‘We’re Hustlers’: Amid Coronavirus Fears, This Couple Has Made More Than $100,000 Reselling Lysol Wipes

Douglas Quan, reporting for The Toronto Star:

The couple say they’ve made a bundle in the past three weeks hitting up every Costco store in the region each day, buying up as many Lysol wipes and liquid cleaners as they can — spending thousands of dollars at a time — and then reselling them, mostly on Amazon, to private individuals and companies. […]

Ranga, 38, said one six-pack of wipes that goes for $20 at Costco can fetch four times that online. (A check of Amazon on Thursday showed that a six-pack was going for $89 under their seller name “Violeta & Sons Trading Ltd.”)

I’m all for capitalism and hustle, but now is not the time when it comes to essential products. I get it that buying in bulk is Costco’s game, but they should make an exception and ration some of these hard-to-get products for the time being. It should not be hard to buy hand sanitizer — a product that really does work to halt the spread of coronavirus.

Update: Turns out, stores — including Costco — have been rationing some essential items since last week. It’s not clear why Vancouver-area Costcos were letting this couple buy truckloads of disinfectant at a time.

★ Friday, 13 March 2020