AIBU to genuinely not understand why people are stockpiling/ panic buying

[mumof2exhausted]

I am genuinely curious as to why people are doing this. Are people worried that shops are going to run out because of supply issues or is it because people think they may have to self isolate for couple of weeks. I just don’t get the reasoning behind it. Food wise we tend to cook fresh from scratch - a friend who is a consultant at hospital has done some batch cooking and froze for when she does get covid 19 which will happen and she’s feeling unwell and has to self isolate but buying hundreds of toilet rolls. Am genuinely confused.

I don't get the toilet roll thing. Unless a lot of people usually only buy 2 rolls at a time? We usually get a big pack in monthly shop anyway so haven't bought any extra

I haven't actually got anything in so I am a bit nervous about it because I can totally see several reasons to. The main one for me is that as infection rates rise the chance of catching it while shopping, or that the items you buy will have been handled by an infected person rise. Supplies may also run out, especially if many people are sick and supply chains are disrupted. This is already happening with supplies we get from overseas. Also, who knows when they may suddenly take drastic measures curtailing the ability to shop.

I think contaminated packaging of items is going to be a big problem. Many people touch the items as they are delivered and stacked, and then at check out a chain of contact is set up between all the different shoppers, via the checkout person who has touched items directly after
all of them.

I've been panic buying in case there's a need to stay at home for 14 days. That would require a fair bit of food. There's also an element of herd mentality in that if everyone else is stockpiling bog roll and I see empty shelves on Monday then when I see a few rolls on Tuesday I'm going to panic-buy them.

Because Italy has NOT shut all the shops. It has put restrictions in place about how many people can be in a store at the one time & how mug distance to keep between them.

SkyNews flash briefing said otherwise, but I have just googled. Apparently, it's all shops except food shops and pharmacies.

surely it’s pretty obvious OP

I understand why people would buy more because they might not be able to get to the shops for 2 weeks. I'm confused as to why this equals a yr supply of pasta & toilet roll.

I genuinely don't understand what you don't understand?

If you were told tomorrow or the next day that you had to self isolate for 2 weeks starting now would that be fine? You have everything you need at home?

Or if you got flu and felt like shit have you got everything in you need to get through it? Likewise someone in your family?

People are preparing for these possibilities.

OP - are you going to return to your thread to tell us if you are any nearer to understanding now?

I suspect you do understand, but you're making a judgement about those people preparing for self isolation or disruption to supply chains. To conflate the two is, I think, disingenuous.

don't generally have the space for an extra two weeks of provisions at home

This makes me a bit 🤔 because it's dry food that everyone is buying and you can literally stick it anywhere. Box it up and stack it to a wall, in your car boot, under your bed. Believe me, if you wanna buy a few extra beans and pasta - there's room somewhere!

I've bought extra tins and frozen stuff as well as dried beans, grains and pulses. I have enough to last 4 weeks feeding 4 plus my elderly mum who lives with us and only eats certain things. I'm a teacher so it is a foregone conclusion i'll get it right now. All my kids ( at primary and secondary) will be carriers, but one has brittle asthma so I've got meds in for him. My husband has hyperyension and a heart disorder, so meds for him. I have 2 autoimmune diseases and asthma, so meds for me. My mother is old, frail, but has no underlying conditions apart from deafness and dementia. But I'd say she's high risk. It's vascular and she's so thin and frail because she'll only nibble at bits of food she likes. So lots of the same biscuits for her.

My school is rural but in a satellite village to commuter belt for a city. There are cases already in my feeder school secondary and those children are isolating and yet the siblings are still in the primary.

I need to feel we can hole up if i'm ill, or ds is ill or any of us are, without having to pop to the shop and spread it about a bit more. I haven't gone mad. There are still lentils left. I havent bought all the loo roll just stuff to enable me to make soups and stews - illness food. Plus stuff that can keep mum happy so she wont insist on going to Tesco or the corner shop.

I just don’t understand why loo roll in particular is ever so popular? I have seen videos of customers in supermarkets arguing/fighting over packs, and even a Costco video where the entire palette was decimated within minutes - people were closely crowded around it like the reduced section at M&S

It’s not like this virus particularly affects bowels.

I mean of course, all of these people could have immediately began to self isolate after shopping, I’ll never know, but it’s doubtful that every person who is stockpiling loo roll has begun self isolation.

I think it's more accurately 'planning' buying rather than 'panic' buying in most cases.

I think once it is mentioned that’s There are shortages then people over buy. The same with pasta, how much of the stuff do people eat. When I was shopping there was no pasta left at all but rice, noodles and pulses shelves were full. If tomorrow they said rice was running low, some people would automatically start buying rice.

They are talking about up to 50% of the workforce being off at once. This will effect everything even if we don’t all have to isolate. Who do you think is delivering the food, stocking the shelves, working in the factories etc etc when this gets bad? I think anyone who hasn’t got at least a couple of weeks worth of supplies right now is crazy tbh.

ASK the stupid people WHY they are buying toilet roll but nothing more useful. (I understand why this has come about but not many people outside Asia do; and it’s all nonsense) They don’t know and
will say ‘because I need it/because everyone else is!
The virus does not give you dysentery! Idiots!

Who do you think is going to keep the food supply chain going?

What about health care professionals, they are worst affected and not soon replaced?

People are going to die, in relatively significant numbers. Do you really think you can continue to fill your kids bellies on fresh, cooked from scratched food?

I hope the sun keeps shining for you. Or, get real.

The virus does not give you dysentery!

It can cause gastrointestinal symptoms including diarrhoea to be fair.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-body-symptoms.amp.html

Jesus, I can't believe people are proud of panic buying! You are literally taking essentials away from people who need them NOW. But your ok so you don't care? So what happens IF you are self isolating? And during that period you need more? Or until that point, you need daily stuff? Well you won't get it - because people every bit as selfish as you are doing the same. Absolutely sickening, there's no need to do it, it's a selfish thoughtless act - pack it in!

The reason not everyone is stocking up is because society can't handle that, it's not possible, so those who are being selfish about it are just making a difficult situation impossible

I watched that Joe Rogan YouTube video. It stopped just before the bit where he gives us the bit to make us less scared!!!!

I suspect you do understand, but you're making a judgement about those people preparing for self isolation or disruption to supply chains. To conflate the two is, I think, disingenuous.

I always think that about these threads.

I’ve got two weeks worth of food in, seems we need to be prepared to self isolate for 14 days if exposed. I’m also hoping to avoid doing any shopping trips when the virus hits hard, I’ll be staying home as much as possible and not going out in public. WhT are you planning on doing? Yes I do think the grocery shops will be open, but are you really going to be walking around shopping? You could be spreading it around, I think it’s unsociable to not be prepared, we all need to act for the greater good.

I’m reluctantly buying in more pasta than I normally do in a weekly shop when I see it because it’s so sodding hard to find now and my kids eat it several times a week

You've answered the 2 main reasons in the second sentence of your post!