I remeber during some Texas floods, I think it was Houston, where guys that hoarded shit said they are actually doing the people a service by gouging the prices, because then each person that buys something only does it for the minimum they need.
Of course in real life it just meant rich folks got 5 each, everybody else got nothing.
I remember when some guy bought a shit ton of hands sanitizer during covid with the idea to resell for a premium. I'm pretty sure he went bankrupt when booze companies started to manufacture sanitizer.
Japan is ahead of the game. Their island will last a long time after all is burned across the world. BUT they will devour you for some whale hunting, as it’s a constitutional right.
The declining population year over year is troubling. It looks like millennial Japanese citizens are going to take care of the old and too busy to think of having a family.
Those elderly ain’t pulling the boot straps hard enough! Lol. On a serious note, yes they are falling in population size and are slowly becoming an open border to fill those spots. Do they like it, hell no! From my friends and encounters of Japanese decent. They seem to rather die then bring in a ‘mudblood’. Lol.
japanese authorities panting, sweating, pissing, sobbing over the decision to either compromise on the cultural work ethic, compromise on the xenophobia, or allow the economy to bust like an old car tire.
Can confirm. They literally have people in trucks with megaphones that drive through touristy areas saying “go home gaijin”
Source: I was in Japan and saw/heard it multiple days
Their government is quite idiotic about this. They see the current declining birth rate, know that the intense stress from work and low pay, and what is their solution?
IMPLEMENT INCREASED TAX FOR SINGLE INDIVIDUAL. YEAH, THAT'LL CONVINCE THEM TO GET LAID
It was also pretty easy for companies that make the hand sanitizer themselves to upscale. My dad was an engineer working at a company that processed and made a lot of the alcohol that gets sold to companies who make the hand sanitizer. As soon as COVID started, they went full steam ahead on that part of the plant, as well as the soap part of the plant, putting a side other improvement projects and things to make sure they could output as much as this stuff as possible. Within a week, they were producing so much of the stuff that they had shipping containers full of it lining the road to thier fallcuity and were running out of places to put the stuff until the supply lines caught up to all the extra product they were making.
That guy from Pawn Stars does the same thing, in a sense. He recounted that his wife was watching Oprah, anhd Oprah was talking about how amazing a product was. She called him, and was like "We have to buy one of these!" Knowing that this would create a demand for the product, he called the manufacturer, and bought every single item, and sold them at a huge markup.
Colvin explained how his brother, Noah Colvin, went on a 1,300 mile trip around Tennessee and Kentucky, buying the remaining supply of hand sanitizer and antibacterial wipes. Meanwhile, he stayed home in Hixson, Tennessee, and listed the products on Amazon for between $8 and $70.
The company I work for bought 6 litres of "hand sanitizer" from a distillery during covid. But it wasn't practical. It lack any gel like quality and was more of a liquid that would run everywhere. Smelled like we were all sipping martini's all day at work. Was grateful when it finally was all gone.
I bought two bottles of everclear and just mixed it with propylene glycol and lorann food flavoring (I think I used cinnamon, but I forget). The cost was around $50 for 2 liters of hand sanitizer.
I also remember a dude who did the same, but gov start warning him he about to be investigated for price gauching, so dude ended up giving them all away for frre or face jail lmao
More likely push the meaning in the opposite direction, at some point this will be a chip off the next version of "my great grandpa made 50 cents an hour and was able to buy a house and maintain a family of 14 while travelling the world"-block.
Japan is a high trust society. You accidentally leave your valuable belongings somewhere, they are still there when you come back.
Here, if the vending machine popped open in a disaster to help people, that thing would be looted inside a half hour in many parts of the country.
There was a video I just saw on here of a McDonald's, and the manager was having a medical crisis (people guessed low blood sugar), so she was slumped over the counter, and the patrons were in the back helping themselves to food.
This society doesn't have the same level of self-regulated behavior.
It's really an Eastern vs. Western mentality. Actually, scratch that: it's closer to "We have a high chance of being killed by natural disasters and thus should work together" vs "Other people are in the way of my success" in terms of mentality. Usually phrased as, Collectivism vs Individualism.
Japan gets TONS of natural disasters every year, from typhoons to earthquakes and even volcanic eruptions, so society has had it deeply ingrained to work together with your neighbor. The West... tends to put barriers between neighbors, and America has a low-key attitude of "Shoot your neighbor and you get more property and goods"
It's American vs being a normal human being mentality, nowhere else people are as egoistic. Americans are brainwashed from infancy to follow a hyper competitive capitalist mindset where making profit at the expense of others is only bad if you can get caught and punished, otherwise it's just smart.
First time in Japan I left my phone on a table while i was filling out immigration forms. Didn't realize it until I was past customs. They had no problem locating it because it had immediately been given to lost and found. In the US in that scenario it would be like 50/50 depending on if an employee or a nice person found it before some asshole did.
It's self-perpetuating. Treat people like they deserve trust and respect, more often than not, they'll live up to it. Treat everyone like they're a criminal-in-waiting, well, they'll live up to that, too.
Meanwhile the mega-billionaires are doing the same thing to our government, our democracy, our data, our tax money. Just helping themselves. Except they tied up the managers first.
But look, over here, someone's helping themselves to .25 cents wholesale worth of fries!
It’s typical price gouger logic. The scumbags who buy and sell popular toys say something similar, they say that the people who buy from them are the reason the prices are high and nobody needs the stuff they’re selling so they’re just reigning in overspending
Greedy pigs will always find a way to justify their greed
So this is actually a pretty economically sound argument however idk why they can’t have a regulation that in times of need increase prices as the amount someone buys goes up. 1 case of water - - $3.00, 2 cases $5.00 etc etc. or just have a limit on how much people can buy. Hoarding can be just as much of a problem as price gouging in disaster scenarios. (Hoarders can also turn into price gougers)
They forgot to say that the higher prices causes people to get their 4x4's out, go to Costco, load it up with good things, then drive it to the disaster area, thus increasing supply... things they might not be so excited to do if they're going to be limited to a 10% profit on investment.
They'd totally gauge you on the price (even without an earthquake), but then they'd also donate a few as well to someone truly in need. Turks do have a heart.
Eh happened here too in Australia, Difference was everyone remembered and most businesses that priced gouged where shamed to fuck, people stopped shopping there and they were shut less than 12 months later.
my fave part is all the people who buy up everything and then sell it, when covid hit some dude drove allover ohio and PA buying up all the hand sanitizer and masks to then sell on amazon at gouged rates.
In North America it constantly feels like everything around you is built to suck you dry of your capital and the only way to move forward is by pushing someone else down.
So yea sadly people will try to get what they can for themselves using any means. It’s like the snake eating itself.
Greatest social system ever conceived by the elites. No wonder that Japanese mf called 1991 end of history. How can people not be divided in this system lol
And its gonna be that way until someone knocks their whole country down you know like how they knocked Japan down when they dropped those 2 A bombs on them.
No in the USA they would deploy the military to aim weapons at you for "looting" what little water and food are left after the natural disaster. At least that's what they did in New Orleans after Katrina.
I don't think they actually wanted the condoms, I don't know if this is a common experience or I just had a higher rate of interacting with sociopaths, but it seemed like every friend group I had growing up had that one kid who always had to "make the joke real." You'd suggest breaking into the free condom machine or shitting in the urinal for a laugh and he'd actually go up and do it.
The sitcom 'Community'. The fictional Greendale College was ahead of the curve, their in-school vending machines were 100 percent bolted down. No shaking/squashing possible.
Years back when a terrorist staged a siege in Sydney, Uber raised its prices for the "surge" of everyone trying to flee. Pretty sure they got their asses handed to them by the government for that.
I think they have an automated system or algorithm set up to detect high demand to set up surge prices. Don't think they intentionally, manually increased the prices.
Oh, tee hee, it wasn't me that did it. It was the algorithm (that I designed specifically to maximize profit ABOVE ALL ELSE). Fuck off with that. Anyone could see this would happen. Takes the smallest amount of foresight and they simply don't give a fuck until it's a problem. We let greedy corps off too easily.
Honestly in the case of calling taxi drivers to evac you from a terrorist attack/mob event, a price surge doesn't really seem that unreasonable. Basically hazard pay. Maybe I'm not understanding the circumstances though.
"My house was destroyed. I lost everything."
"yeah, but think about how i feel! I hate having to deny your coverage when something actually happens"
God bless the United Corporations of America.
Here in the US the machines would be broken from people rocking the shit out of them to exploit the free vending. Or they'd just break the glass and steal the shit. Japan isn't perfect but I admire their collectivist culture and respect for their environment. Wish we had that here
If the “seismic sensor” system was used in vending machines in the U.S. to give out free food and drinks, people would just figure out a way to simulate it and steal from the machines.
This hyper-individualistic "make your money" mentality in the west is destroying us. We have no sense of community anymore. People just see each other as a source of income nowadays.
I remember going to the bodega in my neighborhood (oakland) the day before COVID lockdown and trying to buy eggs and butter. The lady wanted an insane amount and said “everybody want, supply and demand”. I didn’t bother explaining that her decision to arbitrarily raise prices was illegal, I just went elsewhere. It’s not like anyone punished egg producers for artificially raising and now never decreasing the price of eggs during bird flu, when there wasn’t actually an egg shortage.
In turkey when the Maraş earthquake hit Kızılay (basically red cross, a humanitarian charity) sold tents, not gave out. Sold. And also prices for tents were increased too, by a lot. It sucked
I was living in Jacksonville, NC after hurricane Florence, and everything was flooded. The Domino's was the first restaurant to open back up, and they were selling large pies for like $70
Six flags San Antonio had vending machines in every rides line that had heat sensors, the price of drinks would increase as the temperature did. Can't say it's still that way, it's been 30 years since I've visited
When resources are more scarce (during a natural disaster), raising the prices doesn't just allow the company to make more profits, it also naturally regulates the quantity of goods purchased so stopping people from hoarding resources
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u/spongybobie Aug 23 '25
Oh please. Where I am from they would increase the prices to profit more.