is panic-buying selfish?

[cherryx30x]

so I'm sure this is going to be a very mixed opinion but hard hat at the ready. I'm not talking adding a few extra tins of soup to your trolley.

but to take packs and packs of nappies. and all the vitamins. all the medication like paracetomal and calpol?

someone on my facebook was unable to get calpol for her toddler who is actually ill because people had bought the lot in a blind panic. like she said her kid now has to suffer with a temperature because people have bought it over a virus they may not even get and that may only cause them a cough on the mildest end.

I think its extremely over the top to be wiping out the alcohol gel sanitizers (again I know someone with a premature baby who always has them on hand as she has to be a lot more careful who has been unable to find any anywhere), nappies, baby wipes, medications and vitamins

sorry but to me this is just selfish and takes away from people who actually need them. educate yourself and follow basic hygiene- dont wipe out the stores of stuff you probably wont even need and take away from those who currently actually need them

• [Please note, thread title edited by MNHQ - was originally 'Is prepping selfish?']

just seems like madness to me, the detrimental effect clearing the shelves of everything and leaving those who genuinely need them seems counter productive to me

creating even more of a problem, then if we just used common sense and basic hygiene practices

It's only going to get worse, you can either bury your head in the sand or buy a sensible amount (a box or 2) in case.

Paracetamol wise

You legally cannot buy two calpol.....the government brought in a clause so that you aren’t allowed to be sold two packs of paracetamol

So you CANNOT panic buy Calpol. You can buy one each day. But to sell out would take someone days.

Yes. And unnecessary.

Have you seen anyone actually clearing the shelves? I haven't.
I also haven't seen any shortages of anything in my supermarket locally, apart from on Sunday afternoon, but the shelves weren't empty, and it was stocked as normal on Monday.
Only thing that we seem to be running light on is hand gel, and that's hardly a surprise as guidelines say to use it so normal buying patterns have increased, and supply hasn't yet caught up.
I suspect that stocks were low at the weekend because for many it was payday, and there were probably also a few people buying just a bit extra to put aside.
The way the supermarket ordering system works is for products to be reordered as they are bought, via a computer operated system (the just in time system for anyone interested in googling) Sometimes buying patterns change more quickly than anticipated, and the system lags a little bit, but it only becomes a challenge if the supply chain is disrupted for, say, impassable roads, strikes, manufacturing difficulties, delays at ports and the like.
At this stage, it'll calm down and you can shop as normal OP
Personally, I have stocked up a bit over the last year or so, so I won't be fighting anyone for the last can of beans or packet of nappies. Despite hearing on these threads last year that 'stockpiling' causes shortages, the reverse is actually true.

There are a lot of people with with extreme anxiety and fear of society using online forums, mumsnet not immune to this, as witnessed on some of these threads. Just been to town centre which has lots of food and loo paper on shelves, elderly milling around, people eating in cafes and going about normal business. School playgrounds look full and teacher friends carrying on as usual, albeit with more hand hygiene among their charges.

iheartniles that's exactly how it should be, human species is gonna write itself off, no virus is gonna be the culprit. I think business as usual but yes just be more aware of hygiene

I have noticed that cash machines are out of cash. Went to three before I found one with any money in it this morning.

I would argue that panic buying is a fairly rational response to the news. Anyone at any time could suddenly and unexpectedly be required to isolate. I already know someone in isolation from having been in contact with a family member of a person with confirmed coronavirus. I personally know the guy in isolation, not just something I've heard etc. Unless you live an isolated life in the middle of nowhere and don't visit public places, you are at risk of a sudden isolation. Knowing these facts, why would you not make sure that you a couple of weeks worth of food, bog paper and paracetamol? I actually think it would stupid not to buy enough stuff to tide you over if you have the means and the opportunity to do so.

In my area, you can still get anything you want, the only exception being hand sanitiser. Tesco had loo rolls and tins stacked up everywhere this morning, clearly having ordered tonnes. So the "panic" buying, aka the rational and logical response to a potential isolation that I have done has not impacted anyone else in any way. I do NOT have hand sanitiser and I don't care because I do not need to use public transport and I think that is the place where you can't get to a sink and people are touching handrails etc.

I wonder if people who think panic buyers are bastards are actually people who already have well stocked larders and cupboards and don't have a big family to feed. I don't have much cupboard space so normally have very little food. I have 5 to feed, including teenagers so yes, I have bought tins which Tesco had on offer! What a bastard I must be!

@cherryx30x it’s not about buying into anything, if you don’t read media trash and listen to the facts you will not see scaremongering just the truth. One country is slowly coming out of lockdown and one has just gone into lockdown. This does not happen for a new strain of the common cold. Many, many more people are going to die. You and many others will be jolted out of your head in the sand denial within the next month I should think. I am not someone who is panicking or panic buying, the facts tell me that we will soon be in a very serious situation.

Also as a parent it makes sense to always have a well stocked medicine box, including liquid paracetamol for babies. I knew this as a very naive teenage mum, it’s common sense for most.

@TweetUsOnFacebook there is 500mg in one paracetamol. A spoonful of calpol has 125mg of paracetamol in. So depending on the age of a child a 500mg broken in half would be double the dose safe for them. Hopefully anyone who considers using that advise compares the dose of a childs liquid paracetamol dose first. Children under 4 need 125mg. An adult does is 1000mg

bexbug wow is all I have to say to that. I actually cannot even be bothered to point out the flaws with everything you just said

@cherryx30x honestly you’re wasting your breath. They’ve joined a cult. It’s contagious and the madness just gets more extreme. I’m hoping though with every person who starts a thread like this it might provide a bit of balance to the ones that are spreading panic.

I've been shopping in Home Bargain and Lidl this morning. The only thing that seemed to be missing from either stores was hand gel. I actually asked the check out guy in Lidl if he'd seen any signs of panic buying - he said only on hand gel and we've run out. Toilet rolls, bread, tinned goods, anti bac wipes all in evidence in both stores.
I do think it is selfish to take more than you need for yourself, but talk of panic breeds panic - I blame the media!

Well I'm not sure why there is no paracetamol or ibuprofen in my local shop then? I can think of no other logical reason unless everyone else has had a tooth out like me?!!

winter you've just said you dont want happening to you exactly what I've just said has happened to these two mums - why should their children have to go without completely when they actually need it now?

Perhaps they should have been prepared then? Most people buy things when they start to run down or else anticipate a need. I’ve got two children who might need a dose in the next few weeks (12 month jabs and preschool ones) so I’m going to be sensible and buy a bottle ahead of that.

@Bexbug

Erm there's billions of people in China. Not even a million have got it.

There's about 60 million in Italy
Around 3000 have got it.

There's 65 million in the UK
About a 100 have it.

So let's say a million unlucky people get it in the UK. 64 million wont.

Even if 10 million got it. 55 million wont.

Yes it will rise. Then probably in the summer it will bugger off again.

There are no guarentees in this life. But China is where it started and in proportion to their population it's not anywhere near a huge amount of the Chinese people. Not to mention 56,000 people have recovered. They had it mild. Probably a shit week for them. But they can now go on with their lives.

Believe me I don't want it. I don't want my kids to get it. I don't want my dad to get it. But right now the chance of most of us getting it is unlikely.

Regardless of opinions ...I think it's safe to say that once this virus has blown over (being optimistic ) it seems wise that in future, where finances and space allow, embracing the Way of the Preppers is a bloody good idea. A few extra bits here and there. Keep an inventory of what you've got and watch dates/rotate. Who knew hotdogs in a jar make a passable lunch?!

Because clearly many people won't do this then resort to panic buying. Which brings us to the situation we're in now. Aldi this morning was like End of Days!

Cookiecrumble8888 thank you for posting that - importance to put things in perspective

I don't think there is anything wrong with buying an extra pack of toilet paper just in case, but friends at Costco were posting photos of people buying 12 massive packs of toilet paper in one go. These are the people who are probably now selling them for ridiculously high prices online. I don't feel comfortable with this at all.

I don't get the toilet roll panic. In some kind of lockdown situation, you need food and medicines but surely most people would survive without toilet roll? Use the shower if it's working, old newspaper, old clothes/towels etc.

But yes panic buying vast amounts of anything is selfish I agree OP. It deprives people who might need it more, and it also encourages other people to rush out and buy things up as supplies run out.

I have prepped a bit and bought extra non-perishable food for the last couple of weeks, so we can manage if we can't go outside for a while, but I haven't bought 500 toilet rolls!

@BlackCatSleeping yep it’s the extremist, selfish behaviour from the few that impact the many. Do you think they are planning to build loo roll defences around their semi while stood armed behind their doors with a broom handle defending their Heinz tins? If this takes off in any way there will need to be rationing to save people from themselves.

Some people might be panic buying due to supply shortages following China factory closures and not in case they get ill.

These are only two products, but many items may end up short due to a lack of components etc

amp.theguardian.com/business/2020/feb/24/primark-owner-coronavirus-abf-uk

www.nytimes.com/2020/02/28/health/drug-coronavirus-shortage.html

Paracetamol and nurofen have been a bit thin on the ground since before corona virus ventured over to the uk.

I think bulk panic buying is selfish, I was running low on some cleaning stuff yesterday and knew i would need to buy toilet roll on monday. After reading about the panic buying i realised i probably wouldn't be able to get some on monday, so I ended up joining in the bloody panic buying! I only bought an extra pack of four (no room for anything more). I am loathed to join in and jump on the band wagon. But i was genuinely going to run out on monday, so waiting seemed a stupid thing to do.
The cleaning aisle and toilet roll aisle did look like it had been ransacked though. There was little choice in products, but you could still get a bottle of bleach or loo rolls, you just couldnt be picky over brands.