Law Prohibiting Price Gouging In Effect in Oklahoma (via 40/29 tv.com)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

On occasion I am told by a student or layman that a business has a right to charge as much as they can get. As to rights, I generally prefer to think of the rights of free speech and religion. As to squeezing customers’ wallets as much as possible, this article below should attract a little attention.

James Pilant

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt says a state law to prohibit price gouging during an emergency is now in effect.Pruitt said the Emergency Price Stabilization Act went into effect statewide after Gov. Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency Monday ahead of Tuesday’s winter storm.The law prohibits price increases of more than 10 percent on most goods and services when a state of emergency is declared and remains in effect on the price of goods, services, storage spaces and dwellings for 30 days after the emergency. It remains in effect for 180 days after the emergency on the prices of repairs, remodeling and construction.


3 thoughts on “Law Prohibiting Price Gouging In Effect in Oklahoma (via 40/29 tv.com)”

  1. Andrew

    I like the spirit of this law. It prevents unethical businesses from profiting from the misfortune of others.

    Here’s a hypothetical situation. If Company “A” and Company “B” are both hardware stores in the same town when an emergency hits. Company “A” is owned by an unethical man who ratchets up his prices to make a buck off of the emergency. Company “B” is owned by an ethical man who keeps his prices steady (perhaps out of a sense of duty to his community, who knows). Now say I am a resident of this town. In the aftermath of this emergency, if I hear that Company B’s prices are lower than Company A’s, then I will prefer to do business with Company B. Thus, ideally, ethics will win out over greed.

    This hypothetical only applies to situations where healthy competition is established in each market. If you live in a small town where there is only one hardware store or one grocery store, then the residents are at the mercy of the store owner.

    So it seems that this law will definitely help out the small town folks, and I see nothing wrong with it at all.

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    1. I was going to wait to publish your comment as a blog post until I got a second comment. Since that second post has not materialized, I will go ahead and publish it probably tonight. jp

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