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Page added on November 5, 2012
Sandy Price Gouging Probed: $7 Loaf of Bread, $10 Box of Matches
More than 400 possible cases of price gouging of gasoline and other essentials, including a $10 box of matches and $7 loaf of bread, have been reported in New York before and after Sandy.
Reports are being investigated in New York City, the Hudson Valley and on Long Island by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
Schneiderman said Monday that he’s investigating an increasing number of reports of spikes in prices for essential goods including gasoline, food, bottled water, generators, batteries and flashlights. The probe can include sharp, unwarranted increases in the cost of prices by retailers including supermarkets, hardware stores, bodegas, delis, hotels and taxis, he said.
In one report, the cost of a bag of potatoes jumped to $7, up from $3 before the storm hit. The cost of the box of matches appears more than three times the usual cost, and the loaf of bread is more than double the usual cost.
New Yorkers can report price gouging by telephone at 800-771-7755 or through his office website.
“We are actively investigating hundreds of complaints we’ve received from consumers of businesses preying on victims of Hurricane Sandy,” Schneiderman said. “Our office has zero tolerance for price gouging.”
No arrests were reported as of Monday. Schneiderman wouldn’t discuss details of the reports or the investigation.
Vendors may defend higher prices if they can show an increased cost of obtaining goods from wholesalers or in delivering services, making prosecutions difficult.
State business law prohibits an “unconscionably excessive price” during an “abnormal disruption of the market” that unfairly takes advantage of consumers.
Schneiderman offers the following tips for consumers to ward off gouging in repairs from Sandy:
— Ask for references and check for licenses.
— Get estimates in writing and agree to added costs only in writing.
— Homeowners have a three-day period to cancel a contract, unless the repair is an emergency.
— Verify a contractor’s address.
— Never pay the full price up front. Withhold final payment until the project is done satisfactorily.
— Be sure the contractor has valid insurance so you aren’t liable for any injuries on the job.
— Secure building permits before the job starts.
Last summer, Schneiderman sued some gas stations for price gouging following Tropical Storm Irene. The reports of price gouging were relative low during that storm, which ravaged parts of upstate New York. Schneiderman had sent warning letters to major vendors before Irene and before Sandy.
In August, a Yonkers gas station increased its price from $3.89 a gallon before Irene hit to $4.79 two days later, drawing from the same delivery of gas received before the storm hit. The station lowered the price again, to $3.83, when Irene left. The company settled the suit without admitting guilt for $7,500, Schneiderman said.
A Farmingdale gas station on Long Island raised its price 84 cents per gallon when Irene hit. That gas station settled the lawsuit against it for $3,000.
8 Comments on "Sandy Price Gouging Probed: $7 Loaf of Bread, $10 Box of Matches"
Plantagenet on Mon, 5th Nov 2012 10:56 pm
Where is the 10 gallons of free gas that Cuomo and Obama promised? Talk about price gouging—–they never came across with the free gas!
TIKIMAN on Tue, 6th Nov 2012 12:17 am
Obama is a piece of shit and will be defeated tomorrow. America has seen through his BS lies and false promises. They have woken up and do not want that communist asshole in the white house for the next 4 years. A vote for Obama is a vote for failure. You have been warned.
Rick on Tue, 6th Nov 2012 12:28 am
@ TIKIMAN
They are both scum. A vote for Mitt will bring down this country faster, than a vote for O.
So, if you’re going to vote, and if you do, you’re going to vote for a worst asshole, aka Mitt, than O?
I get it. And quite frankly, why are you on this site?
Again, I can think for myself, I’m a critical thinker, unlike most Americans.
But, perhaps you should read this before, if you vote tomorrow: http://kunstler.com/blog/2012/11/the-tides-of-event.html
BTW, you’re a teabagger moron, if you think he’s a communist. More to the point, you’re a racist!
actioncjackson on Tue, 6th Nov 2012 12:56 am
Price gouging gasoline has been happening in America for decades, what’s the big deal?
Fuck all bankers and politicians.
actioncjackson on Tue, 6th Nov 2012 1:01 am
And John D. Rockefeller most of all even though that bitch is dead.
actioncjackson on Tue, 6th Nov 2012 1:05 am
J.P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie too bitches also dead but fuck them just the same. There I’m done.
BillT on Tue, 6th Nov 2012 1:13 am
Apparently this writer does not support the Capitalist system. Supply & Demand.
But the contractor suggestions are spot on. Same advice for all dealings with salesmen. Know what you are getting for your money.
Democracy is over in America and has been for decades. Now it is a tragic play put on for the masses while they are being fitted out for the collar.
Arthur on Tue, 6th Nov 2012 8:49 am
By calling Obama or Romney ‘scum’ the suggestion is made as if they are the ones who call the shots, they don’t. They both are marionette’s of zionist/corporate interests and nothing else. If America was a real democracy, the Occupiers or the Tea Partiers would have had real political parties of their own by now. And where are the christians, green parties, heck socialists? It is impossible to break in, into the political system, as the two parties are both funded from zionist/corporate sources and backed by zionist owned media and they won’t allow that somebody uncontrolled will enter the scene and run away with their system. Newcomers are simply ignored by the media. Both Dems and Reps are wings of the one and only Government Party and their function is to create the illusion of a democracy, as well as the pretext of exporting this beautiful system to all the ‘oppressed people’s’ of the world. The Government Party has only one aim: empire, war, outspending everybody else on ‘defense’, destruction of nations via promoting ‘diversity’, ‘anti-racism’, police state, deification of economic growth, unlimited exploitation of the environment, government control and intrusion on all levels under the pretext of ‘war on terrorism’, holocaust religion. It is neo-bolshevism pure and simple, preparing for world war three.
Walking to the voting booth is a waste of time, or even worse: you give your support and provide legitimation to the system.