Prince Albert Electronics says it is selling hand sanitizer and masks at a lower price than they're buying them for to serve the community. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW Staff)

By Ian Gustafson

High Demand

Masks and sanitizer: local business juggling the costs and demand

Apr 16, 2020 | 5:09 PM

At this time of uncertainty masks and hand sanitizer are hard to come by, including for first responders, and a local business insists it is trying to help out and is not over-charging.

paNOW received an anonymous tip about a local business who appeared to be hiking the price of hand sanitizer and N95 masks.

P.A. Electronics Owner Imran Maqbool told paNOW that is not the case and current market forces are the reason.

He said he buys the 236 ml bottle of hand sanitizer from a manufacturer for $20 and is selling it for $15. He acknowledges it usually sells for $9 to $10 per bottle. He is also selling masks depending on the package sizes and brand from anywhere between $5 to $10.

He said he was selling below his own cost price to serve the community.

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“The reason is when we get this epidemic everybody is looking for that, there is big demand and supply difference,” Maqbool said. “It’s so hard to get that stuff from other people especially when we’re community based. We’re locally owned and we want to help the people, that’s our main focus on that.”

He added anyone who is a healthcare worker can drop by the door and receive a free mask. The police, fire, ambulance, and correctional workers will get 50 per cent discount on masks. All they have to do is show there ID to prove they work in healthcare or as a first responder.

Special offering for frontline workers

He said the companies who are selling the masks and sanitizer is selling in high demand. He added had to order masks from a company located in China who charged him twice the amount of the regular price. He said he also buys some of the supplies from a retailer in Toronto, but it depends what is available.

“The main thing is of supply and demand the person who has it’s selling like gold,” he said. “Before the pandemic nobody cared about these things.”

“I live in the community I’ve been serving long time in the community, if I’m taking from the community on the good days this is the time I have to give back,” Maqbool.

On Monday, the province announced the prohibition on price gouging does not prevent businesses from reasonably raising prices such as to cover increased costs of acquiring inventory. Businesses that impose grossly excessive price increases on consumer goods or services during periods of crisis may be found guilty of committing an unfair practice.

–

With files from Nicole Reiss

Ian.gustafson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @princealbertnow