Is it actually selfish to stock pile?

[Orange89]

Now I haven’t gone crazy with the whole loo roll situation (I currently only have 2 rolls left) and have been doing my usual shops (average of 3 small shops a week) but it’s safe to say I’m focusing my food on long life semi-healthy foods I can store in the cupboard space we have. It’s a little more than usual but nothing crazy. All I’m hearing is stockpiling is a stupid move but surely and obviously more people are doing this than letting on as the shops are emptying. But surely this is purely practical move? I know this could face backlash from people saying some people can’t afford to stockpile (I can’t really either) but I’m talking high calorie, cheap alternatives instead of the fresh foods they’d normally buy. Or that demand can’t be met but I bet there’s another baked beans / rice / powdered custard etc to last a couple months... Just in case

This is panic buying....yesterday in tesco a woman was taking boxes off the top shelf ripping then opens and chucking them in the aisle (not even putting it on the empty shef) she then took all the pasta bags in the box.

This guy had to ask for two packets and she reluctantly handed it over and he was thanking her several times. Like wtaf why are you even thanking her.

She had a wild look in her eyes

In another shop one man was telling his partner they just grab shower gel cos its gonna be a dog eat dog world

And I went to get some surf as I was running low and someone had been emptying the bottles and leaving them half filled on the shelf. I did wonder why it felt light and only really realised when I got to the till and it had been leaked a tiny it cos the cap hsbdt been out back on. Went to get another one and same story, the cashier was lovely though she stopped up one bottle for me.

There's buying a few extra bits with each shop or buying bigger packets which is sensible, then there's twats like Gemma Collins going and buying up the entire stock of toilet roll and leaving none for anyone else. If everyone took the sensible approach we would be fine as the shops are ordering in extra stock, but sadly so many people are imbeciles with no thought for others.

It's selfish, selfish and selfish.

My poor DS came down with tonsillitis on Friday. He is in a lot of pain and miserable. Could I find any paracetamol or ibuprofen to help sooth him. NO! It irks me to think that there are many household who have 1 year worth of paracetamol that they won't need and probably end up throwing away when it reaches the use by date, but my poor son had to suffer without painkillers.

Thankfully, I remembered last night that I might have some stores in my luggage from a previous holiday, and sure enough, I find 4, so at least he had a better night, and hopefully, he'll be better today. I don't know where else to do to find some.

So yes, it is selfish and plain stupid. As someone said, it's all good to preach about being kind to others, but the truth is people are only willing to do so if it doesn't affect them, the reality is that they prefer to over plan for themselves than think for a second for others.

Baby formula and nappies - beyond selfish and makes me worried for when my baby is born next month.

Everything else - doesn’t affect me personally as 9 rolls of toilet paper lasts a month in our household. We rarely eat pasta or tinned goods. It just makes me laugh that panic buyers are so idiotic. Although I feel incredibly sorry for the elderly right now.

Are the supermarkets/suppliers doing their own rationing?
I don't mean 'only one per customer' - I mean deliberately not restocking, reordering, supplying (whichever) to stop people going crazy. Quite rightly.
There isn't a toilet roll shortage. Manufacturers warehouses are full to the brim & massive!

I went to Tesco at 9:30pm last night (couldn’t go earlier as DH was working yesterday) and there were loads of empty / nearly empty shelves.

But, the staff were also starting to bring out all those big storage thingys with the new stock on for restocking the shelves. so I could see there were more packs of most long life foods and toiletries (including nappies, baby wipes and toilet paper) waiting to go onto the shelves.

It’s hard because panic buying begets panic buying. I’ve added an extra couple packs of nappies to my shopping order because I don’t want to be short if everyone else has panic bought loads of them and I can’t get them anywhere. But now ofc I’m contributing to the problem too.

I think there are two schools of thoughts

1. Stockpiling is selfish
2. Going out to shop when you or a family member has the virus is selfish.

The thing that gets on my nerves are the people saying panic buyers are selfish but in the next breath saying they're not a panic buyer as they always have huge stocks of stuff in. Why is it ok for you to have a stock pile but other people not to??? Just own it.

Why is it ok for you to have a stock pile but other people not to??

In my case, and lots of others, I’ve been slowly buying additional bits and pieces since last year. Ie there’s now more on the shelves for everyone else, and one less person in the shops.

Yes it is. Some people live hand to mouth and can’t afford to stockpile for starters so when wealthier people walk into a shop and buy four packs of bog roll and 25 packs of baked beans, it causes issues for the less well off.

I went into Aldi yesterday and we genuinely just needed the usual pack of bog roll we always buy so I did just that. I saw one woman leaving with four packs, there’s 24 in a pack. It’s bloody idiotic.

Some of it will be people genuinely needing more. I've been told to work from home until at least April. I usually have my main meal and often breakfast at work, and often eat out at weekends too. So I am going to need more food at home, also coffee - which I normally only have at work and some extra loo roll as well. I am sure there are many others like me, so demand is going to go up, even without the stock pilers.
But clearing entire shelves of things is bonkers.

I think everyone should be preparing themselves as much as possible, and having enough food and supplies to last for a while is part of that. But that can be done gradually so as not to cause shortages.
I'm one of those people who can't afford to do big shops, but from now on I'm going to ensure I have a supply of essentials stashed away at all times.

Problem is nobody thinks when they are doing this as panic buying. They just think they are being sensible and just picking up a few extra bits. The panic buying warnings don't apply to me , it's everyone else.

Sensible, gradual stockpiling is very different to emptying a full shelf in one go just because it's there. The latter is very selfish and isn't taking into account anyone else's needs. It's very depressing just how selfish we are as a society. Those pictures of people with trolley fulls of nappies and toilet rolls make me rage.

My husband has a serious lung disease and is high risk.

I've got a few weeks worth of food and plenty of toiletries, as there's a very likely chance we'll have to isolate for a prolonged period.

It is absolutely selfish to panic buy. I’ve seen people coming out of supermarkets with half a dozen huge packets of loo roll. I mean, what are you going to do with it, eat it?

Planning a bit extra to tide you over for a week or so is sensible, but emptying shelves so there isn’t enough for everyone else isn’t. Some can’t afford to stockpile and foodbanks are saying they can’t buy supplies to counteract a fall in donations because the stuff simply isn’t there.

So I am going to need more food at home

Absolutely, but (and not that I’m saying you’re doing this) you wouldn’t need to buy all that food at once. Because that’s what people are doing.

The panic buying has caused me to panic buy. We needed paracetamol so I went to buy a pack and there was none. I looked for it for the next week and when I finally found it I bought 2 calpols and 2 boxes of adult tablets. I’d normally buy one but don’t want to get caught short again.

Baby formula is very worrying. I thought it was restricted to two packs at a time anyway? I was going to move my son onto normal milk but was worried about that so bought my usual two packs that will last 3 weeks (he's combination fed). Trying to decide if it makes more sense to move onto normal milk but then will need tp get uht in as he will need a litre every three days. Sometimes it's hard to decide what to do without treading on other people.

I bet all those saying it's stupid and selfish are sitting on nicely stocked kitchens themselves.

Sorry to repeat this same line but this is what creates misinformation and worry in all our communities.

It's a red herring to talk about a "nicely stocked kitchen" as being a negative selfish thing.

If someone has decided to plan ahead and buy a fair amount of extra items, that isn't bad, it means they have thought ahead, aren't panic buying and have removed themselves as a burden on the shops, leaving products on the shelves for others in need.

It's the people who are buying excessive amounts of product in a single shop, when they could have chosen to buy 1 or 2 packs not 5. And then to add insult to injury, post photos of their stash on Facebook. That's the ugly face of this crisis, the "I'm alright Jack, look at my stash" attitude.

Stock piling as in buying a little extra with each shop over a long period of time is fine.

No, it’s not fine. If everyone or a majority do this, it’s exactly the same as panic buying, same effect ie empty shelves because ‘Ooh, I’ll just buy a little bit extra’. Obviously, the idiots strolling out of the supermarket with 20 bottles of hand sanitiser and 100 loo rolls shouldn’t have been allowed, but everyone buying a little bit extra results in exactly the same result.

Long time prepper here, the sort of person people were laughing at only last week. I went to the local supermarket yesterday for apples, a jar of chocolate spread and some frozen chips. I didn't need anything else as I already had it in. The preppers are reducing demand when everyone else goes crazy.

Panic buying was always going to happen. It's stupid and self defeating. People should have taken a bit of responsibility weeks ago by buying 'one for now and one for later'.

I usually have a storecupboard anyway, in case of emergencies /being ill /stuck in due to bad weather etc . I have not gone mad, and only bought some tins in case of any problems .Girl at Tesco yesterday said the food shops would still be open .However surely the whole point of being locked down, is to reduce /eliminate any footfall .So we are being sensible really .(Not people buying a £400 shop like the person in front of me though!) I have found shopping around to be helpful (SAHM with older children )but realise not everyone can do this though .

I'd actually feel concern about donating a packet of loo rolls into the food bank box in the supermarket because I bet my house that some vile toe-rag would nick them with no care about the person they could be depriving them of. I'd sooner drop some round to an elderly person in our village because at least they'd go to someone really in need.