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.

proactive

p Surely good hygiene & hand washing in the first place is far more preventative then buying 100 loo rolls & tins of beans

No one needs to buy that many beans but why is it just one way OR the other anyway?

Get 6 cans of beans in AND wash your hands.

I think it's just down to choice.
I'm afraid I have been stock piling over the past two weeks spurred on by others. Yes I know I'm following the herd. But I have very little trust in the Government who are supposed to protect us. What are they actually doing to make us feel like they are in control?
In view of this my only sense of personal control is making sure I have tons of toilet rolls and food in the cupboards.
Also I don't get why so many people don't seem to understand why toilet roll is flying off the shelves. I consider it an essential, maybe others don't. I've got no interest in wiping my backside with leaves from the garden if I have to self isolate or the supply chain in shops slows down or we are given movement restrictions.

I have been stock piling bog roll since the Brexit mess and the thought of a no deal so maybe I'm just ahead of the herd and/or a bog roll enthusiast!

Why do people stockpile loo rolls?

Get 6 cans of beans in AND wash your hands

I'm not saying it's either or & would wager most people have food in their cupboards & freezer to last a week or so. I do not run out of all food before I shop again. The entire population is not going to be expected to stay in their houses for months.

Yes no one wants to clean their arse with leaves but the alternative is not a yrs supply of toilet roll.

They’re selfish idiots.

Also just to add to my post, why is it selfish to want to have enough food and household supplies in case you get coronavirus?
Shops should be restricting customers now to limited amounts of everything so that there is enough to go around. Some places are already doing this.
I work in a supermarket, what do you think will happen if coronavirus starts spreading even more? Supermarket workers will get ill themselves and many more will have to self isolate. Therefore stock might be delivered but very few workers will be at work to stock the shelves and serve the customers.

FYI - Our supermarket had 8 pallets of toilet rolls delivered one night this week vs the usual 2. That takes one person a few hours to work the delivery. If they become very short staffed the store will struggle to open. This is a very real problem.

Why do people stockpile loo rolls?

Maybe cause they will spend more time on the crapper as they have also stockpiled beans & pulses.

= The entire population is not going to be expected to stay in their houses for months.

@bizzybuzzy

I hope not! But I have 4 massive sporty boys plus OH and me plus dog. The amount of food we get through is unreal.

I'm not a prepper, I don't do a big shop. I don't like food clutter or waste age so actually yes I don't have much in at the end of the week. I like the supermarket to store my food for me.

So i HAVE stocked up. Apologies if you are also feeding a big family but really you have NO IDEA what is in most people's cupboards.

I'm NHS. I don't want to spread my potential exposure to supermarkets, so I did a big shop nearly 2 weeks ago, making sure I had full cupboards and freezer.
I have a spare one of each of my normal cleaning/hygiene products like toothpaste and washing liquid and a big pack of loo rolls (which I buy anyway).
When they decide to close everything it will be like Christmas time shopping and I don't want to be there!
I haven't got tons of spare stuff, just things like a 4 pack of beans, extra bag of pasta, oven chips and soup etc. Stuff thats easy to make. I imagine we will all be working way over our 40 hour weeks to cover sickness. Plus any days off will be doing school work and boredom control for the kids.

I have enough food in to last if we have to isolate for 2 weeks, but then again I usually only shop every 2 weeks anyway (apart from bread, fruit and veg which we can do without for 2 weeks if necessary).

I'm working on the theory that even if we have to isolate there will always be a family member or friend having to go shopping so I can phone them and they can leave whatever we need on the doorstep.

I haven't gone mad with supplies but just enough to last if necessary.

so @sleepingpup how much food, loo roll etc have you bought?

you have NO IDEA what is in most people's cupboards.

How do you know what's in people's cupboards though?

No one I know through work, dh's work, dc1 & dc2 schools, neighbours, family is stockpiling. My supermarket hasn't run out of stuff.

We’ve been pretty relaxed and weren’t going to do anything differently, but with the way the virus is behaving now in places like Italy, and the growing likelihood that we may need or want to hole up at home for a few weeks, we have decided it’s time get some supplies in case we or my daughters are ill or need to keep ourselves isolated (one of my daughters is likely at higher risk of mortality).

We’ve bought two nine roll packets of loo roll (from two different stores, on two different shopping trips one week apart), 3 weeks worth of tinned goods (a wide variety of different meals and foods so that there was no huge impact on stock), long dated foods, a big packet of rice and the same of couscous, and some easy cook meals, plus enough meat for two weeks to go into the freezer (and we can stretch that if needed to at least 3 weeks). We’ve not gone crazy but we have made sensible purchases. We’ll do another shop in a few days time to pick up any last bits and bobs we need. That way we know that a)we won’t be panicking if things grind to a halt for a bit, and b)we’ll have what we need in case illness/isolation. Asda has been out of loo roll and pasta on a couple of occasions, and the other day LIDL had hardly any pasta left but plenty of loo roll. We’re not bothered about hand sanitiser.

I guess we’re more fortunate than some, because we have easy access to asda, Aldi, Lidl, Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s and B&M.

Oh and we have done our shopping spread over several supermarkets, to help lessen the overall impact on stock levels at each store. We’ll keep doing that over the next few weeks, to make it easier for those who can only get to one supermarket.

Not wanting to run out when in self isolation.

I spent last week buying paracetamol.
I don't have flu symptoms or anything like that but I've used at least three packs on the stress headache caused by all this.

If you have the money, storage space and time to do so then why wouldn’t you? All it takes is for you to come into contact with one person with a confirmed case and you could be trapped in your house for a fortnight.

I have no judgement either way for those who are choosing to or not to stockpile, but to say it’s selfish is simply not true. We’ve seen evidence from Italy that a country can quite easily go on lockdown. Even if we don’t get to that stage, one confirmed case in your local supermarket could easily see all of their employees in isolation for two weeks and potentially closing the store.

As long as you are buying things that you would normally buy and that will get used, you aren’t going to regret purchasing them.

@bizzybuzzy

I have no idea what's in other people's cupboards.

No shortages in the Supermarkets here and I'm probably like Sweetpea. Instead of a week's groceries, over the last 2 weeks I've probably got a week ahead in cupboard stuff and 1 extra of the cleaning stuff.

I haven't felt like I'm "panicking" or "stockpiling ". It's been quite considered.

I don't think things will run out anyway - is just the inconvenience of getting them if your'e self isolating, ill or looking after others.

Dunno but if i was gonna be locked indoors for 2 weeks I'd be looking to stock up on more entertaining things than 200 fucking toilet rolls

Some people have limited imaginations

thank god for Sky & Netflix

too right.

I stock piled Kit Kat’s but have already eaten them all blush

I've just discovered my accidental stockpile of Hotel Chocolat stuff from Christmas so I'm sorted on that front for a few weeks.

It’s simple, if I get cv, I’ll want to crawl into bed and recuperate for two weeks. I will not want to drag myself up the road to Tesco and infect the poor check-out lady in the process.
So I have two weeks frozen/uht food ready.

But no extra loo roll. One normal pack will see us through

I don't have an issue with people buying a bit more, a little extra. It's the buy all the loo roll I can find to last me months brigade. Do people really think if we are quarantined for months that the main concern would be what to wipe my ass with?

I think lot of the items going out of stock (toilet roll, hand sanitiser, pasta) stems from the fear of not having access to them for a while rather than them thinking they actually need that much.

All it takes is for a supermarket employee to not have time to put the pasta out one day, somebody takes a picture of the empty shelf, the Daily Fail runs an article on it and suddenly everyone’s buying it on their next shop in fear there’s a nationwide shortage.