DY – Are we talking specifically about Best Buy or about price gouging in general?
I’m willing to believe that Best Buy made a mistake. It’s not like they always sell bottled water and suddenly raised the price.
As far as price gouging in general, you’re probably right that fear of bad PR would prevent some businesses from raising prices to cover the temporarily higher costs. That should be a business decision, though, not a government decision. It doesn’t help anybody get bottled water or other supplies when politicians go on and on about how awful it is if prices go up. I think we need to change the way we talk about prices during times of shortage, as we are on this thread 🙂 “Gouging” is a very judgmental word.