What are you panic buying?

[elbows]

No, what we are seeing is a combination of the effects of highly sensible responses by people, combined with the not so sensible stuff that you describe. The purpose of my post was that I refuse to have the sensible side of this completely overlooked and disregarded just because the other stuff is happening too.

As for the supermarket logistics, there is no basis to the suggestion that the system would cope brilliantly with everything except irrational behaviour. Empty shelves are an indicator worthy of further investigation, they are not in themselves proof of one thing in particular. How long they stay empty is another important indicator, it is expected that there will be periods of supply shortages when demand encounters a sudden and prolonged shift, the key is whether the system is able to respond to that and restore the balance. When it comes to the current situation, I would suggest it is too early to tell.

 

[planetgeli]

"Bosses at Northampton General Hospital said sanitising gel had been disappearing from the ends of ward beds every single day this week. Three wall mounted dispensers had been ripped off while visitors have used the hospital supply of sanitiser to top up their own supply."

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Paracetamol X2
Ibuprofen x2

Four tablets won't last you long.

Not buying anything additional beyond my usual stuff, although I've got a lot of food in stock already so no need really. Do need to get some more bogroll though, but only because I've nearly finished the pack in the airing cupboard.

I'd love to be quarantined for months - it'd be lovely and peaceful, and I'd get lots of reading time and loads of lovely naps.

 

[elbows]

"Bosses at Northampton General Hospital said sanitising gel had been disappearing from the ends of ward beds every single day this week. Three wall mounted dispensers had been ripped off while visitors have used the hospital supply of sanitiser to top up their own supply."

So? Im not trying to deny or defend all the crappy behaviour, but I sure will defend all the sensible people who actually listened to what they've been told and responded in highly appropriate, balanced and rational ways. Which, for people who go out and about with minimal proper hand washing opportunities during parts of their day, includes buying hand sanitiser.

 

[planetgeli]

Yeah. Highly appropriate, balanced and rational. That's what we're seeing.

 

[Orang Utan]

No, what we are seeing is a combination of the effects of highly sensible responses by people, combined with the not so sensible stuff that you describe. The purpose of my post was that I refuse to have the sensible side of this completely overlooked and disregarded just because the other stuff is happening too.

As for the supermarket logistics, there is no basis to the suggestion that the system would cope brilliantly with everything except irrational behaviour. Empty shelves are an indicator worthy of further investigation, they are not in themselves proof of one thing in particular. How long they stay empty is another important indicator, it is expected that there will be periods of supply shortages when demand encounters a sudden and prolonged shift, the key is whether the system is able to respond to that and restore the balance. When it comes to the current situation, I would suggest it is too early to tell.

why are people stockpiling things like toilet roll though?

 

[SpookyFrank]

"Bosses at Northampton General Hospital said sanitising gel had been disappearing from the ends of ward beds every single day this week. Three wall mounted dispensers had been ripped off while visitors have used the hospital supply of sanitiser to top up their own supply."

When you see people stealing stuff from a hospital it's hard not to go over to Team Coronavirus tbh.

 

[weltweit]

The only time when panic might enter my shopping experience is when I want something but the shelves are bare.

 

[Orang Utan]

"Bosses at Northampton General Hospital said sanitising gel had been disappearing from the ends of ward beds every single day this week. Three wall mounted dispensers had been ripped off while visitors have used the hospital supply of sanitiser to top up their own supply."

this has happened at my work too. They are very easy to rip off the wall - the ones we have are just stuck on with sticky strips

 

[kalidarkone]

Four tablets won't last you long.

Not buying anything additional beyond my usual stuff, although I've got a lot of food in stock already so no need really. Do need to get some more bogroll though, but only because I've nearly finished the pack in the airing cupboard.

I'd love to be quarantined for months - it'd be lovely and peaceful, and I'd get lots of reading time and loads of lovely naps.

As long as I can drink coffee and wipe my ass. Bog roll, coffee, milk and sugar are the things I run out of most frequently. So whatever happens I won't fall short in that department for a while.

 

[Orang Utan]

I'm beginning to think we actually stockpile naturally anyway, so maybe I should shut up - we always have shitloads of painkillers, cans, bog roll and kitchen roll anyway - but for economic and logistical reasons ( ie cba to go to the shop that often)

 

[elbows]

why are people stockpiling things like toilet roll though?

Again, I'm not defending all behaviour at this time!

The toilet rolls are an interesting one. In part it may be a case of an idea spreading around the world via the news. I believe someone started rumours in another part of the world a while back, that either a lot of the toilet paper was made in Wuhan, or that factories were switching production from toilet paper to masks. This sort of talk quickly lead to shortages in some places, which were reported, leading to a snowball effect, without the original rumours needing to have any validity. And there were even bonus dramatic news stories such as armed robbers stealing a load of toilet rolls (I think that was in Hong Kong but I may have remembered that detail wrong).

Plus toilet rolls take up a lot of space on shelves and in store rooms etc. So shelves filled with them take less time to visibly empty under situations of increased demand.

 

[elbows]

Yeah. Highly appropriate, balanced and rational. That's what we're seeing.

Thats what you are choosing to not see because you'd clearly rather just focus on the bad stuff that is happening too.

 

[planetgeli]

Thats what you are choosing to not see because you'd clearly rather just focus on the bad stuff that is happening too.

I'm all for postmen and women popping in in their lunch break.

That's not what is going on with the empty shelves.

Empty shelves are unnecessary and directly counter-productive to fighting this. How is that defensible?

 

[Sasaferrato]

Nothing really. We tend to buy in quantity when things are on offer.

I bought six by 200g jars of Gold Blend Intense earlier, but that was standard restock.

 

[elbows]

Empty shelves are unnecessary and directly counter-productive to fighting this. How is that defensible?

I already explained that entirely sensible increases in demand can also lead to temporary shortages at particular stores. I think I made most of my points and dont wish to repeat myself further. Sensible people doing sensible things can still empty shelves, its not like everyone who causes demand to increase sets out to create empty shelves deliberately is it? And where are the failings on the supply side in all of this talk? If this pandemic is anything more than rather mild then the whole 'Just In Time' thing is going to quickly resemble 'Not In Time'.

Yes its fair enough to look at how human responses to pandemics can make thigns worse. But I'll be damned if the spotlight is only going to fall on those being irrational in this moment, as opposed to all of those who were irrational with their funding and priorities and economics and ideas about society and pandemic planning for years and years before this all happened.

 

[pesh]

My wife got home last night and announced she'd been panic buying, she'd got 4 tins of soup, 4 tins of beans and 2 ounces of Thai stick.
I'm a lucky man.

 

[elbows]

Besides, I thought we were all supposed to be happy little humans, letting market forces take care of some of that stuff.

So why label it panic? Why not label it a timely signal to the market that supply needs to be increased? After all, thats whats supposed to happen isnt it, increased demand acts as a signal to increase supply. Are producers going to produce more if everyone sits on their hands and resist buying because perish the thought that demand might go up and cause temporarily empty shelves?

Again, this is not a defense of some extreme behaviours and quantities of purchase. But if I were involved with the government information campaign I would be really disappointed if there were no shortages of hand cleaning products being reported.

Anyway I am aware that this thread was mostly supposed to cover a different aspect of peoples current purchasing habits so I will shutup now.

 

[Balmaha]

My wife got home last night and announced she'd been panic buying, she'd got 4 tins of soup, 4 tins of beans and 2 ounces of Thai stick.
I'm a lucky man.

ma wife has been missing fur two weeks and the polis have just told me to prepare fur the wurst.......

so av just been doon the charity shop to get her clothes back.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

why are people stockpiling things like toilet roll though?

We all need to shit so it makes sense to have sufficient stock of bogroll. I'd rather have decent bogroll than have to fight over the last remaining stock of izal. :shudder:

But realistically, 9 or 12 rolls should be enought to keep anyone in stock for a few weeks, unless you've got the shits. Eat loads of fibrous foods and take codeine and it'll last even longer.

 

[Orang Utan]

We all need to shit so it makes sense to have sufficient stock of bogroll. I'd rather have decent bogroll than have to fight over the last remaining stock of izal. :shudder:

But realistically, 9 or 12 rolls should be enought to keep anyone in stock for a few weeks, unless you've got the shits. Eat loads of fibrous foods and take codeine and it'll last even longer.

i think we should all suffer together. so if there's a shortage, we should shoulder our share of it

 

[Plumdaff]

Our local Costco is limiting toilet roll to one (12 pack) purchase per person. The people of Cardiff shall wipe their arses!

 

[xenon]

bullets, bourbon, and bibles.

 

[xenon]

Just trying to get in the spirit of things. I don’t think panic buying crackers and bog roll is exactly the stuff of the apocalypse. I’m not doing that either though.

 

[planetgeli]

Besides, I thought we were all supposed to be happy little humans, letting market forces take care of some of that stuff.

So why label it panic? Why not label it a timely signal to the market that supply needs to be increased?

Because it is the direct result of panic and the profiteering on panic ffs, and the market supply increasing will be too late, leaving your postman at risk, who will now infect you and others, who infect others, and others...

An entirely avoidable situation.

 

[elbows]

The repeated reference to postal delivery people iimplies you are seeking to narrow the bounds of appropriate use of such items. I dont think me and you have the same ideas about this pandemic at all so no wonder we dont agree on this stuff either.

One retailer said there had been a 500% increase in demand for hand wash in the last week, with food cupboard items also among those seeing much higher demand.

From Minister reassures public over food supplies

Good. Those are the sorts of indicators I want to see, they demonstrate that messages are getting through, and that not everyone thinks ostrich is the appropriate response.

My failure to shut up about this yet is disappointing. I will try harder.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

i think we should all suffer together. so if there's a shortage, we should shoulder our share of it

Rather be able to wipe me arse to be honest. I'm not talking about hoarding 500 rolls, just enough for normal shittage.

 

[planetgeli]

The repeated reference to postal delivery people iimplies you are seeking to narrow the bounds of appropriate use of such items.

Oh fuck off, please.

 

[NoXion]

I've bought nothing extra since this whole mess started, because I'm not a panicky, fear-stricken idiot with a crippling addiction to the sensationalist sewer pipe that is rolling news.

I'm honestly more concerned about the effects of various types of moron overreacting to this shit, than I am about the disease itself. Extra measures to maintain the health of the vulnerable are sensible. What's not sensible is that some people are acting like it's the fucking 1918 epidemic, when we would have noticed by now if the coronavirus precipitated the kind of cytokine storm in young and healthy individuals which made that old bug so deadly.

 

[elbows]

Oh fuck off, please.

Dont imply that only people with certain jobs should be buying hand sanitiser.