New York State goes after coronavirus price gouging with its own hand sanitizer

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo is taking aim at price gouging on e-commerce services like Amazon by threatening to introducing the state’s self-branded hand sanitizer. During a press conference on Monday morning, Cuomo announced the new product, called “NYS Clean.” It comes a few days after he declared a state of emergency due to coronavirus. There are now 142 cases of the virus in New York, Cuomo announced. “You can’t get [hand sanitizer] on the market and when you can, it’s very expensive,” said Cuomo. He gestured for people to open a set of blue curtains to reveal the product, which has a dark green label with a simple “NYS Clean” logo. Cuomo positioned the product as “superior” to others on the market, specifically naming Purell. He noted that the World Health Organization and the CDC suggests using a hand sanitizer with 60 percent alcohol content, and pointed out that Purell, which he called a “competitor to NYS Clean,” has 70 percent alcohol, while NYS Clean has 75 percent. “It comes in a variety of sizes and has a very nice floral bouquet,” said Cuomo as he rubbed it on his hands and brought them to his nose. “I detect lilac, hydrangea, tulips.” Cuomo warned that the free product could eventually come to market if price gouging didn’t decline. “To Purell, and Mr. Amazon and Mr. eBay, if you continue the price gouging, we will introduce our product, which is superior to your product. And you don't even have the floral bouquet, so stop price gouging.” Taking a quick look for “hand sanitizers” on Amazon today, it doesn’t seem to be letting up. At the top of the search are listings for a 10-pack of Wet Ones hand wipes on sale for $70 and a gallon of hand sanitizer gel also selling for $70. Cuomo has been very vocal about the price gouging that has been rampant on e-commerce sites as demand for cleaning products like hand sanitizer has ramped up. Sales of hand sanitizers were up 54 percent year-over-year for the week ending February 22, according to Nielsen. New York State is investigating price surges on emergency products needed to combat the coronavirus, and is introducing new legislation that would allow the attorney general to penalize anyone raising prices by more than 10 percent during a crisis. Reminder: Price gouging is ILLEGAL.New York has zero tolerance for price gouging connected to #Coronavirus and NYDOS is investigating reports of unfair price increases on products like cleaning supplies & hand sanitizer.To report suspected price gouging, call 1-800-697-1220.— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) March 8, 2020 E-commerce sites are taking steps to stop third-party sellers from raising their prices on their sites. Last week, Senator Edward Markey called on Amazon to tackle the issue and the platform responded that it’s working on tracking down third-party sellers, and has removed 530,000 products from its site and has suspended 2,500 seller accounts due to price gouging. It has also removed millions of listings for false claims around coronavirus. Meanwhile, last week eBay announced it was banning sales of face masks, hand sanitizers and disinfecting wipes from its site. For now, the state plans on distributing 100,000 gallons of the hand sanitizer every week to places like schools, prisons, the MTA and other governmental agencies, and will begin with the city New Rochelle, a “hotspot for us,” said Cuomo. By afternoon on Monday, “NYS Clean” began trending on Twitter for the New York City area. Some tweeters couldn't resist a few jokes at the state's, and Cuomo's, expense. You're not FULLY CLEAN, until You're NYS CLEAN!!!!....mmmm subway scented is so good..pic.twitter.com/RWJsgCTxaJ— Matt Rappaport (@nyactor) March 9, 2020 NYS Clean might be 75% alcohol, but this clip is 3000% Andrew Cuomo (channeling Sandra Lee QVC vibes???). Corcraft means produced by prison labor.https://t.co/Lt9ykq0C9B— Jie Jenny Zou (@jiejennyzou) March 9, 2020

New York State goes after coronavirus price gouging with its own hand sanitizer

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