stash in a closet in the front bathroom. I think if dysentery sets in, we'll be fine.:LOL::LOL:

Our only challenge here is that our well is operated using electricity, so we do have to take steps to make certain we have a water supply.

Again, for cooking, we have gas in the form of the cooktop and a grill out on the back porch. To address the food supply, plenty there, too.
 
After the price gouging that took place after Hurricane Andrew, Florida made it a criminal offense to price gouge. I'm surprised Hawaii hasn't done something similar.

As to the water though, all the cheap water goes first here when the frenzy starts after it's announced a hurricane is headed our way. So, it may be that only the expensive "premium" water was left. At least they weren't charging their normal full price (from what others have posted).
 
I've always been prepared. Not sure why. Just me.

Living here, in the country, we're some distance from necessities, which includes fuel for our vehicles.

One experience that demonstrated our preparedness was the devastating ice storm of January 2009. I was alone because Buck had died a few months earlier and ended up without power for over 11 days.

Because I have always kept a well-stocked pantry and the freezer was fully stocked, I had no challenge with food. Even with no electricity, I still had the facility to cook because the cooktop in the kitchen was fueled by gas. Yeah! As was the water heater. Yeah times two. Even if I couldn't have used the cooktop, I still had an outdoor gas grill I could have utilized.

I'd already stored plenty of water because we often have short power failures here and always stayed prepared for that.

As for paper products, we are home free there, too. We use very few paper towels, so a multi-package of those lasts for a long, long while. On the other hand, we do need toilet paper and I always make sure we have an ample supply. To that end, I've discovered I can buy the stuff from Amazon for less than it can be had on sale in my store. As a result, and this sounds pretty funny and based on our normal use history, we won't have to buy any until after February of next year. We do have plenty of room to store the stash in a closet in the front bathroom. I think if dysentery sets in, we'll be fine.:LOL::LOL:

Our only challenge here is that our well is operated using electricity, so we do have to take steps to make certain we have a water supply.

Again, for cooking, we have gas in the form of the cooktop and a grill out on the back porch. To address the food supply, plenty there, too.

I can understand everything you say, as we were without power for a full 7 days several years ago to an ice storm.
We also are prepared and live quite far from any services.
After the outage, I bought a generator.

I also bought a interlock switch for my panel and installed a power inlet outside near my garage door.
Should we lose power now, I can roll the generator outside, plug it into the outlet, turn off the main breaker in the house, turn on the generator breaker and start the generator.

Then I can pick and choose what to use and what not to use. Its not a whole house generator, so I must be able to determine what i can run and what i can't. But all refrigeration and hot water can be used.

I highly recommend doing this if you are in a rural area.
A completely automatic generator is the best bet, but more expensive.
This way if you ever do lose power, you don't lose any food, can shower and watch TV and use the computer.

Note: Buy the most quite generator you can afford. Mine is very loud and to be honest i am sorry for my neighbors should I ever need it.
I have never needed it since the ice storm years ago.

Also have a qualified electrician install the interlock switch, inlet and let them show you how to use it.
Even if you do not use it, its been one less worry I have each winter.
 
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I highly recommend doing this if you are in a rural area.
A completely automatic generator is the best bet, but more expensive.
This way if you ever do lose power, you don't lose any food, can shower and watch TV and use the computer.

We have one and we live in a Victorian neighborhood in a small city. I think people can benefit from a generator if they live in any area that is prone to thunderstorms and/or hurricanes.
 
GG, at least when you're in a town or city most places make a shelter of some type available for those who need it. Our longer power outage was three days back in 2010/11. Even our town of about 11,000 opened the middle school. We stayed at home, I kept the fire going in the fireplace, but it was cool enough outside to keep some food in coolers with bottles of ice.


...we were without power for a full 7 days several years ago to an ice storm.
I have never needed it since the ice storm years ago...
See how good that generator works? ;-) After our power outage a lot of neighbors bought generators, including my SIL up the street. We didn't bother since she said we could stay there if need be. But since then? No problems, knock on wood!
 
GG, at least when you're in a town or city most places make a shelter of some type available for those who need it. Our longer power outage was three days back in 2010/11. Even our town of about 11,000 opened the middle school. We stayed at home, I kept the fire going in the fireplace, but it was cool enough outside to keep some food in coolers with bottles of ice.



See how good that generator works? ;-) After our power outage a lot of neighbors bought generators, including my SIL up the street. We didn't bother since she said we could stay there if need be. But since then? No problems, knock on wood!
That's what I was thinking. I call umbrellas "rain prevention devices".
 
As far as price gouging, let's be realistic here. It goes on every day everywhere. We recently got access to Restaurant Depot, a wholesale supplier. They have cases of the small bags of a premium type of chip that our daughter's family loves. The price comes out to just under 50 cents a bag, yet the local grocery store chain sells them for $1.09 a bag (looked when we went to grocery yesterday). You know this huge chain is getting it even cheaper than what Restaurant Depot is selling it at simply because of buying power. I know they have lots of overhead but seriously?!! That's over a 100% markup.
 
You go to any food outlet and order a soft drink. You are handed a cup and pointed to the soda machine where you serve yourself to ice and a soft drink. You paid $1.50 or so. That soft drink (cup, syrup, carbonated water, ice) cost the store less than a dime. So it's not such a giant favor they are doing for you when they offer free refills.
 
I bet I'm the only regular at DC who has never canned anything in my life.

I've been gifted with home canned foods at times, and to be honest I'm slightly afraid of it. I certainly appreciate the thoughtfulness of the gift but it bothers me some about the reliability of it being done properly in food safety terms. I'll stick to store bought canned goods myself.

The first time I canned tomato sauce, it sat in my cupboard for two years because I was afraid to eat it :LOL: I started to think of it as decoration each time I opened the cupboard. Many years later, I tried again and I had a much better handle on how to make sure it's safe to eat.

I started with the blog "Food in Jars" - http://foodinjars.com/ - and then bought her book. The book has an illustration of all the equipment you need to have ready and has very thorough directions. I also bought "Put it Up!" and my mom gave me another book on canning and preserving. And I've signed up for four classes in the next month or so on preserving through the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service. Looking forward to that. I might be teaching it soon ;)
 
GG, at least when you're in a town or city most places make a shelter of some type available for those who need it. Our longer power outage was three days back in 2010/11. Even our town of about 11,000 opened the middle school. We stayed at home, I kept the fire going in the fireplace, but it was cool enough outside to keep some food in coolers with bottles of ice.

I don't understand your point. I've been through many power outages here and never gone to a shelter. That doesn't mean I want to lose my perishable food to spoilage and as I said, I have medication that needs to be refrigerated; I have no doubt it would be stolen if I left it in a fridge in a shelter. And most if not all shelters won't take pets.
 
After the price gouging that took place after Hurricane Andrew, Florida made it a criminal offense to price gouge. I'm surprised Hawaii hasn't done something similar.

As to the water though, all the cheap water goes first here when the frenzy starts after it's announced a hurricane is headed our way. So, it may be that only the expensive "premium" water was left. At least they weren't charging their normal full price (from what others have posted).

In Hawaii, once the Governor proclaims a state of emergency, prices on any goods can not be increased. I saw on Craig's List a case of bottled water for as much as $250. The Big Island of Hawaii is still in a bad way.

*Here's the hysterical thing to me about this fancy-pants bottled water, it's artesian... the city tape water is from an artesian aquifer that has been filtered by lava rock.
 
I don't understand your point. I've been through many power outages here and never gone to a shelter. That doesn't mean I want to lose my perishable food to spoilage and as I said, I have medication that needs to be refrigerated; I have no doubt it would be stolen if I left it in a fridge in a shelter. And most if not all shelters won't take pets.
Easy GG. :flowers: I wasn't saying you 1) should go to a shelter, 2) not own a generator and 3) not care about your pets. My only (poorly made*) point was that IF you live out in the boonies it's necessary to be sure to have a back-up plan if weather causes power problems. IF you live in a town you will usually have services available to help during a power outage if you chose. We had considered a generator with that last power outage until Himself's sister and BIL bought a generator. Once they did, THEY became our back-up plan. After all, their house is only 2,000 feet from ours! If we couldn't drive up we can snowshoe (me) and X-C ski (Himself) to their place. Fortunately, we really don't have many power outages. Prior to the 64-hour one due to the Halloween Snowtober storm the few we've had have all been under 4 or 6 hours.

*I think half of my planned post didn't make it to the keys, but instead was still stuck somewhere in my brain. :D
 
Easy GG. :flowers: I wasn't saying you 1) should go to a shelter, 2) not own a generator and 3) not care about your pets. My only (poorly made*) point was that IF you live out in the boonies it's necessary to be sure to have a back-up plan if weather causes power problems. IF you live in a town you will usually have services available to help during a power outage if you chose. We had considered a generator with that last power outage until Himself's sister and BIL bought a generator. Once they did, THEY became our back-up plan. After all, their house is only 2,000 feet from ours! If we couldn't drive up we can snowshoe (me) and X-C ski (Himself) to their place. Fortunately, we really don't have many power outages. Prior to the 64-hour one due to the Halloween Snowtober storm the few we've had have all been under 4 or 6 hours.

*I think half of my planned post didn't make it to the keys, but instead was still stuck somewhere in my brain. :D

:LOL: Sorry. I must be feeling more vulnerable than I used to when I was healthier. I understand. I do think that if you have any warning at all, people should be prepared to make it on their own for at least a few days. I've seen lots of news reports about people who were complaining about not getting water or ice from the gummint the very next day.
 
Zagut, half my conversations with Himself start with "Now WHAT was I going to tell you?" :ermm: If I wait with a question/comment until a commercial comes on I plum forget what I wanted to say by the time there is a break in the TV show. :LOL:



:LOL: Sorry. I must be feeling more vulnerable than I used to when I was healthier....
Glad to see we're still friends. ;) I hear you on that "be prepared" part too. Works for people even if they were never in Scouts.
 
Even if you live in a city, if services are lost for any extended time, it may become necessary to use a shelter. Here in Boston, they set up in the summer when the temps start to climb, shelters with AC. When you live in a four or five story walk-up, and you have only a couple of fans, that shelter feels mighty good when you walk in the door. And during those times during a heat wave, or loss of power in the winter, we are bombarded with reminders to check on our elderly neighbors to make sure they are all right. This also happens in the winter if there is a really bad storm. If my memory serves me and hasn't competely gone, we haven't lost anyone to the heat or cold in many years. Our police are pretty good at knowing where the elderly live and might be in need of services. We recently had a power outage in our building for a couple of hours last year. After about 30 minutes the EMS service in Boston showed up with oxygen tanks for some of our tenants. We have four very large buildings that are for the elderly in my part of the city. They all were checked on that night. with services rendered where needed. :angel:
 
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