Selfish panic buying?

[CwtchesCuddles]

A friend in London has just been shopping and sent me this picture of bare shelves, people have been panic buying!
AIBU to think it's selfish? I can understand buying an extra few things as part of your normal shop but clearing the shelves? Is everyone just looking after number 1 these days? What is going to happen when all those with spare cash buy up all the supplies?

I've still got my brexit cupboard. No need for any panic buying here - I've built it up slowly while the supply chains were / are still able to cope.

If supply chains start to struggle for any reason (brexit, snow, pandemic etc etc) then I'll not be putting any pressure on them whatsoever as I've already got what I need.

I find that having a cupboard of food helps to smooth out some of the financially rough months (self employed, so highly variable income). Where I've misjudged and realised I won't realistically get through an item before its BB date I've dropped it off at the food bank collection point in Asda.

Can someone tell me how I'm being selfish?

My Asda always has bare shelves, especially on a Saturday afternoon.

I have been slowly stock piling for a few weeks but just the odd tin and loo rolls. I bought lots of hand gel so I'm ok for a while.

My DD works in Home Bargains. They have had no hand gel for over a week now. But they have plenty of loo rolls and everything else.

Where I've misjudged and realised I won't realistically get through an item before its BB date I've dropped it off at the food bank collection point in Asda. The best before date is different from the use by date. You can still use the product after the BB date, but the taste may be slightly affected. This is especially true of tinned food, which can be used 4-6 years after the BB date, if stored properly.

In saying that, if you can afford the loss, then it’s a very kind thing, to give it to the food bank. My friend volunteers in one and he was shocked at how little was handed in last week. He thinks people are understandably, prioritising their families because of the virus.

Sorry to hear food donations have been affected.

I'm pleased to say that I had to balance my donation on top of a huge pile at my local supermarket last week, and there were bags of donations left beside the donation point too.

@T0tallyFuckedUpFamily we usually have painkillers in but my dp has been suffering from tooth ache if you must know. He's eaten packets without replacing or writing them on the shopping list til they've run out.
He's never got the hang of replacing just befote you run out, he wouldn't by milk or bread on the weekly shop if there was a bit left, even though common sense would tell you it'll run out tomorrow.

Then the fact that we don’t have painkillers in the house is actually the fault of your husband, not the fault of those who are buying paracetamol. 🤷‍♀️

*the fact ‘you’.....

Agree with T0tallyFuckedUpFamily on this. Hope you and dh feel better. Paracetamol readily available if stocks a bit low around our way. Why not ring up a few pharmacies and ask them to put some to one side for you.

Then the fact that we don’t have painkillers in the house is actually the fault of your husband, not the fault of those who are buying paracetamol

Indeed. It's this kind of attitude that makes a hostile environment. People are accustomed to being able to buy what they want, when they want and take no responsibility for running out.

Pampered we are.

I done my Thursday online shop today instead after this thread.
I moved a few bills around and order some extras. Not lots €30 extra.
Everything I picked was in stock, there doesn't seem to be a shortage on products yet.

Trying to work out what panic buying has to do with pasta

Tongue in cheek but:

Long term preppers have useful stocks of national importance.

Whehttam mate, calm down!

I am sorry your husband has toothache and you’re feeling a bit ropey because of your period. I would advise your husband gets his teeth sorted as soon as he can, as things could prove very different if this virus spreads further. I would advise anyone with dental or other problems to avail of our excellent healthcare provisions, before things get rough.

It's a combination of my dp and the panic buyers surely, I'm not that desperate to the point of going to each supermarket and chemist to source some. I'm happy to use a hot water bottle dp can suffer if we have no more tablets as he let them run out .
But if everyone was just buying what they needed then we wouldn't have the problem of the shelves being cleared.
The antibac gel situation is surely an illustration of the panic buyers clearing the shelves when they really don't need to.
Washing your hands with proper soap and water is way more effective in any case.

Dp is unfortunately always going to suffer with his teeth and is undergoing a long term course of treatment, I'm tempted to pull them out myself and be done with it.
I've made an appointment to sort my long-term contraception as I'm not willing to rely on the pill etc if there is any kind of supply chain issue due to either brexit or virus. Might mean I need less pain killers too.
But I do really think that the media are generating a lot of hysteria, resulting in panic buying which means stock for everyone is low, potentially causing more panic and more extreme buying.
I'm fairly certain this is all going to blow over as quickly as Ebola, swine flu and bird flu did anyway.

For goodness sake. The panic is probably worse than the virus. By all means check you have enough stuff to get you through a couple of weeks. Most people have stuff in the freezer and a few tins in the cupboard. Toilet rolls, tissues, etc. washing powder. Common sense supplies.

A empty shelf does not mean people have brought everything on it. It generally means they could be cleaning it or the items are being rebranded or the store are swapping things about. I work in a known supermarket and this is the case usually

Oh, that sounds miserable for your poor husband and I hope he gets help soon, but you need to keep your own box stashed away, until he learns to replace the tablets he has taken. He’s being quite thoughtless towards you. As for your final comment.

Ebola killed 25%-90% of people infected and was only stopped due to incredible restrictions of movement. 1 in 3 only survive in areas that have early treatment.

0.026% of those affected By swine flu died and one in five people are believed to have had it, worldwide.

Bird flu killed over half of those infected, but did not spread widely, because it’s not as contagious as most flu.

Compared to this illness, which is far more contagious, has 0-14 days incubation period, with outliers carrying it for up to 37days before illness. It has a current death rate of 2% and this could change, depending on the pressure it puts on the health service, since a huge percentage of those with the illness need to be admitted to intensive care. Since there is currently no cure for this, so although It’s not time to panic, but it is time to consider what you might need for two to four weeks quarantine.

There have been ibuprofen shortages for a few months now - it's not coronavirus related
www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/ibuprofen-shortage-uk-supermarkets-sainsburys-tesco-paracetomol-brexit-a9144021.html%3famp

Just popped to local Co-op for milk and bread. All shelves stocked. No shortages of anything (I didn't look for hand sanitiser though!). Actually quite quiet out and about.

I did get an Ocado email saying no slots, and no stock. I went on-line and could book a slot at any time, any day, in the next few weeks. All the stuff I have ordered for next week is currently in stock as well.

I have a Waitrose delivery this Wednesday, will let you know if anything is out of stock when delivered, but I have been able to purchase everything I wanted.

I just went to the supermarket, generally well-stocked, but painkillers, hand soap, toilet paper all pretty much ransacked, hardly anything on the shelves. (And probably hand gel as well, I don't know where that's kept).
I saw a woman with a trolley full of dettol soap and bottled water, like a year's supply!

(Mind you I did my own mini panic buy of 6 packets of biscuits - if we do get ill, there's nothing like a cup of tea and chocolate hob nob to lift the spirits).

I saw a woman with a trolley full of dettol soap and bottled water, like a year's supply

This is the main issue isn't it. Lack of reality. We wash our hands very regularly, always have, every time we come in, or go to the loo, and before we eat, but really, I don't get through much hand soap even then. Some bottles seem to last for months!

The Calpol stories are particularly shameful. With DC's I can't even remember needing to buy more than a bottle a year. Mostly it went out of date and had to be renewed. What the hell are they doing with the stuff?

The antibac gel situation is surely an illustration of the panic buyers clearing the shelves when they really don't need to.

No thts not necessarily the case at all.
Many people dont use it regularly or have never used it in the past (I rarely did but now I have to because the general public are filthy animals sometimes!) and they have started to use it now for good reason so the stocks have run out as not enough would have been ordered in advance. Shops only order the bare minimum they need as they have limited storage space. Doesnt mean people are buying 10 bottles at a time just that more are being sold than normal.
You cant wash your hands regularly when at work or out and about so thats why people are buying it.

But I do really think that the media are generating a lot of hysteria, resulting in panic buying which means stock for everyone is low, potentially causing more panic and more extreme buying.

No its not, not everywhere. I work in a supermarket and apart from hand gel nothing is OOS. Shelves were getting sparse at weekend due to stock taking and later in the day than usual restocking nothing else. And they are always a bit low by Sunday pm anyway. Fresh stuff like chilled produce is restocked every morning.

Just wait for the prices to start rising now, if they haven't already.

It's quite hard to 'panic' by painkillers as in England you can only buy 1 of paracetamol and 1 of ibuprofen at a time. Makes sense to pick it up as and when you can.