California Grocers Association urges people to stop hoarding goods

When the demand for goods increases faster than the supply, prices go up. The shortages we observe are a sign that retail prices are too low. Low prices encourage hoarding and reduce the incentive for more supply to come to market.

Price gouging laws are harmfully prolonging these shortages and should be repealed.

@Joseph E. Davis (aka Jack Hickey) -- Wrong. Wrong. WRONG.

There is verifiable hoarding activity going on (whether motivated by panic or by some other reason), and it has NOTHING to do with the price of the goods in question.

And to assume that such activity would halt if the prices of such goods were to go up is simply obscene.

Remember, folks: Don't let you children grow up to be libertarians.

This is going on in Michigan too. Three weeks in a row I have not been able to get a week's supply of beans and grains. There is no excuse for grocers to allow this and they should be limiting these purchases like they do tp, sanitizer, etc. One thing this virus has demonstrated is that people are selfish morons who couldn't care less if someone else starves just so they can stock their basement, which they should've done before this event, not during it.

No one ever mentions that if you are sheltering in place you are potentially doubling and maybe tripling the amount of food consumed at home...just a thought, but if stores were only ordering for what people typically buy, they would need to multiply that by 2 or even 3 for the other meals they would have eaten at the restaurants etc...and distributors would need to be prepared to truck that etc, this machine is not finger snap quick, it is going to take some time to ramp up. That would go for using a bathroom as well...more people, more trips to the throne. Maybe this is a sign of a pretty successful shelter in place, but only if you want to see the positive side of things. Just my two cents (probably only worth a penny now.)