Who’s to blame for panic buying?

[HeechulOppa]

Just wondering that really. Media or the people (or the twats in power)? Personally I think it’s the media (and the government for engineering the situations sometimes). I honestly can’t find it in myself to blame people - let’s face it, no matter how much you may believe in not panic buying, no matter how much you might believe in not contributing to the problem, it’s very very hard to stand back while everyone else buys things that are running out so quickly. So what do you do? If you don’t buy the item you know in your heart it will run out and, as these items are generally high importance (fuel, loo roll) you will probably be stuffed. If you do buy then you’re contributing to the problem. And whilst it’s also largely made worse by people buying more than they need, that level of thinking is usually entirely justifiable when you consider the hassle you go through and, quite frankly, the fear that supplies will take a while to return to normal so ‘best get some more to tide you over’.

Obviously slightly different with people who buy enough to keep them stocked for months.

It’s a pickle. And I don’t drive so don’t have a vested interest in fuel shortages for myself, but completely understand why people might panic there.

@HotPenguin

The problem is lack of confidence. People don't have confidence that the government or the petrol companies will sort it out. They also don't have confidence that if they run out of petrol anyone will bail them out. We already know that the country is very vulnerable to a run on petrol. There ought to be an automatic system of limits whenever a petrol station gets below a certain level, and there ought to be arrangements for making sure petrol gets to stations that have run out. I think it's really poor to blame "panic buyers" who are just doing the responsible thing to make sure they can get to work/ medical appointments/ caring responsibilities next week.

Abso fucking lutely.

We've seen empty shelves and the problems its caused and the ineptitude of the government far too much in the last 18 months.

It will be a Christmas pudding shortage soon 🤣
Seriously the media could say that vanilla ice cream is in short supply and the idiots would be panic buying that.

@TeenMinusTests

I think in cases like this they shouldn't let anyone who is more than say 1/4 full fill up. So not limit to £30 per customer, but but only let people who are running low fill up.

That's silly. I needed to go on a long journey that I wouldn't have been able to do with only half a tank of petrol. I wanted to fill up before I left to make sure I had enough to get there and back as was worried I couldn't rely on filling up on my way there or whilst down there as it's rural and there are not loads of petrol stations. With your reasoning I wouldn't be a go, how Is that fair?

We're fortunate that we haven't needed to fill up this week. We filled up last Sunday when visiting the in laws (who live 50 minutes away), and realised we didn't have enough to get home, so popped into their local garage. My work is a 5 - 10 minute drive, and DH mostly WFH. Therefore, we're still on 3/4 tank. We went today to attend our pre-booked flu jab appointments, and pick up our click and collect grocery order.

Dh was going to meet some friends tomorrow (about a 40 minute drive there and back), and he decided to cancel it, as he said he would rather save our 3/4 tank (especially as he needs to go to the office on Wednesday for a company wide meeting, which will mean a few junctions on M25 - we have enough for this, and for me to get to work). Other than a cancelled social plan, which he can easily rearrange, we haven't been affected.

I realise we are very lucky. However, 3 weeks ago I changed jobs, my previous job was a bit if a drive away, and would easily use most of a tank in a week getting commuting (we used to therefore fill up every weekend).

I said to DH earlier, "What would we have done if I still worked there?" He just shrugged and said, "Well we would have had to joined one of the queues, wouldn't we?"

It would be easy for me to say that everyone queuing is to blame, but the reality is a few weeks ago, I would also have had to have been one of those in the queue - just lucky that we haven't needed to this weekend.

I genuinely feel sorry for those who have had to queue out of necessity, even those who maybe have enough to get to work on Monday/Tuesday, but are worried about rest of week and therefore filling up now. It's a natural reaction to the panic.

Everyone filling up cans though is a t**t, and should have their cans taken away from them at the tills.

The knock on effect though is going to be the increased fuel prices - apparently, garages near me have already increased their prices. We will all suffer from this.

@HotPenguin

The problem is lack of confidence. People don't have confidence that the government or the petrol companies will sort it out. They also don't have confidence that if they run out of petrol anyone will bail them out. We already know that the country is very vulnerable to a run on petrol. There ought to be an automatic system of limits whenever a petrol station gets below a certain level, and there ought to be arrangements for making sure petrol gets to stations that have run out. I think it's really poor to blame "panic buyers" who are just doing the responsible thing to make sure they can get to work/ medical appointments/ caring responsibilities next week.

I agree in the lack of confidence. Not a chance every single person causing these issues and emptying the stations is doing it out of absolute necessity. Not a chance every single one of them needs a full tank right this minute.

@CindersPumpkin

How did we get here, most people believe that many years ago Women told each other how to care for children each where the best berry crop or dry patch of wood was and the men went off doing their thing. Now people gossip on FB and at the school gates telling each other about loo roll and petrol.

I do believe that many years ago most information was passed around women at the nearest water pump in the mornings . As a society we really have not changed that much , just the methods on how information is exchanged . At the water pumps pumps gossip spread like wild fire .

Media! All the headlines, ' fuel shortage' scaremongering, if you pardon the pun they fueled the problem. They have a lot to answer for.