also, peak pricing is generally legal, price gouging isn't illegal everywhere, and the definition is sometimes vague due to, you know, how vague the concept is—the definition usually includes some version of "excessive" or "extreme" pricing.

So like, if you have trouble getting food into your grocery store after a disaster, and you have to charge a little more, you're probably safe—the idea behind price gouging ins more what happens when all the grocery store owners quadrupled their prices as they twist their moustaches and laugh, saying, "what are you going to do, not eat?"