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Sophia Pathways for College Credit – English Composition II
Argumentative Essay
Percy Warren
Sophia Pathways English Composition II
October 16, 2020
The Impact of Price Gouging during the Pandemic COVID 19
The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted our lives, forcing us to live in ways we never thought
imaginable. At the heart of our pandemic lives is how we feed ourselves and what that entails.
We are spending more time in grocery stores because eating out is off the table, for now. But the
experience of grocery shopping has been altered by fears, necessity, uncertainty and frequency.
During the COVID 19 pandemic, many countries were locked down, affecting businesses. Due
to this, the supply of goods is reduced despite the high demand. Many people where unemployed
and their income was limited to unemployment benefits, service pay and loans from their
retirement benefits which left them with few dollars to make mortgage payments, car payments,
utilities payments, food purchase and the necessary households items such as, toilet paper,
sanitizers, and latex gloves. The COVID pandemic was bad news, and disproportionately so for
the poor that had to deal with price gouging an act or instance of charging customers too high a
price for goods or services, especially when demand is high, and supplies are limited. Companies
spontaneously hiked their prices to earn windfall profits at the advantage of desperation of
disaster-afflicted customers. Many consumers that have been caught at the middle of the COVID
pandemic, as price gouging not only seems illegal but also unethical. Not only has price gouging
impacted consumers shopping habits, but it also has caused other psychological effects on
consumers. According to respondents, 60 percent feel a sense of panic or anxiety when they shop
Sophia Pathways for College Credit – English Composition II
Argumentative Essay
due to the out of stock items they normally buy and the high price of the items they normally
buy. For this reason, I would argue that price gouging is indeed wrong during this COVID
pandemic. Consumers and Governor officials both agree that price gouging may be considered
exploitative and unethical. The following are examples of price gouging during this COVID
pandemic: A New York sporting goods retailer who bought more than 5.6 tons of masks,
surgical gowns, hand sanitizer, gloves, and other critical supplies in March and April to sell in a
dedicated section of his store. He became the first person prosecuted under the DPA and faces up
to one year in prison if convicted ( Microsoft News, 2020). As 3M continues to fight the
global pandemic from every angle and help ensure a safe supply of needed personal
