Sometimes, Karma is sweeter than Chendol.
There’s nothing like a nice steaming plate of Karma; sweet, refreshing, and incredibly satisfying.
When you try to screw other humans over, Karma might just come for you, like she came for this opportunistic man in America.
Man Stockpiled Hand Sanitisers For Profit But Now Left with 17,000 Unsold Sanitisers
When the Covid-19 virus started spreading, opportunists all over the world perked up and started buying huge stocks of hand sanitisers and face masks so they could sell them at a higher price and make a profit.
And that’s exactly what a pair of brothers in America did.
The day after the first coronavirus death in the United States was announced, brothers Matt and Noah Colvin started visiting supermarkets and buying all the hand sanitisers they could.
Over the next three days, Mr Noah Colvin took a 2,090km road trip across Tennessee and into Kentucky, filling his truck with thousands of bottles of hand sanitiser and thousands of packs of antibacterial wipes.
Meanwhile, his brother, Matt, stayed home and started to list these purchases on Amazon.
He said he initially posted 300 bottles and sold them at prices between $8 (S$11.30) and $70 (S$90) each, far more than what the paid for them.
He said it was “crazy money”.
Not really, Sir; what’s crazy is thinking it’s perfectly fine to profit from a pandemic that has claimed thousands of lives all over the world.
Thankfully, however, he was soon served with a piping hot bowl of Karma.
Amazon Clamps Down on Profiteering
The next day, Amazon pulled his items and thousands of other listings for sanitiser, wipes and face masks. The company even suspended some of the sellers behind the listings and warned many others that if they kept running up prices, they’d lose their accounts.
The man then attempted to list the products on eBay, but eBay soon followed suit with even stricter measures, prohibiting any US sales of masks or sanitiser.
Now, Mr Colvin has 17,700 bottles of hand sanitiser and nowhere to sell them.
Let’s all shed a tear for this poor, poor man.
“It’s been a huge amount of whiplash,” he told the New York Times. “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?’”
To his credit, after The Times published this article last Saturday morning, Mr Colvin said he was exploring ways to donate all the supplies.
Be Wary of Online Scams
As you know, Mr Colvin isn’t the only one selling such items at an inflated price. But at least he doesn’t scam his customers.
Many people have fallen prey to online scams involving face masks during the Covid-19 outbreak.
But, while it’s handy to have hand sanitisers, washing your hands regularly with soap and water will suffice.
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And if you’re not unwell, there’s no real need to wear a face mask anyway.
But if the Kiasu uncle inside your heart compels you to stock up on face masks and hand sanitisers anyway, please ensure that you purchase them from reputable companies.
And if you’re an opportunist like Mr Colvin here and you’re planning on profiteering from this pandemic, please don’t be a dick; the world already has enough to deal with at the moment.