Helene and Milton Show the Reality of Disaster Price Gouging
Across four states, approximately 1,200 complaints have been filed in the last three weeks.
by Paul Blest, More Perfect Union
In late September, Hurricane Helene caused some of the worst flooding in more than a century in the mountains of western North Carolina and east Tennessee. At least 232 people died and hundreds more are still missing or stranded, and the devastation will take years, if not decades, to recover from.
Numerous mutual aid groups and charities sprung into action to support residents dealing with the aftermath, alongside state and federal disaster response. Some businesses, however, allegedly took advantage of the opportunity to squeeze vulnerable residents with high prices — a micro-level example of a problem that’s quickly becoming front and center of the ongoing presidential campaign.
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson’s office told More Perfect Union Friday that there were at least 415 price-gouging complaints filed in the wake of Helene, with “many more to document.” The complaints include “the pricing of hotels, gasoline, propane, generators, ice, water, tree removal services, grocery and fast food costs, and specifically milk, bread and eggs.”
A spokesperson for North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, meanwhile, said that 308 total Helene-related complaints have been lodged as of Friday The majority of those complaints, according to Stein’s office, were related to food and gas prices and hotel costs in western North Carolina as well as the Charlotte area.
One complainant alleged that a Comfort Inn quoted a family member at $1,170 per night, for a room that normally costs under $120. More than a dozen complaints were lodged against Ingles Markets, a regional grocery chain, such as the alleged markup of a jar of peanut butter at $19.99, and a separate complaint claiming a four-pack of toilet paper cost $10, more than double the normal price. And yet another said that a gas station in McDowell County listed the price for regular fuel at $2.69 per gallon, only to charge $4.69 when the customer got to the pump.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr’s office said this week that at least 287 complaints have been lodged against businesses regarding Helene-related price gouging, as Gov. Brian Kemp extended a state of emergency through Oct. 16. And Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office said Tuesday that it had said it received over 200 price gouging complaints mostly related to the cost of gas and water — well before Hurricane Milton even made landfall and caused storm surges of up to six feet in the Tampa area.
This means that, between the four states, more than 1,200 price-gouging complaints related to natural disasters have been filed in the last three weeks. And that’s not including the Federal Trade Commission, where a spokesperson said numbers weren’t immediately available, or Tennessee, which was also hit hard by Helene but has not publicized statistics. "While most Tennesseans are showing the best of the Volunteer spirit to our neighbors devastated by Helene, a few bad actors always slime out of the woodwork to take advantage of those in need,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a statement.
Many states have either price gouging statutes that specifically apply to emergencies or more general consumer protection laws that include price gouging. In North Carolina, the fine for each violation can reach up to $5,000; in Florida, the fines can reach up to $25,000 for multiple violations within a 24-hour period.
But price gouging doesn’t just happen when a natural disaster strikes. Over the past several years, we’ve seen several instances of price gouging and alleged price-fixing that drive up costs for consumers — from the cost of chicken and eggs at the grocery store, to an algorithm used by corporate landlords to determine how much you pay for rent.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for President, called for Congress to pass a federal ban on price gouging last month in her economic platform, specifically citing a comment by the CEO of Kroger in 2022 that “a little bit of inflation is always good in our business.”
“While most companies play by the rules, corporations should not be able to exploit times of crisis to excessively and indefensibly increase their profit margins at the expense of American families,” Harris’ campaign said. During a Univision town hall Thursday, Harris told a construction worker from the Tampa area that “we’ll be watching, if [corporations are] jacking up prices, to make sure there’ll be serious consequence[s].”
The campaign of former President Donald Trump — who, during his first term, threatened to go after companies price gouging the cost of medical supplies during the first wave of COVID-19 — labeled Harris’ proposal to bring down costs as “Soviet-style” price controls.
Nearly 40 states have laws against price gouging on the books, however, and the people in charge of enforcing those laws hardly view them as Stalinist. “The people I’ve spoken with have more than enough to worry about as they recover and rebuild,” Stein, who is running for governor of North Carolina, said in a statement last week. “The last thing they need is a scammer coming in to take advantage of their desperation.”