Some call it price gouging, others call it the law of supply and demand, or even free enterprise or capitalism. Price controls are integral to socialism and communism and the antithesis of a free market.
Personally, I have not raised my prices in response to the shortages in the store. I have regular customers that buy 18-20 dozen eggs/week total - usually - but 2 weeks ago, after the local grocery store (no big box stores within 65-70 miles) ran out of eggs, I had orders for 25 dozen in 2 days!!! I told a lot of people they were going to have to wait for their eggs, but, got them all filled and even though the store is still out, my orders have dropped back to normal.
As for the cartons, when people bring me their used ones to recycle, I drop a couple of pieces of gravel in several of the egg spots, leave them out in the sun for 2 days, then put them on the bottom of my stack. And, of course, WASH HANDS after touching them.
I wrote a blog post and Op Ed for the local newspaper a couple of days ago on "Eggs and Egg-spences" to try to help people understand why eggs from a local chicken raiser are more expensive than eggs in the store.
https://eclecticmusings.blog/2020/03/27/of-eggs-and-egg-spences/
Of course, anyone who is only raising chickens as a hobby can charge whatever they want, but my chickens need to be at least self-sustaining, and preferably add a bit to our rather meager retirement income.
When I was a kid in school, the school had a lunch program but mainly their focus was on educating the children. My teacher brother told me that when his school was shutting down, nobody was concerned about the loss of education for the children but ALL the concern was how to feed the children in the community because parents we no longer capable of feeding their kids. And yes, at his school, they provide 3 meals per day and have a summer "education" program where kids get 2 meals per day. I guess I'm really getting old because I was totally unaware of the function of our schools in our communities.
