To those who gripe about “price gouging”:
It’s hard to grasp that in a country, and now in a world, that is driven by the recognition of the efficiency of free market economics, youth still aren’t required to take courses on the basics of economics. It should be required from near kindergarten on up, every year. Talk to someone from Hong Kong: they “get” free market systems from an early age, and they are coming on strong and will be kicking our butts unless our youth understand and use these forces.
Thankfully, you can easily remember the basics of supply and demand, even if you haven’t been formally taught it in school, or learned it by hard knocks of having to manage a business yourself, actually pricing your product, managing costs, and surviving more than one up and down business cycle.
Your thinking is short sighted, and only looks at the demand side in the short term. With prices being raised in the short term due to the new shorter supply, guess what profit-minded manufacturers do? That’s right, they’ll make more, or develop alternatives. Both of which will drive prices down again later as more supply comes on line and satisfies demand.
As a side bar, shop managers are justified to raise their prices now no matter what their costs on their current boards are, since they’ll likely lose money later on the higher priced boards they’ll bring in during the interim, when they have to sell those higher priced boards during the declining prices when the prices drop later due to increased supply, and the resulting fulfilled demand.
It’s a system of flux, supply and demand. Those who understand the rules or guess right stay in business. But that’s good ! Profits enable them to stay in business and be there when you and I want them to be there to buy something we value. They will not get rich in the long term, certainly not from you. It’s just too competitive unless there are barriers to entry to competitors, and believe me the retail board business does NOT fall into that category. Only those who value the higher priced boards (maybe they just broke their only board) will buy them. If the high prices upset you, then that’s your choice, don’t buy now. If you value one a lot in the short term, buy one, but don’t gripe. It’s your choice. There is no price gouging. Just efficiency and more overall happiness for everyone. If you can’t understand that still, please take a course, or get self-taught on the internet, or ask someone who is really good at business both making money and keeping his customers happy to explain it to you. Then explain it to a friend. Or stay in the dark and gripe and look dumb.
