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?']

Waitrose nearly out of loo roll. Women berating staff for allowing people to buy more than one pack, - what have we come to when we are looking to ID people when buying it! Also what is a pack?

Selfish twats in a separate incident also complaining there wasnt their usual brand of anti bac hand gel and when they saw there were 5-6 bottles of what was left took the whole lot stating that they expected the store to have increased the price and they were going to formally complain to Head Office if that was the case... That isnt the Waitrose way I am sure!

People CALM down...

Shadied is 100% right. I have seen people tell off the cashier for not selling them 4 plus packs of pain killers at the till.

All shops stocked where i am with the exception of hand sanitiser and anti bac liquid soap

Poundland had loads of medicine

Cash machine had at least £150 in as thats what i took out

I had a stash of stuff for ds1 at uni...which changed to brexit....which has now turned into corona. We do have a lot of bogroll...but it was on offer! And we use a lot

I bet there s loads of imperial leather still

How did someone wipe out the calpol stock?

As far as I know you are only allowed to buy two bottles at a time?

Seems reasonable to have stocks of food and medicine to last your family for two weeks. It's not panic buying, it's realising that you might be isolated or ill in the coming weeks.

Oh a friend said most of the bread was gone, all the Chicken and yogurt...which seemed a weird combo

Although I have no idea how people need so much hand soap. Either people are massively stock piling or the majority of the population were never buying hand soap until this week. Which is worrying.

Surely one bottle lasts weeks!

So if people don't have supplies and they have to go out to the shops to get stuff while they are ill, potentially infecting others, is that less selfish?

I am just trying to understand the logic of thinking that buying stuff you need for your family and own wellbeing is selfish.

@ChipsyChopsy I have various hand soaps from Christmas sets so don't tend to buy all that often.

I agree with infinatesheldon

Could not think of how to word it

But if people buy just one 1 extra pack of whatever ...then that’s enough to throw the supplies out

I've been panic buying over the past few days, but I don't think I've taken the last of anything on any particular occasion. It's a tricky one. If I hadn't been doing my panic buying I guess someone else may have done so instead, so the shelves still get cleared.

Of course panic buying is selfish. Sadly far too many people now are extremely selfish.

Far too many people are only concerned about themselves and will buy tons of handwash, toilet rolls etc without even thinking about others.

Of course anyone with any sense will have already got in extra supplies but not by emptying the shelves. Personally I can't understand people who only have a couple of days food in because anything could happen that prevents you getting out to a shop (yes I know you could probably get a home delivery).

We always have quite a lot of food. Tins of tomatoes, baked beans, soup. Bags of pasta, rice, chickpeas, different lentils, different beans. Plus milk and bread in the freezer. Quite a few meals I have made and frozen plus home made soup. We also always have different flours - plain, self raising, gram, rice etc so could make different kinds of bread.

We could easily go a month without having to shop but probably longer and if we were happy to eat pretty boring things we could quite likely manage 2 months easily.

Although I have no idea how people need so much hand soap. Either people are massively stock piling or ...

Stock piling while supply and production chains are still operational is quite public spirited. By the miracle of supermarket restocking systems, clearing the shelves of bog roll causes more bog roll to be delivered tomorrow and ensures that when the bog-roll emergency strikes you won't be requiring the helicopters to deliver to you, which will ease the crisis.

Urgh sunglasses we have a Waitrose near us and it's the absolute worst for complainy entitled, sharp-elbowed twats!

I started prepping for Brexit, that is still the main reason I think I will need my supplies.

What about bars of soaps? In France they tend to use lovely bars of soap for body washing rather than shower gels and bars last for ages.

I think what is happening is that people DEMAND their own brand of xx and dont want to use anything else unless they really have to.

There were bars of soap in the supermarket and in Boots but I think people want what they are used to!

I went to look in the bathroom cupboard earlier and there are a couple of bars of SIMPLE soap from years ago. I will be using them if I have to not moaning and complaining I cant get my usual brand.

Just as an aside, do remember that there are a lot of people that simply can’t afford to stock up on things ‘in case’. Yes it’s sensible, but unfortunately not always possible.

Just to say that if you need stuff to clean, white vinegar is very effective.

(now expecting panic buying of vinegar)

As for restricting sales of paracetomol, it would be more eco-friendly to go back to selling it in jars. If someone really wants to kill themselves it's really not difficult to buy several packets in different places and do the deed. Where I live I could go to Waitrose, Boots Superdrug and Sainsburys and to an independent pharmacist within seconds.

I've been adding extra to my last 2 weekly shops. Is that panic buying?

Last week I bought a pack of 30 loo rolls ( it was one big pack ) and stuck it in the attic.

I also went to 3 different shops on my local high street yesterday and bought a stash of paracetamol and ibrufen. 6 boxes in total as they are restricted. We are a family of 6. Every shop had them, only maybe sold out in the cheapest brands. Is this panic buying?

If everyone is buying a bit more there will always be shortages surely? We ALL want anti bac sanitiser, soap, & paracetamol right now. And no one wants to be running out for loo roll if they are ill or looking after someone who is ill. Why wouldn't you buy a bit extra now if you can?

Is this panic buying?

Sorry for not reading all the comments and am just responding to OP, but, as I'm sure has been mentioned, you can only buy 2 paracetamol products at once so no one is going in and "panic buying" all the pain killers. If more people are choosing to buy painkillers right now because of the COVID issue then that's their perogative, none of them are selfish on an individual level.

Plus since calpol is recommended in babies for their immunizations I'm surprised there are many parents of young children without bottles of calpol. Its kind of odd to me to be blaming other people for their sheer selfishness in this situation

Panic buying is selfish and typically an act of disorganised people. And I both judge and laugh at them.

I'm a prepper. Prepping has been a long slow accumulation. Extra can of beans or two on a shop. Some more pasta than we needed, lentils, canned foods, buying the cleaning products on special offer when we had some already at home and storing them away in a cupboard.

Most multibuy offers have furnished our "stash" and I rotate things out all the time so things don't go out of date.

We always have a supply of painkillers for adults and children.

@Asgoodasarest I realise some people cannot afford to stock up but most people can afford to buy an extra tin of tinned tomatoes at 30p or a bag of pasta (I think around 70p or less). Do that each time you shop and you soon get a reasonable store cupboard.

My husband panic bought in b&m today- 9 loo rolls & 4 tins of beans...I'd love to have sen the cashiers face!

@lynsey91 agreed and maybe it will change the general feeling around prepping, so that people view it as sensible rather than OTT.

I do wonder about donations to food banks at times like this. I’m going to try and make sure I’m adding to the donation baskets wherever possible (no idea what the effect is, I’ve just been pondering how the most vulnerable might be impacted).