To not understand panic shoppers!

[changelikethewind]

I live in a part of the world that is potentially about to get hammered by a cyclone. We'll know more today if it's coming straight for us. Most people are taking precautions, dismantling trampolines, moving outdoor furniture clearing gutters etc. We've been advised to prepare for up to 4 days without power.
So many people have taken this advice and rushed to the nearest supermarket to buy weeks worth of toilet paper, bottled water and pasta! It seems like its back to COVID times. I totally get making sure you have a few extra non fresh things in or extra formula etc but this seems nuts.
As a family we did our usual shopping on Sunday - so we will have enough to last us. Worst case scenario we can eat rice / pasta made on the gas hob if we don't have power and eat stuff from the fridge while it's still cold if we have no power.
Granted I'm not a local - but this surely isn't common sense!

I remember the COVID hysterics. People were buying extra freezers. I couldn't get any teabags!

Stay safe.

The thing with panic shopping is that once people start to panic shop, if you dont panic shop too, there'll be nothing left for you.

I used to say "I'm not panic buying, i'm just buying stuff before the panic buyers buy it all"😀

If it lasts for 4 days it might take the shops a few days or a week to straighten up and get replenished so having at least a weeks worth of food on hand seems sensible.

Enough loo roll for a month - nope.

Make sure you have a lot of wine in..

Happens here in hurricane season too and loo roll is always the first to go!

Stay safe - hope it misses you.

Watching this cyclone progression with much interest, my best friend lives on the GC. We're due to visit early April - this trip postponed from 2020!
They got hammered by a hurricane the Christmas before last!

Have you only just moved there? I'm sure you'll get used to it.

Most people have stopped, once again, of keeping sensible stores of food in the house. For many if they didn’t panic buy they wouldn’t have enough

I've lived here for 10+ years.
The cyclones don't normally come this far down, so I get people are panicking a bit.
I'd say many people have enough 'basic' supplies in their cupboards to last a few days.
It's the fresh stuff I don't get, why buy all the mince or chicken if we have no way to chill it.

The last major cyclone to hit this area was 50 years ago.....

A few years ago, pre-pandemic certainly, I was in a supermarket near where I worked when I passed two women and overheard their conversation.

One of the women had about a dozen Easter eggs in her trolley. The other woman had obviously commented on this and I remember the response was "Well I heard people would be panic buying so I thought I better stock up."

@JaneIves
I'm due to be on the GC next weekend, I'll let you know how it is

And yes the wine is stocked up!

It is a widely observed phenomenon in the face of a predicted disaster including in disaster prone areas. People want to be prepared, but they don't spend until they have to. They buy things that are useful and things that they think will lift their mood. When they see shops running low, they take the chance and buy while they can. When politicians make statements about "panic buying" they usually trigger increased "panic buying" because the perception then is that all shops are running low, not just the ones immediately in personal view.

It's kind of a misleading term because most people aren't literally panicking and mostly don't act irrationality. It's also an irregular verb : I shop, you stock up, she panic buys. You went shopping after the announcement didn't you OP? Well, as far as your neighbours are concerned, you were panic buying.

It's the fresh stuff I don't get, why buy all the mince or chicken if we have no way to chill it.

Presumably the ambient food sold out first. So people then buy the fresh stuff, and plan on eating that first, before moving onto their own existing ambient goods, if they have them.

Maybe they got paid at the end of the month.

Maybe they predict a lot of disruption to supplies after the cyclone. I personally was glad I bought the supplies I did the day the governor shut my state down because of covid. I'm not sorry I bought the branded TP, because the stuff the shops managed to source a few weeks later was very poor quality, I was told.

Overbuying fresh food is crazy though.

Completely get you should be prepared, but there was no rice, pasta, water, crackers or LL milk on the shelves of my city metro supermarket today - let alone any fresh veggies!

Imagine if everyone who normally shops on a Tuesday or Wednesday instead goes to the shop on Monday, along with everyone that normally shops on a Monday.

The shop only has its normal stock for a Monday.

Three times as many customers... the shelves quickly look bare.

Its not necessarily people buying more, just a few days early!

Exactly. I normally buy long life milk. That’s what my family drink. I but it 12 x 1L at a time because that’s how much we go through in a week. But yesterday I only could get 5 - which isn’t even enough to see us through the week let alone through the cyclone. There hasn’t been any milk since then either. Also no bread. Loo paper it’s not everyone buying a months worth. I bought a 24 pack yesterday as we were almost out. Down to the last 5 rolls. There isn’t much space on the shelves for loo paper so even people coming in all on the same day that would normally buy in a week will be all gone.

I've never understood the toilet paper thing. Of all items to run out of, you'd easily cope without it. You could rip up an old bed sheet into rags if you needed to, or use and then reuse a flannel (if you have water).

Shops stock according to what they always sell.
If I buy some extra stuff because I know I can’t get out for a few days, it’s fine.

Everyone buys some extra stuff because they’ll be unable to get out for a few days - problem.

It doesn’t need lots of people buying crates of things they don’t usually buy. Just everyone buying an extra bit more.

I had a lot of shelf-stable food, loo roll, feminine hygiene etc in the house in early 2020 as I had been worried about the possible effects of a no-deal Brexit. Come March 2020 and the arrrival of Coronavirus, boy was I glad I had! Preppers don't have to panic buy.

OP, hello from SEQ!

I really struggled to find any Digestives at the beginning.

Dd is travelling in Australia right now . Was due to fly cairns to Brisbane on Thursday and stay for a week

She's changed plans to Melbourne instead . Hopefully he flights will be ok but I feel sorry for her mates that dont have the option to change flights/ hostels

That's what I thought during Covid. There was still Napisan and buckets etc about, so easy to replace TP especially if there are just two of you, or you live alone.

It was the people with shopping trolleys of water that pissed me off.

We've tickets to QPAC tomorrow and they say they are not cancelling the play. It's weird when the cultural precinct and GOMA and most of the car parks are closed from tonight.

Good luck to everyone here, hoping the power outages are not too bad let alone interrupted water supply. DH got cranky with me this morning because I insisted we move plant pots and the stuff on the deck to safer places but I am smug now. I just wish the hoarder over the road would have a bit of a tidy up.