Menards marking up pricing on some N95 masks

[Brian Elfert]

Menards has N95 masks on the front page of their website for two for $40 with a $20 mail in rebate. Home Depot has the same two pack for $7.47! Most Home Depot stores are showing limited quantities on hand which probably means out of stock.

Menards is most certainly trying to capitalize on COVID-19 with their mask pricing. I thought big retailers would not engage in this kind of pricing.

[Bill Dufour]

California's governor Gavin Newsome declared a statewide emergency due to the virus about a week ago. I thought that seemed silly. Turns out that during a declared emergency price gouging is not allowed for stuff like food,water, and face masks. A maximum of 10% price increase is allowed during the emergency.
The attorney General was on TV the other day and he said keep the receipts and turn it into the state so the seller can be sued for money back and a penalty fee. He seemed to be saying go ahead and buy the high priced goods and let him take care of getting refunds? I have no idea how this will effect online sales into California.
I would think getting refunds for lots of voters can only help his political career.
Bill D.

[Jim Becker]

...and masks are largely ineffective anyway. Go figure. Wash thy hands frequently and try to keep from touching your face...

[Doug Garson]

The attorney General was on TV the other day and he said keep the receipts and turn it into the state so the seller can be sued for money back and a penalty fee. He seemed to be saying go ahead and buy the high priced goods and let him take care of getting refunds? I have no idea how this will effect online sales into California.
I would think getting refunds for lots of voters can only help his political career.
Bill D.

Sounds like a practical approach, you get the goods you want now and if the store is guilty of price gouging they can be charged later and you can get a refund. You seem to be suggesting the AG is doing it for political reasons rather than accepting it as a practical solution.

[Jamie Buxton]

...and masks are largely ineffective anyway. Go figure. Wash thy hands frequently and try to keep from touching your face...

Wouldn't a mask keep you from touching your face?

[Stewie Simpson]

Claim: ‘Face masks don’t work’

Wearing a face mask is certainly not an iron-clad guarantee that you won’t get sick – viruses can also transmit through the eyes and tiny viral particles, known as aerosols, can penetrate masks. However, masks are effective at capturing droplets, which is a main transmission route of coronavirus, and some studies have estimated a roughly fivefold protection versus no barrier alone (although others have found lower levels of effectiveness).

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/08/coronavirus-face-mask-facts-spreading-covid-19

[Jim Becker]

Wouldn't a mask keep you from touching your face?
Maybe...at least part of it. But viruses are really tiny things and outside of specialized masks made specifically for health care, they offer a lot less protection than many folks think. People are buying masks that are designed for nuisance dust type applications and expecting them to protect them from something that's much, much smaller than dust particles. Viruses are typically 20 to 400 nanometres in diameter...0.004 to 0.1 microns in size.

[Erik Loza]

One of our neighbors has a background in public health. We were chatting about it and he basically said the masks only work if you never touch them with your hands and if you dispose of them on a regular basis. In other words, just wearing a mask around all day isn't going to help. Like Jim says, avoid high-risk area, wash your hands a lot, and don't touch your face. On a side note, I was at the coffee shop yesterday. A young lady jogger runs by, wearing one of these masks. Except hers was pulled up over her nose but with her mouth 100% OPEN and EXPOSED. Like, in order to breathe while running. Not sure if that is in the manual.

Erik

[Kev Williams]

What masks ARE good for is to *help* keep YOU from spreading the virus if you happen to have it...

[Jim Becker]

What masks ARE good for is to *help* keep YOU from spreading the virus if you happen to have it...

Perhaps...but given the breathing discomfort that's reported to be a factor with Covid-19, wearing something that's even mildly restrictive to breathing might be, um...uncomfortable.

[Doug Garson]

Perhaps...but given the breathing discomfort that's reported to be a factor with Covid-19, wearing something that's even mildly restrictive to breathing might be, um...uncomfortable.
And that's why the best thing to do if you have symptoms is stay home and away fro other people. Only go out is you have to and then wear a mask.

[Rick Potter]

I suspect it is a bit naive to think the CA Attorney General is concerned with getting the public refunds on masks, etc.

He is most likely anticipating hitting big retailers with heavy fines that would go in State coffers.

Any refunds are merely a vehicle to allow him to do so, along with garnering good publicity toward re-election time.

Cynical me.

[Jason Roehl]

Banning "price gouging" during an emergency is dumb. All it does is ensure and prolong shortage of the good in concern. By allowing price to increase, that incentivizes new entrants into the supply chain, which will alleviate the shortage and bring the price back down.

[Bob Glenn]

Yup, supply vs demand. It works.

[Rod Sheridan]

Wouldn't a mask keep you from touching your face?

No, due to discomfort and unfamiliarity with masks you touch your face more often.

This can simply be to adjust or shift the mask slightly.

If you haven’t been trained and tested on mask usage they don’t tend to work well....Rod

[Jim Becker]

Banning "price gouging" during an emergency is dumb. All it does is ensure and prolong shortage of the good in concern. By allowing price to increase, that incentivizes new entrants into the supply chain, which will alleviate the shortage and bring the price back down.

This is generally true and how economics works overall. But events like this are not going to stimulate new entrants to the market within a helpful timeframe...or at all due to the huge cost and time period necessary to setup for manufacturing. My view is that prices rising during times of great demand is normal and to be expected, but excessive price gouging is immoral, especially for a world health event like this.

[Doug Garson]

This is generally true and how economics works overall. But events like this are not going to stimulate new entrants to the market within a helpful timeframe...or at all due to the huge cost and time period necessary to setup for manufacturing. My view is that prices rising during times of great demand is normal and to be expected, but excessive price gouging is immoral, especially for a world health event like this.

Well said. Suggesting price gouging is acceptable and should not be banned is comparable to saying greed is good.

[Jason Roehl]

Well said. Suggesting price gouging is acceptable and should not be banned is comparable to saying greed is good.

So let's say there's a run on masks in L.A. because of known infections there, and they run low. With price controls, no one has any incentive to get more masks there. However, if there were no price controls, some entrepreneur in maybe Las Vegas, where there are no infections, so there's a large supply, might buy a truckload or ten and drive them over to L.A. to sell at the high price because the profit makes it worthwhile. Another guy sees what's going on and jumps in on the opportunity. Pretty soon there's enough supply, so when their truckloads don't sell well, they stop driving them over. But there has to be the initial price surge for incentive.

Same goes for hurricane-affected areas and bottled water. The supply in and around the affected area often runs low because of anti-price-gouging laws. If the price is allowed to run up, more people from further away will take the risk of trucking it in for a potential profit, alleviating the shortage. But there has to be the initial price surge for incentive. Instead, we expect government or charitable companies to truck it in as donations, which actually hurts the retailers in the fringe areas of the affected area.

[Jim Becker]

Jason, what I and Doug are saying is that there isn't a problem with pricing floating with demand. Rather, we're saying is that unlimited greed is immoral. At what point is profit more important than society?

[Doug Garson]

So the mask that normally sells for $5 is pushed up to $500 and only the rich can afford them. When it sold for $5 I'm sure it was profitable to sell at that price and affordable for most who need it. I think you are confusing entrepreneur with extortionist. FYI I saw an ad on Vancouver Craigslist yesterday for N95 masks, price free. The ad said I have a bunch of masks and will give them to those who need them. Humanity not "entrepreneurship".

[Andrew Seemann]

Same goes for hurricane-affected areas and bottled water. The supply in and around the affected area often runs low because of anti-price-gouging laws. If the price is allowed to run up, more people from further away will take the risk of trucking it in for a potential profit, alleviating the shortage. But there has to be the initial price surge for incentive. Instead, we expect government or charitable companies to truck it in as donations, which actually hurts the retailers in the fringe areas of the affected area.

Or maybe people will decide they don't want to risk trucking it in and a lot of folks in the affected area die. Some things sound really good and logical on paper and in internet chat groups, but don't actually play out that way in the real world with real people in real situations.

[Darcy Warner]

Plus I find it difficult to smoke while I wear a mask.

[Doug Garson]

Same goes for hurricane-affected areas and bottled water. The supply in and around the affected area often runs low because of anti-price-gouging laws. If the price is allowed to run up, more people from further away will take the risk of trucking it in for a potential profit, alleviating the shortage. But there has to be the initial price surge for incentive. Instead, we expect government or charitable companies to truck it in as donations, which actually hurts the retailers in the fringe areas of the affected area.
More likely the shortage of bottled water is because municipal tap water is unavailable or undrinkable and roads are impassable, not because bottled water is too cheap to attract "entrepreneurs" who want to take advantage of others unfortunate situation.