
Why Bottled Water Is So Expensive on Amazon Right Now - petethomas
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-07/here-s-why-bottled-water-is-so-expensive-on-amazon-right-now
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legitster
_Amazon’s algorithms are designed to spot unusually high prices – that is,
high in comparison to other sellers on Amazon—and suspend those accounts. The
expensive water is showing up because sellers with cheaper water have sold out
and more expensive items previously buried in search results suddenly rise to
the top._

I'm not sure what I would tell people who are upset about price-gouging.
Should Amazon go out and buy water and sell it's own at a loss? It also seems
weird to be ordering water from Amazon and hoping it beats the storm.

I remember in economics learning that certain people would rather the product
not be on sale than to see it listed at an "unfair" price. Which seems to be
the case here.

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tsomctl
Meanwhile, water jugs seem to be reasonably priced.

[https://camelcamelcamel.com/Reliance-Products-Aqua-Tainer-
Ga...](https://camelcamelcamel.com/Reliance-Products-Aqua-Tainer-Gallon-
Container/product/B001QC31G6) [https://camelcamelcamel.com/Coleman-5-Gallon-
Collapsible-Wat...](https://camelcamelcamel.com/Coleman-5-Gallon-Collapsible-
Water-Carrier/product/B000088O9Y)

And if UPS is still delivering, then you probably still have potable tap water
to fill them up.

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ja27
The only ones at that price are out of stock. Going rate from third party
sellers is $50+ for a $15 container.

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tsomctl
I have no idea what you are looking at, but I see them as under $20 with free
prime shipping.

~~~
ars
I see $130 for one of them and "Usually ships within 1 to 2 months." for the
other.

~~~
jiaweihli
The price could depend on where you live.

~~~
ars
Amazon does not do that. (Except for a country as a whole.)

I'm sure they could, but they have never done so before. Their prices do
change constantly - but for everyone at once.

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valuearb
People often forget that higher prices is the incentive that brings more
product to market during a crisis. Demonize people selling bottled water at
high markups and you disincentive people with lots of bottled water who were
about to drive it across the country to address your shortage.

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reactiveinertia
Capitalism is cut-throat, there is no other capitalism in the West or the
East. The only reason capitalism works a little better is because there is
meant to be competitors in times of surplus. Evidently, no one has surplus of
water to compete against price gouging and Amazon's logistical operations are
unable to handle certain edge cases such as these.

