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?']

@MrHodgeymaheg exactly!

@AnotherMurkyDay

like I said I've been out in the last 2 weeks and bought all the obvious stuff.

So I wasn't prepped before. But tbh I don't I don't feel SELFISH.

I haven't ransacked shelves just gone about what I needed to do.

I don't think the opposite of prepping is just panic buying .

I don't have the time/space or inclination to build up big stocks anyway. Each to their own but neither do I really want to be told I'm selfishly 'panic buying'.

I think it's got loads to do with increased demand. I don't see why me wanting more parecetamol in hand is any more selfish than someone who bought it last year.

Good on them. But I'm not 'selfish' either.

I'm not a tin foil hat wearing conspiracy theorist, or a flapping, panicking, pearl clutching lady either.

No you're just an ordinary bod just like most others who want to get sorted.

What I've noticed is it is always " other people " who panic buy. When people talk about buying stuff they are always buying it for a good reason.
Like I feel I have.

The selfish fucks are the ones buying up and reselling at higher prices on ebay etc. As always.

sleeping

Spot on

It is making me laugh that virtually all the threads which mention panic buying or prepping has many posters saying ‘im not prepping/panic buying....but’

I usually have plenty if shampoo and toothpaste etc as we buy A few if they are on offer...we’ve done this for ever

in my case i have accidentally bought too much bog roll...we normally have two large packs in the garage at all times, one usually open. But dh put one in the conservatory under a lot of stuff And i just thought we needed another one...but that was two weeks ago

I also did a shop which included stuff like a four pack of beans, 2 tins of macaroni cheese and a packet of pasta which would have looked like most peoples normal weekly shop..again 2/3 weeks ago

So i would absolutely say that i am not panic buying, i would also say that i wasnt prepping as such but i am making sure that our cupboards are stocked...I usually run everything down

BUT....

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51737030 This thread is being mentioned on bbc news! Our secrets out!

I’m wondering where the fuck your meant to keep all this food and drink for prepping. My house isn’t big enough to hold a weeks worth of food!

Ultimately, if you've bought anything that someone who didn't prepare felt entitled to but couldn't purchase as soon as they wanted it, you're going to be called selfish. Whether full on prepper, panic buyer, speculator or someone who just needed an extra pack of bog rolls this week.

EvilPea ours is in the shed/cupboards I cleaned out that were just full of stuff we never used/kitchen pantry/draws under beds/ under beds/ back of wardrobes and I've just put some of DH's haul of DIY stuff he came back with this morning in the attic.

We didn't really need anymore but I think it made him feel better.

@EvilPea , we only have a little house too but luckily we have a garage and an under stairs cupboard. That's where our stuff is.
As I've mentioned elsewhere but been laughed at - if you buy extra bog roll, get a hold-all that you'd normally use for a holiday or whatever, take the bog roll out of its packet, squash it and put it in the hold all. There might be a bit of attrition on some of the loo roll sheets, your rolls would certainly be bumpy. But I'd rather trip over an extra bag in my bedroom for a bit than be walled by bog roll packets. Half of which is air.

All of that is better than self isolation without toilet paper.

Friend has just been to local waitrose

They have no flour or bread mix, only 4 packs of bog roll

The man on the checkout told her that hers was the first normal shopping basket he has seen today

I've made sure my (elderly, immuno compromised) mum is set up to not have to leave her house at all next week, when our town swells in number by tens of thousands for Gold Cup week (a grim thought for anyone a bit concerned about Coronavirus, let alone an elderly woman with underlying health issues!)

We've 'prepped' (not panic bought!) for us too, but it was basically my brexit stash renamed our 'in case we're stuck at home' stash, with a few extra bits chucked in. I was refilling the freezer on payday anyway, so didn't do anything unusual shopping wise there, but we are stocked up if we do get stuck at home, and if not it'll all get eaten anyway. No biggie.

What you’ve described there is the place I already have to keep normal day to day stuff.
E.g my socks live at the bottom of my wardrobe in a bag, my summer clothes in our suitcases on top of the wardrobe.
We are in a bungalow with an unboarded loft.

It’s a cost as well isn’t it, only the people with spare money can prep.
I’ve bought an extra bottle of bleach (which sits on the worktop lol), I’ve bought an extra packet of loo roll. But I don’t have the space or money to do much more then buy the odd little bit.

It's so selfish, it's driving me mad! We're down to our last few loo rolls at home and need to replenish per our usual weekly shop but there's none in the shops because people have bought packs and packs.

I think it comes from a lack of critical thinking, it's in the name - panic. But I wish people would just stop and think about how the impact of that is making it worse - it's not the virus causing the problems right now, it's these people!!!

We've got a 'stockpile' of 4 bottles of calpol and 4 bottles of baby ibuprofen, however I bought these over about 3 weeks so does that make me selfish? Although if anyone I knew couldn't get hold of either of these things if they needed them, I would happily give them a bottle

What on Earth are people doing with multiple packs of toilet paper anyway. Even if we needed to stay home for a fortnight, we’re hardly going to use 50 toilet rolls?

There are people who prep literally as a consequence of being poor, but it's true you need space to store any extra.

I’ve been shopping in morrisons this morning, the only shortages I saw were of paracetemol and ibuprofen, totally empty shelves, but it’s been patchy since before xmas.
Toilet roll aisle well stocked apart from, bizzarely, the huge, expensive packs of andrex.

I must live near Ski, agree about the influx of visitors next week!

Our Tesco regularly runs out of paracetamol so I wouldn't spot the difference there tbh I didn't see bare shelves when I was in there this morning and got a bag of pasta to replace the one we finished last night.

We regularly shop at Costco and hide the bulk stuff (we do buy toilet rolls from there!) in the loft - we'd already planned to go this weekend, might not if it's going to be a scrum though!

There's been a painkiller shortage for ages, pre coronavirus.

Oooh, hello ChicCroissant if your town rhymes with Vietnam and is about to be descended on by what feels like a million racegoers then yep, we're in the same neck of the woods :-)

we’re hardly going to use 50 toilet rolls

You’ve obviously never met my daughter

I don’t know what she does with them...maybe she is making a nest somewhere