Notes » November 2008

Purblind Profiteers

There are no profiteers on Earth like Hong Kong profiteers.

A profiteer is defined either as someone who makes excessive profit, especially on goods in short supply; or someone who makes an unreasonable profit, as on the sale of difficult to obtain goods. I'd add to the definition Hong Kong grocery stores that prey on people's fears of tainted food by jacking up prices overnight.

Case in point: eggs.

Hong Kong's two chain stores import eggs mostly from mainland China, Thailand and the United States. Prices vary based on supply and country of origin, as well as quality and size. For several weeks ParknShop was selling a dozen Grade A large eggs from the US at a small discount for two cartons, about HK$28 (about US$3.59, quite a good price considering in some places in the US folks pay that much for a single dozen).

Then a news report confirmed that melamine had been added to chicken feed in mainland China, which in turn contaminated the eggs. Within a day or two at most, the price of the US imports suddenly spiked to almost HK$24 for one dozen, with colourful signs in large print trumpeting their source. One might argue that the prices were simply returning to normal, but not after those placards were posted.

Most folks were offended by such blatant avarice (not to mention ParknShop acting like it's doing us all a huge favour), and being astute shoppers, as most Hong Kongers are, they simply stopped buying eggs. They know that eventually the store will be forced to drop their prices as the eggs age (limited shelf-life is king), and so they are quite content to wait. God Himself couldn't be more patient.

Hong Kong's profiteers may be greedy, but I never said they were smart.

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