How to Stay Ahead of Coronavirus

Go to your favorite supermarket, and it is not hard to see that something is off.

Emergency supplies from canned food to toilet paper are in short supply as Americans prepare to hunker down in an attempt to flatten coronavirus’ infection curve.

This phenomenon has repeated itself across the globe – from Singapore to San Francisco. Even the stocks supplying e-commerce giant Amazon are running dry.

While health care professionals are right to urge the American public to begin social distancing and emphasize a sense of urgency when doing so, frenzied media coverage and uncertainty has cultivated a sense of panic. 

All of that has overridden the common sense approach to keep calm and take action for many Americans. And while stockpiling goods can create a false sense of security (see the zero-risk basis), you cannot eliminate the threat posed by COVID-19.

Hoarding does the exact opposite.

While coronavirus panic buying can be understood, if not condoned, price gouging cannot.

Businesses and sellers looking to take advantage have been put on notice. Price gouging laws and hotlines are in effect in states from Michigan to South Carolina after their declarations of emergency. President Trump declared a national emergency Friday.

Meanwhile, watchdogs remain on the prowl, hunting for those who try to take advantage during this critical time.

The effect of such coronavirus-related scams undermines the equitable accessibility of goods, especially for lower-income consumers.

Perhaps the most egregious example of price gouging during this crisis comes from two Tennessee brothers, Matt and Noah Colvin, who amassed tens of thousands of sanitizer bottles from a 1,300-mile trek that cleared out stores across southern Appalachia.

The New York Times detailed their exploits in a March 14 exposé, including selling hand sanitizer for up to $70. “It was crazy money,” Matt told the paper. The following day, Amazon took the brothers’ listings offline and the Tennessee Attorney General’s office sent them a cease-and-desist letter. An investigation into their actions is underway. Afterward, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron summed up public sentiment saying, “this is a time where we have to focus on helping our neighbors, not profiting from them.”

Unfortunately, the Colvins are not unique.

Local authorities slapped the owners of a Jersey City dollar store with a $90,000 fine after they inflated the prices of coronavirus-related items, like Kleenex tissues and Clorox wipes.

Besides prosecutors watching out for scammers, businesses like Kroger have placed panic-buying restrictions on sanitary items. Preventative measures have slashed the black market’s profit margin.

But that doesn’t mean you aren’t at risk.

For mindful consumers, patience and price tracking can pay off big.

If you need to make a grocery run in the coming days, plan ahead. Shop from trusted retailers, examine labels and if you are second-guessing the listed price, use price tracking tools like Keepa or Camelcamelcamel.

But most of all, don’t hoard.

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