The Selfish Brothers - And Response (8)

No matter what your political leaning, the New York Times is a prestigious newspaper that is published in multiple countries and recognized worldwide.  It is for this reason that any article published in the Times that has a story referencing Chattanooga is especially noteworthy.  Today's New York Times has a lengthy article that "highlights" two of our area residents, Matt and Noah Colvin. Two brothers from Hixson who have become quite the successful entrepreneurs. Great publicity for our esteemed city, you say?  Not so fast....

It seems that the Colvin brothers decided to take the news of the COVID-19 outbreak and make some money.  They loaded up an SUV and a U-Haul and went to their (our) local Dollar Tree, Walmart, Staples and Home Depot and "cleaned the shelves" of every last container of hand sanitizer and anti-bacterial wipes.  They then continued their buying spree going to "little hole-in-the-wall dollar stores in the backwoods" all the way to Kentucky.  They brought their booty back to Hixson and began selling it online for between $8 and $70 each, multiple times what they paid for them. One of the Colvin brothers even proudly posed for a picture for The Times in front of his inventory.

You want to know the ironic part?  I actually thought The Times was doing an expose on people price gouging.  These guys were selling essential health supplies in the time of a deadly pandemic for huge profits.  They had essentially robbed the market of supply and then took advantage of the lack of supply to charge outrageous prices to people who just wanted basic things to be able to protect their families.  You know what?  The story is about the brothers complaining about the fact that Amazon and E-Bay took down their website and refused to let them continue to do business.  Now, the poor unsuspecting brothers are stuck with a garage full of essential supplies and nowhere to sell them.  Wow...There's a Chattanooga story that we can be proud of.

Brothers Colvin:  Let me be clear.  I am outraged.  I am speechless that you would deprive your neighbors (including me) of the very basic cleaning supplies that are absolutely essential for surviving this new pandemic virus.  The two of you determined that your own selfish monetary gains were worth more than the health (and possibly the very lives) of your neighbors.  There are no words harsh enough for the two of you (and if there were, this news organization would not publish the words I would have to say to you).  We have yet to see this COVID-19 play out here in our community but if it turns out to be as deadly here as it has been everywhere else in the world, you will have blood on your hands.  Picture the elderly person, shuffling to make the Herculean effort to get out of their home, trying to heed the warnings that they are seeing on the news, to get to the store for essential supplies including hand sanitizer and anti-bacterial wipes.  Now picture their faces when they get to the store and the shelves are bare because of your greed.  How about the mom of three that is just trying to stave off the illness so that she can continue to go to work to support her kids?  How about the immuno-compromised twenty-something that is in the middle of chemotherapy and desperately needs all of the sanitizing help that he/she can get just to stay alive?  Never mind the rest of us who just want to try the best that we can to keep our families safe. You have robbed all of these people of the most basic of supplies, which could actually endanger their lives, all in the name of "making a buck".  You are the worst of the worst.  The lowest of the low.

The Times quotes you trying to defend your actions (and whining about your current inability to continue to gouge consumers) as saying that the current laws regarding price gouging "Are built for Billy Bob's gas station doubling the amount he charges for gas during a hurricane."  Really?!  So, Billy Bob is wrong but you are not?  Billy Bob's customers who drowned from the hurricane because they were not able to pay to evacuate are just as dead as the people who die because they haven't been able to access basic cleaning supplies that would have killed the virus in their homes.

I am not particularly religious so I will not try to remind you of the wrath that awaits you in hell.  What I will say is that I hope that the next U-Haul that you rent is to pack your belongings and get out of Chattanooga.

Lynn Ashton

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Harrison

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Mr. Parker:

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Another question about all of this hoarding that has been going on is why retail businesses to include big box stores like Costco, grocery stores, and other retail chains did not prevent hoarding in the first place?  These businesses should have known this was coming and should have put significant restrictions on bulk purchases of certain items. 

Now there are people out there who apparently have a two year supply of cold medicine, face masks, hand sanitizer, and toilet paper sitting in their garages gathering dust.  I’m hopeful that more good than bad will come out of this crisis, and hopefully in a couple of months when we can look back on this and see what we did right and what we did wrong that businesses will have a plan to prevent hoarders like this from interrupting the supply chain.

Robert Maner

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Matt and Noah Colvin are friends of mine. I’ve known both of them long enough to know their character and ethics. They come from a family farm culture of dawn to dusk hard physical labor producing food to feed our state and nation. 

These men are no criminals and if called on by the state attorney general I will gladly testify on their behalf.

Was this a bad decision? Yes, assuredly. Bad judgement? Most definitely! Criminal? No more criminal in my mind than hospitals charging $7.50 for single aspirin tablets, $1,100 for simple saline IV bags, or an ambulance provider charging $450 for a five minute non-critical ambulance ride.

I know two wrongs don’t make a right, but in this case it appears the Colvins are merely guilty of non-certified over-pricing of essential medical items. 

Finally, for those pranking them or anyone with phony pizza delivery keep in mind that the only loser in that game is the pizza franchise and its drivers since the pizzas usually go in the trash at no charge to the victim of the prank. 

JB Griffin

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Ms. Ashton, your letter is excellent, as always. Thank you for calling this greed, at the expense of public health, for what it is.

There is nothing that can justify pure greed that causes direct harm to the public.  Let me repeat, nothing.   These folks viewed a pandemic, or public health crisis, as commerce opportunity.  That is sick.

How many businesses, that have concentrations of people, cannot purchase coronavirus prevention because of the greed exhibited in this one case? Driving around Chattanooga buying up products to prevent the spread of coronavirus, makes the accused appear as pure bottom feeders.

I would say that predatory behavior and greed mongering abounds at this time.  We see this in all declarations of emergency, war, and other emergencies.  The vultures move in. 

Of course, JB is correct. Hospitals are overcharging for essential and lifesaving interventions. Lock up their executives too, health is an essential service and the public at large is being robbed.   When do we the people get justice in greed mongering at hospitals?

Make a profit in an honest way. Overcharging and hording essential products and services is not a Christian way of life.  While we are all sinners, our faith calls upon us to hate the sin and love the sinner.  It is my hope and prayer, the greed perpetrators learn that they should love their fellow man in crisis, not fleece his wallet.

The current circumstance demands that we help one another, and not attempt to get rich on tragedy.

April Eidson

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As I read the hate-filled comments directed toward the Colvin brothers following the news that the Attorney General is investigating them for price-gouging, I had a couple of thoughts:

1.  If these men were interested in price-gouging, the decision to do that was a bad one and one that they have since re-visited, having now offered the products to anyone who can use them, according to today's Times-Free Press.

2.  If any charges were filed against them, they would be legally innocent until proven guilty, regardless of anyone's opinion or desire to cause them harm. Panic and fear over a pandemic does not invalidate their constitutional  rights nor do these fears justify hate-mongering. 

3. When considering investigation of price-gouging, should Attorneys-General not take a look at the medical profession's habit of spending less than five minutes with each patient, then rushing off to another patient, and then billing  insurance and Medicare for $180 or more per patient per visit as has happened frequently? 

4.  Common sense is always good …..far too many people have decided to abandon it since this COVID-19 concern developed. 

Tim McDonald

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“I’ve known both of them long enough to know their character and ethics. They come from a family farm culture of dawn to dusk hard physical labor producing food to feed our state and nation.” 

“These men are no criminals and if called on by the state attorney general I will gladly testify on their behalf.”

Focusing on a direct quote from an earlier letter, I am puzzled how the fact that two people who are identified as “hard working farmers” allow anyone to give these two guys a pass. I am equally puzzled at how the focus seems to rest on whether there is a criminal activity embedded in all this.

I learned a long time ago that some things may not be “illegal” but in the end “it just ain’t right” and I am guessing most of us were taught this lesson. Citing hospital costs does not absolve the apparent intent of two men (whatever their rationale) who premeditated and decided to take advantage of a serious issue that affects all people with only their well-being and financial security being the issue. 

“Right is right even if no one is doing it; wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it.” - Saint Augustine

Gary Davis

The Colvin brothers’ actions are already done. Nothing can change that. And nothing good comes on dwelling on them.

Especially in this time of crisis, strive to rise above the fray, and not join the mob. Lead by example.

Keep your Maker close, and your family closer. We will all be better for it.

Wilson von Kessler
St. Elmo