The morons are at it again.

shaun_from_Africa

I went to my local Costco yesterday to carry out my monthly shop and lo and behold, the stockpiling idiots have started up again following the possibility of local lockdowns being enforced. (I'm in the South East, nowhere near to Leicester).
The shelves containing all household paper products (loo paper, kitchen paper and tissues) had all been stripped bare as had most of the aisle containing breakfast cereal.
I'm sure that if it hasn't already started, the same will happen in supermarkets again.

I had hoped that following the last time, people would have started to realise that if everyone buys in moderation, there would be more than enough to go around should there be further lock downs imposed.

Browntoa

Would explain why paracetamol has vanished from shelves again , don't need any but I had noticed the gaps again

pallyman

The idiots will always do it,Last time the toilet roll suppliers were telling them there was plenty of supply if they did not strip the shelves bare,Ahh well off to the shops i go stay safe.

minty777

Why have the stores not put a limit on?

shaun_from_Africa

minty777 said:

Why have the stores not put a limit on?

Costco have (1 multipack of toilet rolls per day per membership) and this can easily be enforced.
However, with supermarkets it's far harder, if not impossible to stop people buying as much as they wish.
All you have to do is either go in with a few family members and each make a separate purchase or go in yourself, buy a multipack, stick it in the car then simply go back in again.

Ectophile

minty777 said:

Why have the stores not put a limit on?

It doesn't really work.  The problem isn't those few customers who try to buy armloads of a product.  It's when every customer thinks "X is in short supply, so I had better buy one more packet to make sure I have enough".  It doesn't take long before those customers buying one extra packet have stripped the shelves bare.

ComicGeek

My wife saw a news report about toilet roll running out again, and bought some more - she didn't realise it was actually a news story about Australia...

AW618

Ectophile said:

minty777 said:

Why have the stores not put a limit on?

It doesn't really work.  The problem isn't those few customers who try to buy armloads of a product.  It's when every customer thinks "X is in short supply, so I had better buy one more packet to make sure I have enough".  It doesn't take long before those customers buying one extra packet have stripped the shelves bare.

Indeed,  It's exaclty the same as the "fuel crisis" a few years back.  There were rumours of a shortage caused by protests so everybody decided they had better fill their tank up.  That was enough to cause immense queues and a complete sell out of all available fuel despite the fact that the protests never really happened.  It doesn't require anyone to stockpile things in the garage; deliveries of everything we use are calculated to be just enough for normal demand for a day; if demand increases, they sell out.  Then everyone sees they sold out today and thinks they had betetr buy some if they see some available,s o deliveries sell out as son as they come in for a few days so everybody has just a  little more than they need, and at that point things start retuning to normal as everyone stops buying.

coachman12

May I put in another one of my recommendations for shopping online with Ocado, surely one of Britain's best companies in its sector. Everything is back to normal pre-Corvid days when it comes to shopping at Ocado. Yes, they restrict the number of paracetamol, antibacterial soaps and cleaning wipes etc. you can buy in one order. But they are always available and always delivered. There are no limits now on normal grocery products, whether fresh, chilled or frozen. Ocado has dealt with the pandemic chaos better than any other supermarket.

BostonTel

coachman12 said:

May I put in another one of my recommendations for shopping online with Ocado, surely one of Britain's best companies in its sector. Everything is back to normal pre-Corvid days when it comes to shopping at Ocado. Yes, they restrict the number of paracetamol, antibacterial soaps and cleaning wipes etc. you can buy in one order. But they are always available and always delivered. There are no limits now on normal grocery products, whether fresh, chilled or frozen. Ocado has dealt with the pandemic chaos better than any other supermarket.

Disagree, their app was offline completely for weeks on end, whereas other supermarkets were able to at least offer Click&Collect. Ocado was swamped by demand.

photome

I thought I read somewhere that there wasnt much panic buying at all, just a few percent more than normal, but that supermarkets dont keep very much overstock which led to empty shelves