To wonder where all the food has gone..

[runningpram]

I know it sounds a daft question but just that really.
I've been to the shops and while they were admittedly busier than usual people seemed to be buying normal amounts - I haven't seen anyone buying excessive amounts and there are very few images of it on social media. Clearly demand is substantially higher than usual. But I still don't understand why the shop shelves are completely bare. I popped into Iceland twice in 24 hours - on neither occasion did I buy anything - but lots of the same items were out and the same gaps remained. It looked as though it hadn't been restocked.
My Mum went to Sainsbury's early opening for older/vulnerable people and there was still nothing on the shelves. Obviously this is just the anecdotal evidence of a couple of people
So my question to retail insiders is - what's really happening? Is it case that deliveries aren't coming in, the food can't be put out quick enough, there's issues in the supply chain or is it totally panic buyers?

Whatashower: How is asking a question unfair? Under normal circumstances, I would not discover that an item is out of stock until the delivery due date when the picker goes to fill the order. So clearly some change has been made to the online system to deny these items and keep them for those able to visit the store - which is the opposite of what supermarkets are saying they will do. I don't have the luxury of driving around half a dozen stores to find toilet roll: I have MS and asthma. My partner has a congenital heart condition. Should we just shut up and do without?

My friend works for Sainsburys the abuse the staff are getting is awful. They cannot put on the shelves goods that are not in the warehouse. Everyone is working so hard to supply the extraordinary demand.

Sorry justcly and not at all, we have to ask questions, I just meant a little unfair to say supermarkets might be acting in 'bad faith' . I just dont think they can possibly get it right at the moment and any stock forecasting models that worked before will be going out the window. Hopefully it will improve soon for you.

Our local Aldi was great this morning, they had stock of pretty much everything just like normal. It felt relaxing to do a regular food shop for the first time in a couple of weeks and not have to return minus 25 items you needed because they’re out of stock.

It is panic buyers, I have witnessed it myself. My DH had to queue to get into Aldi the other day ffs... I have seen someone buying four 24 packs of bog roll, nobody needs that many.

I’ve got an online order from Sainsburys coming later. Only one thing out of stock. A few more substitutions than normal. They have even got anti-bac spray in stock!

Whatashower: By "bad faith" I was referring to the decision to shut down customer service. Only one major supermarket is doing this. If you try to call, you get an electronic voice telling you that unless you are calling about a booked delivery you will not be helped "because of the current crisis". If you email you get an automatic reply telling you that the customer service mailbox is currently not monitored "because of the crisis". Fancy phoning your local store? You will get a voice message telling you that calls are not being taken "because of the crisis". The government has relaxed a number of regulations to assist supermarkets but they are still a retail service, not a charitable organisation. Using this health crisis to duck scrutiny is indeed bad faith.

Honestly, while there are panic buyers, it just takes us all to Change our habits and buy a buy extra to cause mayhem. You think. I'll grab an extra bread, just one or an extra milk etc and suddenly everyone does and then suddenly shortages. Or people usually shop little and often, suddenly buying in one lot, and again an affect.

Beginning of the week, school still open but stopped breakfast club and i suddenly bought boxes of cereal which i never do other than the summer (just minis in the other holidays) and milk.

All of us changed the way shop now. Even without meaning to.

I work at Tesco and deliveries are smaller. We usually get 11/12 cages we got 6 . There must be less stock to go out due to over selling

I've wondered this. The shops are now putting limits on stuff so surely with the deliveries coming in, rhe shelves should be stocked? Are the deliveries coming? If not why not?

Pixxie7

Was that on ebay? If so, just seen it myself. Has to be a wind-up surely. Seriously though, people may hide behind usernames on ebay, but it must be possible to track these people down, via the hidden information held about them. Someone really needs to tackle this.

Who are these panic buyers? There must be a lot of them to strip a whole supermarket bare. That’s not just one or two people panic buying. But absolutely everyone is adamant they are “not panic buying, just getting a few bits”. Who are these invisible panic buyers? And how can they afford it?

The food SUPPLY hasn't gone anywhere, it's all the selfish arseholes panic buying when there's absolutely no need. I hope they all get shot with runny diarrhea-like shite.

According to the BBC an extra £1billion has been spent on food recently. We went to get veg for soup and all tesco had left was carrots and a few parsnips. Not one potato or onion or leek, etc was left. Got the last leek from morrisons and they did have potatoes

I did a shop at the beginning of the week in Tesco: very little bread and none of the bread I buy, no eggs, pasta, oat milk, potatoes, soda water and of course, no loo roll.

Popped into Waitrose and managed to get a few of the things Tesco was out of, but absolutely no vegetables in Waitrose.

I was just in sainsbury's to get a mother's day card. Whilst I was there in the completely empty shop the staff brought out pallet of loo rolls and literally everyone in the shop grabbed one. Some people put 4 packs in their trolley! The pack was 16 rolls. It was just shocking to see! They will apparently limit them to two at the tills but some people had more than one adult and I can imagine they will go through the tills separately to buy them. Who needs more than 16 loo rolls at one time? It made me so annoyed to see and this is why shelves are empty

@BritWifeinUSA everyone is doing it now because they see empty shelves. It makes it worse and people panic. I've never looked at loo rolls before and thought shit I I better get a months worth because the shelves are always fully stocked

Talking to a checkout person yesterday I was told that at the beginning of the week it was like Xmas all over again. People taking 2 and 3 trolleys round grabbing loads of everything. Shelves are bare of the same things others are complaining of, fresh veg is low too - anything that stores for any length of time has gone. I saw an argument in store myself while I was there, something about beans, and I’ve seen people selling loo roll by the road side.

I think we need rationing. The stories on here about people being unable to find formula or worrying about it are just awful. As socialmedia says, it does make you panic yourself. I expect it will calm down next week though. I hope so.

@BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou can you get milk delivered. I get a delivery twice a week in glass bottles, check online if you can do this.

I have been in a few supermarkets today - searching for cat litter with DP
It didn’t seem too bad and everyone was sticking to the limits set by each venue
I didn’t buy anything that I didn’t need and if we all do that I’m hoping it will improve

Shocked to see quite a few cafes open and not just doing takeaway
Do they think the rules don’t apply to them!

Throwing Good After Bad: the government thinks we don't need rationing because supermarkets are imposing their own limits. Yesterday my DF saw a woman come out of a store with a laden trolley, hand it over to a man who took it to their car, whilst she grabbed another trolley and went straight back in.

@BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou can you get milk delivered. I get a delivery twice a week in glass bottles, check online if you can do this.*

I’ve tried milk & more but no joy. We will be okay. Plenty of people in worse positions than us.

Milk and more aren’t accepting new customers in my area so other than the supermarkets (all delivery slots completely booked up, no milk in the shops), there is nowhere to get milk. I managed to get some last Tuesday with a long expiry date. Fingers crossed I can find some somewhere when that runs out.

The problem is the panic buyers are there at 6am, so the shelves are stripped bare but 8am.

I went to the local Asda yesterday (Friday) lunchtime and there was stock of most things, even loo roll. I work for a food manufacturer, not a supermarket, so I’m no expert, but I’m guessing they are secretly keeping stuff back till the idiots have gone home with their three packs of loo roll, then putting stuff out.

Our “government” actively like chaos reigning and dislike either laws or those who obey them, that’s the issue. Bunch of ‘free market’ worshipping morons, certainly not suited to times of crisis.