upvote
How does that solve the problem?

I love how in economics, a shortage can be solved by increasing the price instead of by increasing the quantity. It really makes you understand that the field of economics uses stupid definitions of words.

reply
If you are trying to slow down sales to the point that you are able to consistently replenish stock before the last batch sells out, raising the price will reduce the volume of hard bread being sold. At some point the volume should be low enough that it stops going out of stock.
reply
Just “having hard tack in stock” isn’t the objective to solve for, though.

I’m actually skeptical this shortage affects people too badly, since the stuff lasts forever. Probably enthusiasts have enough in their pantries to last them through a temporary factory downtime?

reply
Well if the goal is to avoid you out of stock, just keep one more packet in the back room and never sell it.

That clearly isn't the goal.

reply
You know what's really oversupplied in this subthread? One sentence contrarianism.

(not that I haven't done it myself occasionally, but guys you really are not helping anyone here including yourselves)

reply
Raising the price doesn't increase the supply, it just selects who can access it. Most of the people will still not get it, just for a different reason.
reply
A higher margin increases the incentive for people to make more, though.
reply
Probably not, right? Demand is already there. The factory is already incentivized, it’s just damaged and needed time to get back to full capacity. A contender isn’t just going to spring up because prices are temporarily high.

Even if you already had a factory that could easily be converted to this product, you’d have to factor in the switching cost, opportunity cost, shipping, marketing and regulatory stuff. This likely offsets the consumer’s willingness to pay extra during the shortage, and as soon as the original factory is back, they’re going to price you back out. They’re already operational, as per the article.

reply
In the longer run, maybe, but if the factory is already working to rebuild then arguably that incentive is already met and it's more just the time it takes to get capacity back up, which is not as flexible with spending money on it as people would like.
reply
Would you make a hard bread factory if the price was higher? How high?
reply
That implies that everything with a price is always out of stock.
reply
It implies no such thing.
reply
The presence of a price "selects who can access it", hence there's not enough stock to give it away for free. (Sometimes deliberately.)
reply
There’s plenty of stuff you couldn’t get rid of if you gave it away for free. You seem to be ignoring demand.
reply
Wut? That makes no sense.
reply
deleted
reply
No, it implies that everything with a price and a supply issue will likely still face that supply issue even with a higher price.
reply
Everything with a price has a supply issue.
reply
No, it doesn't.
reply
Oh, OK.
reply
I'm really glad we sorted this out.
reply
It doesn't increase supply, but it slows down how fast the supply sells out. This allows there to always be supply available for purchase.
reply