Phuket government warn businesses against price gouging

The Phuket Vice Governor Pichet Panapong has reinforced the warning for vendors in Phuket to avoid price gouging or overcharging customers. He requested officials in Phuket to be vigilant in checking stores and vendors to make sure their pricing is reasonable and not artificially inflated.

With the economic pummeling Thailand, and Phuket in particular, have taken with the loss of international tourism due to Covid-19, the vice governor is warning business owners to resist the urge to try to make up for losses by inflating their goods and services to unreasonable prices. He said that there was a “possibility” of things being overpriced in Phuket.

Phuket officials do recognize that due to Covid-19 there have been production shortages, transportation and supply challenges, and material cost increases that may drive up the price of goods coming from the mainland, but they ask for shop owners and retail businesses to be compliant and work to keep price increases minimal and not overcharge for essential goods.

The vice governor has instructed Phuket Commerce officials to check pricing in stores and calls on every shop to make sure everything they are selling has clearly marked price tags to boost customer confidence that they are paying a regulated fair price.

Officers from the Phuket Commerce department inspected several pharmacies over the last few days to do pricing spot checks as a visible reminder of the initiative after first warning shops about price gauging last week on August 13.

They checked the price of andrographis paniculata pills as a good example since some doctors have recently been saying that the medication is useful in treating Covid-19. The inspectors mostly found that the pharmacies were in compliance, with clearly marked prices that were reasonable, so that customers were assured of uniform pricing that was not overinflated.

SOURCE: The Phuket News