Retailers try to make a fast buck amid coronavirus crisis

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Retailers try to make a fast buck amid coronavirus crisis

By The Nation

 

 

Some retailers are continuing to cash in on the new coronavirus outbreak by defying government regulations and jacking up the price of high-demand items like face masks.

 

The Cabinet is considering adding face masks and hand wash gels to the list of controlled products which cannot sell higher than the normal price.

 

A survey by media outlets of the flea market next to the Interlink Tower in Bangna district, Bangkok on Wednesday morning (February 5), found some merchants selling 3M N95 face masks at Bt129 each, three to four times the normal price of Bt25 to Bt40 per each.

 

The merchant said that they had received the products from the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO). A sales representative of 3M face mask importer said the company did not intend to make a profit during the prolonged crisis, adding that citizens can buy the product from the representative directly.

 

Meanwhile, the Department of Internal Trade said that it would send officials to arrest merchants found hoarding masks or selling at a high price after the department received hundreds of complaints.

 

“People who hoard or sell masks at a high price will face seven years' imprisonment and a Bt140,000 fine,” the official warned.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30381627

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-02-05

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[Flugg]

yeah sure they will....

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I'll believe it when I see it... and when N95 masks start becoming available to the public here at anything less than $5 a pop.... 

 

In the meantime, it's just more typical government worthless "blah blah blah..."

 

[RichardColeman]

I'm going to work on the theory that if everybody else wears them, I wont need to !

[Emdog]

Once more mucking with the free market mechanism. Higher profit margins usually results in more sellers locating more supply. Plus fakes, natch

[ThaiBunny]

I went to see my doctor yesterday. He wasn't wearing a face mask and neither was I. We shook hands. Will we die soon?

[RocketDog]

On 2/6/2020 at 8:00 AM, ThaiBunny said:

I went to see my doctor yesterday. He wasn't wearing a face mask and neither was I. We shook hands. Will we die soon?

Yes, you will. It's only a matter of time. ????

[RocketDog]

On 2/6/2020 at 7:59 AM, Emdog said:

Once more mucking with the free market mechanism. Higher profit margins usually results in more sellers locating more supply. Plus fakes, natch

Good point, but world governments have been doing that for decades by manipulating interest rates and money supply. 

 

There is an official 3M store on Lazada that's easy to find, as the article noted.