Panic buyers!!!

[Heartburn888]

In the wake of the corona virus in sure we’ve all seen the clips on social media of crowds of people going in and buying all the loo roll.

I get that some people are scared and would like to self isolate and be prepared for this which is fair enough.

I’m not so scared of the virus but I’m scared of not been able to buy baby milk for my son as it’s all been bought. I can understand that some of the panic buyers are buying because the shelves are clearing in record time!

I’m no longer breast feeding so that’s not an option, I just hope that people will see sense soon and stop being so god damn selfish.

We have a very young child in the family with cancer who needs supplies now (not because of corona virus) and yet people who may possible need them in a few weeks or months time (or who may not at all) have taken everything.

I would happily share with someone in an emergency but I wont feel bad about prepping for ages.

My local Co-Op has stopped selling hand wash too as well as any anti bacterial wipes and products! Not sure if it’s because they’re out of stock or to prevent panic buying. Here are some pics from my local Facebook group. Just awful!

People are unlikely to be able to buy all the tubs of formula even if they want to.

Some food for thought

I'm surprised dental practices are buying their masks and hand sanitisers in Asda anyway, and that they don't have a reasonable supply.

@SamSeabornforPresident yeah, that person sounds misguided and looking to blame the wrong people. That's a whole different supply chain unless they're ordering their supplies from Amazon or something...

That dentist post is absolute nonsense. They order medical grade stuff from medical suppliers, same as vets, GPs, hospitals and labs. Absolute rubbish.

Sorry, its NOT rubbish. I'm a veterinary nurse and our suppliers are out of face masks, hand sanitiser, sterile scrub (we've had to revert to an older fashioned one) and alcohol gel.

It is rubbish. Dentists and medical premises don't buy their hand sanitizer from Tesco. Panic buying by retail customers isn't causing the problems we are having in the NHS - it's high demand within healthcare settings combined with reduced production due to the China shutdown ( we produce alcohol gel in this country but are reliant on plastic bottles made in China)

People have been told to have two weeks supplies in their houses, lots of people shop once or twice a week.
If even a proportion of those people buy enough stuff to cover them for two weeks then the shops will run bare.
This isn't anyone's fault, it is just a natural consequence of a lot of people moving from a just in time shopping style to a stocked larder style when asked to do so.

Do you work in the health care industry Loppy10? As I said above, I work in a veterinary practice and it IS affecting us! As mentioned above we cannot get various items that we would normally get. How can you say its rubbish when this IS actually happening? The stockist we use for face masks is down to the very ineffective ones and they are now costing at least 10 times the price they normally do.
I'm here to tell you that we are most definitely being affected!

our suppliers

NOT people buying it in supermarkets!

Panic buying isn't restricted to the general public.

I've been buying bits here and there last couple of weeks ; medicines from Poundland, long life milk. No car, all after work. Started a thread the other day about what I might actually need..
Have two bags today went to Lidl for apples, puff pastry, tub of yogurt just like olden times. Rocking up to one huge shop expecting them to have every single product is ludicrous given the scale of what's incoming.

I really can't believe people are so blasé about it all...

@Loppy10
It is rubbish. Dentists and medical premises don't buy their hand sanitizer from Tesco. Panic buying by retail customers isn't causing the problems we are having in the NHS - it's high demand within healthcare settings combined with reduced production due to the China shutdown ( we produce alcohol gel in this country but are reliant on plastic bottles made in China)

@LoobyLou1976 what @Loppy10 said above is correct. @LoobyLou1976 Have you ever stopped to think that it's actually profiteers with access to the professional/commercial supply chain that are buying up the supplies and then selling them on eBay or Amazon? Because guess what, that's most likely what it is coupled with a general high demand by other organizations in the medical industry. How do you think all these lay people were able to buy N-95 masks all of a sudden??

I think we are both saying the same thing. Not sure how I'm disagreeing with you here? I said above panic buying isn't restricted to the general public (meaning insiders buy things on medical supply sites and sell them on), That's exactly what you just said above.
Confused how your point is different to mine? I was disagreeing with the fact that someone said it was 'rubbish' that doctors and dentists etc were being affected. As a veterinary worker, I was illustrating that we most definitely ARE affected, by whatever means, that it was NOT rubbish. That is my experience.

I said it was rubbish that vets are being affected by people buying things IN SUPERMARKETS, which is what this thread and that facebook message were about !!

Healthcare institutions don't buy their alcohol gel from retailers. They have completely different supply chains, from manufacturers through to distributers.

Manufacturers will always prioritise their major institutional customers, but when every healthcare system in the world is demanding more supplies at a time that production is reduced, there will be shortages.
It's nothing to do with punters buying up the relatively tiny amount of product available on supermarket and pharmacy shelves.

The Facebook message posted above doesn't say anything about it being specific to supermarkets. I was commenting on my experience being similar in the veterinary industry only to be told it was 'rubbish'.
I've just had a look at several of our suppliers websites and they are mostly out of the items I mentioned above (sanitisers, face masks, gel etc). so whatever is happening there is a knock on effect, and that is ALL I was saying.
And thanks, but I'm well aware that the healthcare industry doesn't shop in Tesco.

But people are also buying hand gel from online companies which do sell to companies like vets, private physios, etc. These websites aren’t trade only.

We brought hand sanitizer when the first case went outside of China.