Prepping for Brexit thread

Zentimes

Thanks for explaining that so well, GreyQueen. It does set my mind at rest.

[Deleted User]

Be prepared for some people to get really worried the closer in we get to the 29th March, the longer the uncertainty goes on the more people will realise that there could be problems and the more people will go and do a 'panic shop'. If there are visible gaps of obvious things on supermarket shelves more and more people will climb on the bandwagon and join in. It WILL all sort itself out we need resolution of what IS going to happen and WHEN it's going to happen before rational thought can be restored.

Thank goodness most of the people posting on these prepping threads will already have sensible (not excessive) stocks in place and not have to be caught up any problems that may occur.

DryTheRain

Just seen a job ad on the Guardian: Head of Policy (Exiting the EU) at the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs !!! Good grief. It looks less likely that we'll crash out on the 29th, but it remains the legal default and with this level of disorganisation it's anyone's guess what'll happen. No wonder stockpiling is on the up, let's hope gradually enough to avoid panic buying.

Jazee

I was going to mention the supermarket restrictions when I first found out last week but thought it best to wait for the official announcement. I didn't want to be responsible for panic buying.

mardatha

Might just be their poor bloody drivers threatening to strike over being asked to carry 500 bog rolls up 5 flights of tenement stairs...

[Deleted User]

It's not likely anyone reading on a prepping thread will decide to panic buy on the spur of the moment or under the spur of an article in the newspapers. If people panic buy it will be because the truth of the situation suddenly dawns on them because it becomes fashionable to post on social media what you have just found and bought in the supermarket to prepare for Brexit. It only needs for a few to post that there were no loo rolls or there was no milk or bread and it will go off like a wildfire and the shops will be rapidly emptied. Better far to have been quietly buying a couple of extra stock items over the past almost 3 years and to have the reassurance that you have the means to keep everyone warm, clothed, medicated, fed and watered through the uncertainty and possible disruptions until things are clearer about what is going to happen up to, through and after Brexit. I think people reading here will already have the make provision for yourself mindset.

GreyQueen

I've just cooked a vat of chili con carne, enough for 3 nights. Have used 2 tins tommies and 2 tins kidney beans. Will be replacing those, to keep the level of stocks static, but not planning to add any more.


I have enough TP for the remainder of the year. And for next year. Shan't need any more for a while, which frees up TP presently in the supply chain for the rest of the country.


Some of us will be old enough to have firsthand memories of the fun and games in the 1970s when things went in and out of availability. I can recall being in a certain small supermarket with my mother and seeing a lady with a shopping trolley comepletely full and heaped two feet above the top with nothing but kilo bags of sugar. She's probably coming to the end of them about now, if she's been spared.


If you get a few people being as extreme as that, individual products can go out of stock.


If there's going to be a dose of crazy going around, I intend to be elsewhere when folks are going bonkers. More restful and more safe, too.

GreyQueen

Thinking back to my factory days, they ran a two shift system (06.00 am to 14.00 and 14.00 to 22.00). I was on the latter, the trad Two Til Ten. Da Management would sometimes approach us 'girls' very gingerly at second break, circa 7.30 pm and ask if anyone fancied staying on to complete a rush order of XXX (they were supplying all the major supermarkets).


We were asked nicely and it was paid at time-and-a-half. They usually got enough takers to get another two or three lines up and ready to run for a 10 pm start. One line would shut down, we'd walk a few yards and start up another which had been prepped by the techies.


It's astonishing how much product you can put through a couple of lines at speed and we were seldom more than another hour and managed to get the extra orders out.


Think of it positively - your extra orders might be helping pay someone's unexpected bill/ fund their holiday.

DryTheRain

Bet they prefer bog roll to lugging beans up the stairs!

Seriously though, I hope the supers are recruiting extra drivers rather than expecting existing employees to work even harder to meet demand. Some of the drivers I've seen looked on their last legs anyway, and I didn't dare complain for fear it'd be used against them, used to really upset me. If nothing else, it'd be nice if people ordering last minute made an effort to tip drivers if they can.

Nargleblast

I always make a point of tipping the supermarket delivery driver, I appreciate the work they do for probably not a fantastic wage. Online supermarket shopping saves me so much time. I wonder if we will see more substitutions for items out of stock in the coming weeks? If so I am sure we will be able to live with it.