PPE suppliers accused of 'blatant profiteering' as prices inflated by up to 825 per cent.
Cost of PPE soars due to price gouging, surge in demand ...
Protective equipment costs increase over 1000% amid ...
There are indeed some headlines of investigations regarding price gouging in such matters. But it appears that high prices are being paid. And with lots of outrageous stories of millions being paid and the product never showing up, I'd feel relatively safe charging some sane multiplier as long as the product actually exists.
The entire US nation needs 30 HV transformers in total and there is essentially no competition for those resources within the US, leading to an extremely illiquid market based upon a good that cannot be easily moved and can be easily seized with force.
PPE demand is measured in millions per day, is a resource in high demand by both nation and non-nation entities, and cannot as easily be seized by force as each unit item is the size of a dollar bill (and shipments can be protected, etc).
The federal government can and does come in, commandeer any goods needed on a NATSEC basis, They will pay the better of the list price or the most favored contract price. Take the goods, cut a check on the spot. Your other customers can and will wait. Period.
So, you would need to establish solid pricing history for your stockpile.
(source: worked with a mil commander who had been peripherally involved with an event where they snagged ~100 very backordered top end Sun workstations off the shipping floor. also currently work on DOD projects)
What you are reading is likely commercial transactions. You should also note that some of those vendors have been snd will be busted by the FBI for price gouging. E.g., one guy in Brooklyn got busted with truckloads of N95 masks & PPE, they just arrested him, logged the gear & donated it.
Your multiple needs to be very sane, or you are relying only on luck - they like to make examples of that kind of of behavior...
The only reason suppliers can get away with profiteering and price gouging is that ultimately, most of them aren't based in the USA and so there's no way for the US federal government to get their goods without either paying the price they demand or starting a war.
Here's a relevant search of Google News: https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&biw=1265&...
Choice headlines include:
PPE suppliers accused of 'blatant profiteering' as prices inflated by up to 825 per cent.
Cost of PPE soars due to price gouging, surge in demand ...
Protective equipment costs increase over 1000% amid ...
There are indeed some headlines of investigations regarding price gouging in such matters. But it appears that high prices are being paid. And with lots of outrageous stories of millions being paid and the product never showing up, I'd feel relatively safe charging some sane multiplier as long as the product actually exists.