Panic buying again!

Really don’t think it helps that supermarkets are putting out public statements, declaring that they are limiting items to prevent panic buying.
Completely agree with the policy but why effectively employ reverse psychology by having it announced on the BBC news? Result, people who hadn’t even considered it think, oh, other people are stocking up, maybe I should do the same?
No need at all. Just put up notices in the shop and tell people to put 7 of their 10 packets of pasta back.

M0nica

It is not panic buying now - and it wasn't in March. It is people who normally shop daily realising that they could be looked down in quarantine for a fortnight - or even longer and making sure they have at least two weeks food in the house.

The problem is that shops and stores have adapted their supply chain to this daily shopping pattern and seem quite incapable of of adapting their almost anorexic 'Just-in-time' delivery systems to this change in shopping habits.

Don't do a Boris and blame the poor s*dding infantry. They are just ordinary people trying to adapt to extraordinary times

I confess I bought an extra lump of cheese today.

I think this is true of most people!

I went shopping at my local Waitrose early this morning and it was so quiet that they only had one till open.

The only things I couldn't get were goats milk and lambs liver, hardly the items that people hoard.

Dropped into a Lidl this morning (en route to other non food shopping) to buy some of their Danish pastries?. Busy, but no outside queues, no overloaded trollies, shelves fully stocked. Thank goodness some folks are using their noggins!

M0nica

It is not panic buying now - and it wasn't in March. It is people who normally shop daily realising that they could be looked down in quarantine for a fortnight - or even longer and making sure they have at least two weeks food in the house.

The problem is that shops and stores have adapted their supply chain to this daily shopping pattern and seem quite incapable of of adapting their almost anorexic 'Just-in-time' delivery systems to this change in shopping habits.

Don't do a Boris and blame the poor s*dding infantry. They are just ordinary people trying to adapt to extraordinary times

I confess I bought an extra lump of cheese today.

I'm not totally sure that people are just buying a couple of weeks supplies, or at least not everyone. Since starting this post I've "spoken" to quite a few people who have admitted that they buying a lot more.

For instance, my sister ( family of 4) usually buys 2 x 9 toilet packs every two weeks in her delivery. This week she ordered 6 packs and also went to the shops and bought another 10, so now she has 144 rolls instead of her usual 18!

We have a freezer stuffed full of home grown fruit and veg - we just don't need a power cut!

It is not panic buying now - and it wasn't in March. It is people who normally shop daily realising that they could be looked down in quarantine for a fortnight - or even longer and making sure they have at least two weeks food in the house.

The problem is that shops and stores have adapted their supply chain to this daily shopping pattern and seem quite incapable of of adapting their almost anorexic 'Just-in-time' delivery systems to this change in shopping habits.

Don't do a Boris and blame the poor s*dding infantry. They are just ordinary people trying to adapt to extraordinary times

I confess I bought an extra lump of cheese today.

I am shopping tomorrow so will see if it is 'here we go again' where I live. I sincerely hope not!

What’s this craze with loo rolls? Most people must have enough left over from the March panic buying! At the moment supermarkets seem to have plenty and they are displayed in prominent places.

I was in a small Sainsbury at the weekend and Waitrose yesterday and no problems at all. Didn't notice any abnormally empty shelves.

We were doing our normal bi-weekly shop in Waitrose so had a few bags. We may well have looked like we were panic buying.

Wilko also had plenty of loo rolls yesterday, I noticed. Although they may all be gone by the time we want to buy some

oh no..here we go again.
what the chuff is wrong wi folk?

I genuinely needed to get loo rolls when I was completing my on-line order this morning. I had deliberately not bought any last week because I did not want to be ‘bulk buying’. I could not believe that most of them were out of stock. My sister, who uses another delivery company, said hers was the same.

If you were to photograph shoppers leaving Costco in “normal” times, their trolleys would look laden with toilet rolls and giant packages of veg, meat, bread etc as it is a warehouse for bulk buying so easy for journalists to photo and ramp up the story.

I've just had my Tesco delivery, and not a single item was missing, which I'm taking as a good sign. ☺

That said, I hadn't ordered any toilet rolls or flour, so who knows if those would have been available.
I won't need to find out for a while, as I gradually put away a stock of these and other essential items _after- the first bout of panic-buying ended (quite recently, in the case of flour, when I read on here that it can go in the freezer), so without it affecting anyone else!
If supplies stay plentiful, I shall continue to replace used items each week (rotating my stock), but if there are shortages in the shops, I can just use my stock and leave what's on the shelves for the less fortunate.

I was chatting to the woman on the till in Waitrose on Monday. She was saying it was definitely starting to go in the panic buying direction again.....and thought that the shops should limit what people can buy for some products.

Totally agree with this - should we all write to the stores to ask them to do this?

EllanVannin

Imagine rolling up in a 4x4 buying up all the £1 t.rolls. How selfish and greedy is that when they can clearly buy the expensive ones ? One thing laughs at another really.

Further away from me are large houses turned into flats/bedsits with a lot of unemployed people who rely on the cheapest of everything and you have these sharks coming along. It makes my blood boil as you can see.

The same thing happened in March with people you've never seen before, coming out of town snapping up everything they could to avoid restrictions/queues in supermarkets.

I blame the shopkeepers EV I think they should limit the amounts of any item per customer. It wouldn’t solve stockpiling completely - the vultures would just go from shop to shop. Remember last year when the Chinese were buying up all the baby formula to take/ship home? But at least by limiting sales the locals could get their fair share (also limited) of goods.

Yes sensible if people only added one extra item to their basket but not when they have a trolley full of toilet rolls. That’s why rationing from supermarkets should come in early.

On the positive side if we cant get hold of Christmas goodies we may not need the usual January diet?. I wasnt around at the time but despite living in traumatic times people appeared to celebrate with much less. It has the potential not to be what we have been accustomed to with regard to the things we can buy. Is that necessarily a bad thing?

Hello, recently became a gran, it’s fabulous.

* nishowen

We saw Christmas stuff in Lidl yesterday and I felt it was a deliberate ploy to start panic buying. People may think it won't be around by Christmas.*

Not sure, Lidl always have Christmas stuff in in September. Home Bargains here had decorations and Christmas tins in before children had even gone back to School!

I think you have made a very wise point arum. We wont see the knock on effect from coronavirus/natural disasters in 2020 for a while. Next year things we take for granted may not be there.

I think we should realise that the global food supply has dwindled. The American farmers have had severe droughts and fires. The rice crops in Asia are smaller. Vietnam is not exporting any rice. In the mediterranean countries the harvest was less because the seasonal workers could not migrate due to corona. So preserved goods will also be less. When the going gets tougher, and it will, we will be grateful that we put that extra bag of rice, pasta, tomato paste, baked beans, pickles, salt, oil, vinegar, mixed herbs, spices, sardines and sausages, a packet of soup, flour, sugar, some booze, tobacco, candles, matches or a lighter, soap and shampoo when we shopped the last few times. And of course, always keep a full pack of toilet paper in reserve. I think our days of full supermarket shelves are over. Don't forget baking powder, yeast, stock cubes, curry powder and bisto. Please shop wisely. Adding ONE extra bag or a can of something at a time is not being irresponsible and selfish, rather is is being wise in this unsettled world. And we CAN find a space to store it, like under the couch, in the wardrobe, under the bed.

i think the supermarkets are more prepared this time .and will limit the amount you can have,

Theoddbird

There are no problems with booking slots at Tesco or Sainsbury's...I just checked. Hopefully stores will quickly bring in limits on the numbers of each item people can buy

Actually for my Tesco, therecarecnonavailable click and collect slots for three weeks - that's as far ahead you can book.

DH went to Tesco on Saturday for our click & collect. He said it was mayhem getting into the car park!
Absolutely nuts!
Today I popped into Waitrose and it was absolutely fine, no queues, shortages or panic buying at all.

Yes kate1949 I’ve used them before lockdown and all through and they’ve been great continue to use them and it’s free delivery over £35 which is fab. Recommend them.