Hurricane Irma stirs price-gouging fears
Florida officials have tried to discourage price gouging ahead of Hurricane Irma’s arrival in the state, but basic goods selling for inflated amounts are appearing online.
On Wednesday, a 24-pack of 16.9-ounce bottles of Ice Mountain Brand Spring Water was priced at $99.99 on Amazon.com from a third-party seller called BestSource OfficeSupplies.
The same product was priced at $9.99 for delivery on Staples .com. Similar cases of Ice Mountain Spring Water ( larger bottles holding 23.7 ounces) ranged in price from less than $8 to $44.90 at 29 online stores.
With the Category 5 hurricane expected to reach Florida on Saturday morning, shoppers are reporting price hikes for important supplies.
“We have received hundreds of complaints about alleged price gouging since the hotline was ac- tivated Sunday,” Whitney Ray, a spokesman in the Florida attorney general’s office, said. “While I do not have a total at this point, I can tell you that many of the complaints reference water, fuel and Amazon.com.”
Among those bringing attention to inflated prices on Twitter was Daniel A., who says he lives in North Miami Beach.
He tweeted a screen grab of the case of water and said, “Hey @amazon @AmazonHelp, you should monitor the price gauging going on right now ... $100 for 24pk of water that is usually about $10???”
The online seller of the $99.99 cases, BestSource OfficeSupplies, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
However, Amazon did provide a statement to USA TODAY that “we are actively monitoring our website and removing offers on bottled water that substantially exceed the recent average sales price. Prices have not widely fluctuated in the last month. Lowerpriced offers are quickly selling out, leaving higher-priced offers from third party sellers. If cus- tomers think an offer has substantially exceeded in price, we encourage them to contact Amazon customer service directly and work with us so we can investigate and take the appropriate action.”
People seeking flights out of Florida in advance of Irma expressed shock at finding some air fares surpassing $1,500 and approaching $2,000 for a round trip.
Fares skyrocketed late Tuesday and early Wednesday because more Floridians than in previous hurricane situations could be looking to leave the region, says Seth Kaplan, managing partner at the trade publication Airline Weekly. The reason? Fears stirred by the destruction seen during Hurricane Harvey in Texas.
“You have this very likely unprecedented surge in demand right at a time when airlines are reducing their schedule” after Labor Day, he said. “People just snapped up seats at fares that turned out to be rather low and the airlines systems reacted as they always would, and those last seats cost a lot.”
It’s not price gouging, Kaplan says. “It’s just that there aren’t enough seats.”
Airlines responded Wednesday, with American and Delta capping fare prices, as well as increasing the size of their planes and number of flights. United also added flights, which had sold out, and adjusted fares. JetBlue also said it had capped its prices for remaining outbound flights.
Airlines “are working around the clock to accommodate customers,” said Kathy Grannis Allen, spokeswoman for Airlines for America, a trade group representing most of the largest carriers.
The inflated prices for some water in Florida echo a similar situation near Houston, where a case of bottled water cost nearly $43 at a Best Buy store days after Hurricane Harvey hit.
“This was a big mistake on the part of a few employees at one store,” Best Buy said at the time.