Yesterday some dude posted a video to shame apparently Indian gas station owners charging $10 a gallon around the Hurricane Helene disaster area. The lolberts answered with rebuttals that free market pricing is the best rationing mechanism in a time of scarcity.
People are saying that the gas station could ration gallons per customer and keep the same price, and the lolberts are saying this is communist price control.
I'm not really sure how much merit is held by either position since I've never really thought about this with respect to a disaster area. Clearly the 1973 price controls were a bad idea, but this is a debate over what a private business owner should do after a hurricane. My gut feeling is that gas should be rationed by customer, not by pricing. But maybe the gas station is passing along supply chain pricing to a certain extent?
edit: Texas punished gas price gouging in 2019 after Hurricane Harvey.
In economic theory, when demand is increased (by mass travel), and available supply is decreased (by a natural disaster), market equilibrium will be found at a higher price point, though the change in quantity sold will vary by conditions.
The thought is, even if a product becomes more scarce, new sellers could viably enter the market with the increased price to meet some of the demand. And the new price will push out some consumers who don't have the funds or desire to pay so much.
In a perfect market, yes, the increased pricing would serve as the best means of rationing. The thing is, ideal conditions would have similar, alternative products available and no barriers to enter the marketplace. As it stands, the gas station may hold a monopoly in the local area and is causing societal harm by jacking the prices up.