Why are people panic buying?

[Brokenchair1]

I'm genuinely confused. People were queuing at some local supermarkets from yesterday afternoon, even before announcement. All delivery slots got booked up in my local area after the announcement. Supermarkets are still open. We can still drive to Sainsburys or Tesco or wherever and do a big shop like before, or walk/bus to local shop for those who don't drive.

My understanding is that in England stores will not cordon off non essentials anyway like in Wales. I plan to do one big shop a week as always at my local supermarket, wearing a mask and social distancing like I have been doing for the last few months. This is still allowed isn't it?

So why are people panic buying?

[Blondiney]

@NiceGerbil

To try and maintain a sense of control in difficult times, for a lot of people, would be my guess.

A feeling of security in an insecure/ confusing/ difficult situation.

Exactly that I think. Irritating yes but perfectly understandable psychologically speaking.

[BlueBrian]

Glad I got enough food in last week to last 6 months, this lockdown could easily go past Christmas, and then it's the Brexit shitshow at the end of January, you'd have to be pretty stupid an/or gullible to believe this shower of tossers in charge can be trusted to feed the nation.

[Alondra]

People panic buy because we don't trust either government or private business to provide us goods under stress times.

We can all insult each other but the reason for panic buying is fear. We get frightened that if food and other essential becomes scarce, there is no one to go, we are on our own. This is what drives panic buying - we know we are on our own if things get tough.

Unfortunately, instead of demanding answers from the Eton educated multimilloraires in government, we insult each other.

[Reallybadidea]

Can't speak for other people, but I did a bit of panic buying last time as I saw the shelves getting emptier each time I went shopping. With hindsight it was a sign of my mental health deteriorating as I found it increasingly difficult to think calmly and rationally. Fortunately I'm in a better place this time round (and I also took the opportunity to stock up a bit on essentials over the summer!)

[HeronLanyon]

Some may be more acutely worried about the potential need to Self isolate - probably hot home a bit - hence making sure they are good for basics for 2 weeks ish etc.
With delivery slots largely now unavailable/booked for a bit this is sensible for those with no other options.
I live in area where there are no delivery slots available for weeks but I can order small delivery by bike to be at my door within 1 hour !! Seems crazy.

[chipsandgin]

The logic of going to a supermarket to panic buy when they are busy/rammed & therefore have become a place where risk of exposure is higher right now when infection is rising exponentially (and as proven last time is completely unnecessary..) just highlights once again the level of stupid revealed by this pandemic! At least those going to the supermarket & picking up COVID along with their 36 loo rolls will have plenty in for when they get their positive test & have to self isolate in a week or so!?

[Ozzie9523]

Absolutely agree RedRiverShore, I’ve done my food shopping online for 15 years after an injury, I’m not about to stop now because others haven’t and now can’t get slots.

[Bajalaluna]

Because people can't trust other people to not panic buy, so inadvertently panic buy themselves, to make sure they don't end up in a situation like last time where they couldn't get their essentials. It sucks, and I hate it (work in a supermarket so see it happening first hand) but also, feel like you really can't blame them when you remember the bare shelves from March. Yes it makes sense that everyone should just shop as normal and nothing will run out, but that involves EVERYONE acting normal, and trusting everyone else to not panic buy, and sensible people know the others can't be trusted, which then results in an increased number of people ending up shopping abnormally and irrationality. Think the supermarkets need to act fast and put stricter restrictions on items early on to hopefully avoid too much chaos. People are dicks

[Duanphen]

Because they're exceptionally thick and irredeemably selfish.

[Sparklingbrook]

[quote TwoLeftSocksWithHoles]@Sparklingbrook

Re: the corned beef - get it while you can. When Society breaks down and we have reverted to a bartering system I think you could find a tinned meat product could be literally worth its weight in gold, and there are many health benefits of gold - so a street trader, selling cheap gold chains, told me.[/quote]
OMG you are so right. A black market of tinned meat. I will get some Spam too and maybe one of those tins that has a whole chicken in and lock them in my safe.

[nannybeach]

I cannot imagine why these idiots think that toilet paper is the most essential item. I blame the shops, they are full of notices, "we care about you, your health is important to us", No, it's not, their profits are the most important thing to them, they should not allow people to walk out of the store after buying 50 plus toilet rolls. They are happy to allow shoppers in without face coverings, inspite of signs saying they are manditory in this store. During the last lockdown, I could not buy toilet rolls (yup) flour,pasta,tomato sauce

[peanacat]

I don’t understand it either OP, surely we are allowed to go food shopping so why would you want to be so prepared that you don’t even need to nip out to do that and end up stuck inside even more? Plus, deliveries and click and collects are worse when there has been panic buying because you basically have no control over what they actually provide you. I used to do click and collect but it got to the point where most was subbed or missing and it was just an inconvenience! At least if I am at the store I have a choice of what I replace things with (ie choose a different meal altogether!)

[MarinPrime]

Perhaps people have heard the virus is increasing. They want to stock up on food now so they won't have to go out again till the end of lockdown.

[User647647]

In my case yesterday afternoon it was because the supermarket was limiting the numbers inside.
I got there and had to choose between queuing for 5 minutes or go back home and hope the next I come back there’s no queue, so I stayed and it took no time to get in.
Once inside it was pretty quiet and no queue for the tills.

[HeronLanyon]

@Brokenchair1

There'll be a lot of banana cakes on instagram again i bet 😂

For goodness sakes, op - please do not fall into the sloppy trap of calling it that.

Despite all evidence to the contrary we all need to maintain the ‘banana bread’ label.

heck the heck else can we eat a whole loaf in 24 hours (As I did last weekend) with any self respect? We know if we did that with a cake we’d maybe put a bit of weight on.

How the heck else can we toast it and/or slather it with. lashings of butter??

[Alondra]

If your supermarket is always stocked because the distribution centres can cope with 50% to 100% more demand, there is no panic buying.

People panic when there are no goods on the shelves. If your supermarket is always fully stocked, anxiety relaxes and behaviour goes back to normal. During the height of the pandemic in March, Spain, France and Italy under very strict lockdowns never experienced panic buying. Why? Because shelves were always fully stacked thanks to the their distribution centres.

Human behaviour is not that different between us. How countries are organised distributing essential services drive panic buying.

[Alternista]

OP, you said when you were self isolating, your friends had to buy milk and drop it to you. That’s social contact that could have been avoided if you’d kept a four Pinter in your freezer or a litre of UHT in the cupboard, surely? And if was only milk for those fourteen days then you must have had a fair amount in your cupboards too?

I am fortunate to be in the position that I can afford (and have the space) to have enough in the cupboards to plan for a 14 day isolation. I recognise my privilege in this respect. (I also live rurally and don’t have a corner shop anywhere nearby, so I’ve got used to planning.) If you can’t afford and/or don’t have the space to keep stuff in I completely understand you’ll need to shop more regularly. But surely then it’s better that people like me aren’t also in the supermarkets every few days, so that you don’t have to queue outside in shit weather and can get round and home quickly and with the minimum number of people around you?

I’m not trying to trap you or catch you out, genuinely. I’m just trying to illustrate that we all have different ideas of what responsible shopping looks like. I feel like it’s my responsibility to stay the fuck out of the shops so that people who do need to shop more often can do so with minimum risk tbh.

[Brokenchair1]

HeronLanyon

Arghh, slip of the keyboard. Of course it should be banana bread. I don't know where that rogue cake came from. Also I realised I am out of bread flour today! I'm not even sure I'll bother trying to buy any!

@Alternista nut sure how someone leaving a pint of milk on my doorstep is social contact. Yes I did have a big delivery during that time too and yes had a few tins, pasta etc in the house. I appreciate as a one parent one younger child household my shopping needs are not as big as a larger family. However, my original query was that nothing has changed with the rules relating to grocery shopping. If stores start limitng numbers again I totally get it, people don't want to queue an hour to buy food, but my understanding is that food stores will operate as usual with the guidelines we have seen over the past few months e.g. occasionally having to wait to enter a store, face mask, hand sanitiser and distancing. If that remains the same I still don't get people stocking up. The virus has been on the rise for a while so those who say people don't want to go out too often again don't get that, its been on the rise for a while.

I agree with PP who says the couple of times you can nip to the shop is a welcome relief from lockdown.

[ScribblingPixie]

I've got a safe shopping routine & a list of online food delivery places so I don't feel too worried - last time I genuinely had some flashes of panic that my food would run short. Hopefully most people feel the same.

[Procrastination4]

We are in our second lockdown here (not in UK) and it’s grand going to the supermarket. No massive queues and availability of everything.

However, all it takes is some idiot posting on Facebook or equivalent about stockpiling/crowds out in droves panic buying/posting a photo of an empty supermarket shelf(because it’s currently being restocked but the photographer has “cleverly” angled it so that you can’t see the towering trolley of goods to be shelved; other idiots repost that foolish post and bingo! The sheep are bleating and trundling off to their nearest supermarket to stock up with whatever. Waste of energy, time, money and way too much stress.

I really laughed when I read about the guy in the US who tried to return all the loo rolls he’d bought and the store refused to take them back. Serves him right!

[RedToothBrush]

[quote TwoLeftSocksWithHoles]@Sparklingbrook

Re: the corned beef - get it while you can. When Society breaks down and we have reverted to a bartering system I think you could find a tinned meat product could be literally worth its weight in gold, and there are many health benefits of gold - so a street trader, selling cheap gold chains, told me.[/quote]
Pasta and tinned tomatoes are more valuable tbh. More demand.

I'd rather go hungry than eat corned beef.

[Ihatemyseleffordoingthis]

Because they feel scared and powerless

[Sparklingbrook]

@RedToothBrush I did wonder if people survived the last lockdown living on pasta and tinned tomatoes with a side helping of tinned potatoes maybe.

How about some Pot Noodles-worth a stock up?

[myhobbyisouting]

I don't think they are. Which town are you in because there's plenty of delivery slots available where I and my spread out family live

[Ginfordinner]

They aren't round here either, but we are in tier 3, so not much will change except pubs, restaurants and non essential shops will close. Tesco have notices on their shelves limiting certain items (loo rolls spring to mind ) to three/three packs per person.