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He Has 17,700 Bottles of Hand Sanitizer and Nowhere To Sell Them (nytimes.com) 326

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
Amazon cracked down on coronavirus price gouging. Now, while the rest of the world searches, some sellers are holding stockpiles of sanitizer and masks. From a report: On March 1, the day after the first coronavirus death in the United States was announced, brothers Matt and Noah Colvin set out in a silver S.U.V. to pick up some hand sanitizer. Driving around Chattanooga, Tenn., they hit a Dollar Tree, then a Walmart, a Staples and a Home Depot. At each store, they cleaned out the shelves. Over the next three days, Noah Colvin took a 1,300-mile road trip across Tennessee and into Kentucky, filling a U-Haul truck with thousands of bottles of hand sanitizer and thousands of packs of antibacterial wipes, mostly from "little hole-in-the-wall dollar stores in the backwoods," his brother said. "The major metro areas were cleaned out." Matt Colvin stayed home near Chattanooga, preparing for pallets of even more wipes and sanitizer he had ordered, and starting to list them on Amazon. Mr. Colvin said he had posted 300 bottles of hand sanitizer and immediately sold them all for between $8 and $70 each, multiples higher than what he had bought them for. To him, "it was crazy money." To many others, it was profiteering from a pandemic.

The next day, Amazon pulled his items and thousands of other listings for sanitizer, wipes and face masks. The company suspended some of the sellers behind the listings and warned many others that if they kept running up prices, they'd lose their accounts. EBay soon followed with even stricter measures, prohibiting any U.S. sales of masks or sanitizer. Now, while millions of people across the country search in vain for hand sanitizer to protect themselves from the spread of the coronavirus, Mr. Colvin is sitting on 17,700 bottles of the stuff with little idea where to sell them. "It's been a huge amount of whiplash," he said. "From being in a situation where what I've got coming and going could potentially put my family in a really good place financially to 'What the heck am I going to do with all of this?'" A day after the story ran, the Tennessee man donated all of the supplies on Sunday.

Comment Re:It might be an unpopular opinion... (Score 4, Insightful) 822

by mrclisdue (#46082025) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What Does Edward Snowden Deserve?

It's anecdotal, I admit, but I believe you're in the minority with that particular opinion, though I'm sure there are a few folks 'round the oval office and thereabouts who share your thoughts.

The irony may be that the USA is well on its way to disallowing either of us to express our opinions or thoughts, anywhere.

cheers,

Comment Re:Bike helmet? (Score 1) 317

by mrclisdue (#45938639) Attached to: Building a Better Bike Helmet Out of Paper

If wearing a helmet makes any sense, why don't they wear them in Holland or Denmark?

I googled "countries that make the most sense", and neither Holland nor Denmark came up. Wiki was of no help.

I'm wondering where your premise that the Dutch and Danes make sense comes from?

I know this Danish lady, Ethla, and she makes pretty good sense, but she's agoraphobic, so she wouldn't ride a bicycle lest she cross paths with another human. She is very much the type to wear a helmet in a car, though. Perhaps with a full, tinted face shield, as well.

Another Dane I know owes me 25 bucks, and he drinks too much, and he rarely makes sense regardless.

I know a couple hundred Dutch folk, and very few of them make sense. Flying Dutchman is apt for 90% of them. And if you get a Frisian amongst them, and he starts yammering in his native tongue, well you'll quickly be rethinking the helmet thing.

cheers,

Comment Re:You Know They'll Roll Over! (Score 4, Funny) 184

by mrclisdue (#45907097) Attached to: Canada Quietly Offering Sanctuary To Data From the US

You know the Canadians will roll over on you, eh?

Please, sir (I say "sir", and I apologise if you are a "ma'am", ma'am), but on behalf of all Canadians, I urge you to consider that it is "politeness, pleasantries, civility, and common courtesy" that you misinterpret as "rolling over".

We simply rush to the front and open the door for you, sir/ma'am.

I hope I haven't offended you in any way, and I apologise for taking your time.

Thank you, and all the best, Godspeed.

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I'm still waiting for the advent of the computer science groupie.

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