The Twinkie Defense

Twinkies provide more than just a snack for students

By Chase Christensen

Hostess received an approval from a bankruptcy court to officially shut down and liquidize its assets last week. As soon as the announcement was made that Hostess would cease production on some of its most famous items, many customers rushed to their nearest store in hopes of acquiring a possible ‘last Twinkie fix.’ But some students at Utah State University realized that there could be a market for a now scarce resource, one that could possibly subsidize school expenses.

“As soon as I heard that they were going to stop making Twinkies I rushed to the store,” said Dan Smith. “At first I just wanted to say that I ate one of the last Twinkies ever, but the next day I saw that people were selling them on EBay for $500!”

Smith said that he may start selling Twinkies on EBay to help offset school expenses. He admits that it would have to be done quickly, since he does not expect this situation to last forever.

“With Twinkies selling for that much it would be stupid of me not to try to sell them,” Smith said.

As Twinkies normally sell for around $5 per box, the profit margin could be considerable.

Wal-Mart was completely out of Hostess products by the end of the day, according to Landon Spendlove, a USU student who stocks shelves for the company.

“I couldn’t believe how fast they were selling,” said Spendlove. “I’ve never seen anything like it before. People were actually fighting over Twinkies. It’s not exactly something you would normally expect to see here.”

He added that a disproportionate amount of students came in to buy the baked goods, among the many people came to the store looking for the products.

Some students are more skeptical of the boom in Twinkie and Hostess product sales, viewing the situation as temporary.

“This is basically a Twinkie bubble,” said Spencer Beard, a finance and economics major at Utah State. “The prices are skyrocketing because of the projected scarceness of Twinkies, but they will either come back under a new company name or another company will acquire the rights to the Twinkie name and start producing them again. Then the bubble will burst and people will feel like idiots for paying so much for a Twinkie.”

Smith said he knows that even if he does not capitalize on the current Twinkie market that he is not out very much.

“The worst thing that could happen is they don’t sell,” Smith said. “But that is a win for me anyways, I would just eat them. Problem solved.”