to call dh a panic buyer?

[Knitwit101]

We have a small electric car we use every day. We have a massive diesel car we use for long journeys with all 5 of us plus dog, and towing the caravan.

We are taking the caravan away on 16th October. Nearly 3 weeks away Large car has half a tank in it, we've no plans to use it, might take it on a 20 mile round trip next weekend if we all go out for the day, probably will just take the small one because its rare for all the kids to want to come out with us now.

Dh went out last night and filled up the tank so we have a full tank for going away in nearly 3 weeks time. Then was lecturing the kids this morning on the stupidity of panic buying when we were listening to the radio.

I said he was a panic buyer, he got quite offended and said he was just being sensible and planning ahead. But we didn't need that extra fuel, we're not going to need it till maybe 15th October when we get organised for going away the next day.

He's a panic buyer, right? He's contributing unnecessarily to this nonsense at the petrol stations then ranting on about the idiots who cause fuel shortages.

Would you be so relaxed if you didn't have an electric car and if you had urgent appointments to get to?

No, but we do have an electric car and we don't have any urgent appointments to get to.

Thats why dh didn't need to fill up. He's buying in response to news of shortages and he's a panic buyer even though he doesn't want to admit it.

@Practicebeingpatient

It's the age old double standard that we all comfort ourselves with. He is taking sensible precautions but everyone else is a panic buyer.

This, 100%.

There are disabled people whose carers can’t get to them this week ffs. A trip in 3 weeks time or a tank that’s less than 75% full really could wait a day or few.

So called "Panic buying" is normal rational behaviour. People know that others are buying more so this will lead to shortages and this creates incentives for them to buy more. In such circumstances, people will lose out if they don't "panic buy". It's inefficient but completely sensible behaviour once you believe that others are panic buying.

It's similar to the toilet roll buying in the UK at the beginning of the pandemic

economics.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/2020/04/01/panic-in-the-shops-of-london-and-the-rest-of-the-uk/

He shouldn't be lecturing on the stupidity of panic buying when he hurried to fill the tank so early, but I wouldn't call it panic buying.

Normally, I'd say YABU, but he is, too, for being a boring lecturer. I bet the kids loved listening to his words of wisdom on the subject...

It's not very helpful to moralise about panic buying. It's completely rational behaviour. Maybe the people who are more likely to be panic buying are just likely to a bit more risk averse !

Yes panic buyer. Unfortunately and as he has clearly demonstrated, this is what is exacerbating the fuel problem. People who ordinarily would not have gone to the petrol station over the last few days have been going. Ergo the huge queues and the 'shortage'.

I think I read somewhere else on MN this week that other European countries take the position that individual consumers should not be "just in time" buyers but should maintain adequate supplies of their day to live needs to last a few weeks. Which, from an individual perspective, seems very sensible. I realise most people who rely on their car can't buy several weeks worth of fuel at a time.

That's panic buyers in a nutshell.

I have legitimate need for Important Reasons.

Others are idiot panic buyers.

🙄

An irregular verb?
I prepare
You overreact
They panic

I’ve said it before on here - we judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their actions.

@Knitwit101 I agree your husband was panic buying if he didn’t really need a full tank for another three weeks (!), but I think the time has passed for calling idiots. The ones who went bonkers in the first couple of days of all this are the ones that have caused the issue, everybody else is reacting to the crisis they created. Now it seems very few people trust the governments ability to manage a crisis having experienced it for the last eighteen moments so are arguably doing the sensible thing and looking out for themselves. Tory utopia through and through really 🤷‍♀️

I don’t necessarily think he was wrong to fill up - planning ahead to ensure he could do the holiday. That said, he is definitely a panic buyer. He’s panicked he might not be able to do a holiday in 3 weeks’ time and so has filled up now. I would say people like him are contributing far more to the situation than people who are filing a half full tank because they know they won’t be able to get to work/school/hospital etc in a few days’ time. Like I said he’s entitled to the fuel but ought to own the fact that he’s a panic buyer.

@Anniegetyourgun

So it's only panic buying if it's in cans?

Or has a cardboard tube.

I could have been accused of "panic buying" on Monday. I filled up when my tank was just over half full.

However, I rely on my car to do my job, and I'm self employed, so if I don't work I don't get paid. And it was a very good thing I did fill up, as our garage has been completely out of any kind of fuel since last night, and the next nearest one with fuel is over 30 miles away.

So called "Panic buying" is normal rational behaviour.

This is, annoyingly, true, and it's what's hard to argue with. Panic buyers had fuel/toilet paper/pasta....

@icedcoffees

I could have been accused of "panic buying" on Monday. I filled up when my tank was just over half full.

However, I rely on my car to do my job, and I'm self employed, so if I don't work I don't get paid. And it was a very good thing I did fill up, as our garage has been completely out of any kind of fuel since last night, and the next nearest one with fuel is over 30 miles away.

And that's what happens when everyone with half a tank who wouldn't normally fill up at that point does so for fear of being caught short. Also known as....

On the other hand, as you say, it meant you had fuel when the pumps were dry, and it's hard to argue with that!

And that's what happens when everyone with half a tank who wouldn't normally fill up at that point does so for fear of being caught short. Also known as....

On the other hand, as you say, it meant you had fuel when the pumps were dry, and it's hard to argue with that!

Like you say, it's a real catch-22. I can't afford to be off work and to let my clients down - if I hadn't filled up on Monday I would have to cancel my days' work tomorrow and potentially even Friday as I wouldn't have had enough fuel...

I don't think it's necessarily panicking to make sure you have enough fuel in your tank to make sure you can do your job. It's just adapting to the circumstances. When I filled up there was only one type of fuel left - it would have been daft (imo) to risk waiting for more to arrive.

I don't think it's necessarily panicking to make sure you have enough fuel in your tank to make sure you can do your job. It's just adapting to the circumstances.

As people have been saying...it's only ever others who panic buy!

@DrSbaitso

I don't think it's necessarily panicking to make sure you have enough fuel in your tank to make sure you can do your job. It's just adapting to the circumstances.

As people have been saying...it's only ever others who panic buy!

But is it panicking or is it being prepared?

Panicking (to me) is filling your car up when all it's going to do is sit on the drive all week, or filling up loads of jerry cans to keep in the shed even though you have plenty in the tank already.

I don't think buying fuel to make sure you can get to work at the end of the week is panicking - it's being sensible, surely? Especially when (like me) you need a car for work or if you live somewhere where there's no public transport.

It might be panic buying but I bloody wish I'd done it too. Instead I decided initially to "not add to the problem" and now I'm facing a 300 mile round trip this weekend with only 100 miles of petrol in the tank. Should have been practical (and slightly selfish) rather than thinking I was being sensible!

But is it panicking or is it being prepared?

Depends on whether you or someone else is doing it!

Yes he has contributed to the problem. Here thankfully we got the local petrol stations refilled at the weekend and no issues since, in areas where there's still shortages it's down to people topping up their tanks mostly

@DrSbaitso

So called "Panic buying" is normal rational behaviour.

This is, annoyingly, true, and it's what's hard to argue with. Panic buyers had fuel/toilet paper/pasta....

I think maybe the term ‘panic buying’ isn’t the right one to identify who’s causing problems. It’s the hoarders who do the damage; if people only took what they needed then there would likely be enough to go round consistently. Not that I can really blame anyone for distrusting attempts to calm their fears but I do think if that’s the case (i.e someone really thinks this is going to be a long term issue) then the odd full tank here and there only has limited usefulness.

Everyone panic buying at the moment rationalises it to themselves. None of them are thinking “Yes, I’ll hoard resources I don’t really need because I’m a wanker!”

I agree that your husband counts as a panic buyer.

Everyone panic buying at the moment rationalises it to themselves. None of them are thinking “Yes, I’ll hoard resources I don’t really need because I’m a wanker!”

Well exactly. Everyone has a reason why they really needed to fill up earlier than they usually would. The definition of panic buying seems to be what other people are doing.

I think some people also think it's not panic buying if you don't actually have a quickening heart, sweaty palms and prickly scalp while you do it. During the tinned food and toilet paper rush last year, there were a fair few posters saying that however much they had bought, it wasn't panic buying because they had dropped it all into the trolley very calmly.

Yes, it’s panic buying. It’s like people who bought an extra packet or two of toilet roll last spring.

it wasn't panic buying because they had dropped it all into the trolley very calmly

Exactly. Just because it’s all very civilised with queues doesn’t mean it’s not bought in response to the (perceived) threat of a shortage.

I was sent some videos of South Africa panic buying last year - that was proper panic buying!