Panic buying

Lidl has a 4 only of each item policy. No queueing again thankfully. Policy of 40 shoppers at any one time. Everyone beautifully behaved except one wrinkled not so old crone - young nowadays is mid50s. People were politely waiting at a shelving junction and she tutted and barged through leaving her face to face with four elderly people. Hard to believe that there are still corona virus deniers.

We have known for decades that a pandemic would strike one day. Preparations should have been made long ago but we don't seem to be very prepared.

Fiachna50 ; You are right it is time for supermarkets to only allow 4 to 5 items like beans even just two packs pasta and things like that. The government knew this would happen and they have been slow to get it sorted.
There are many people on low income and some only have their pension and they cannot afford to stock up on items and buy weekly so the strip the shelves bare brigade are making it very hard for the less well off, it is selfish and unfair.

I think all countries are confused about what to do, quite honestly. Not one has it sorted out

I had a relative who needed painkillers today and could not get any anywhere. Summerlove regarding this situation perhaps rationing is the way to go. This government have been utterly useless. They should have had things organised way back when the first signs of this showed up in Wuhan. This country was the same with Ebola. Run by the "It will never happen here brigade". Well it has now.

What did folk do during the Great Wars? I bet there wasn't all this carry on and I bet people didn't just think about themselves either.

Oh of course some carried on. Some didn’t.

There wouldn’t have been need of rationing otherwise

I thought about the food banks and will pop over on Monday and see what is happening. I haven't been helping for a while because of my painful back.

Asda in Brighton tonight pasta shelves totally empty. My daughter asked and was told shelves had been refilled and emptied again. They are restocking overnight but expect the same first thing tomorrow morning. Daughter managed to get last packet of lasagne and one of 6 packs of toilet rolls which she guarded as she completed her shop.

Sorry premature post.......We have two confirmed cases in Essex, one is only a couple of miles away.

Just been to our local Aldi, there was a full stock of Toilet Rolls, anti-bacterial wipes of all descriptions all shelves were full and there were staff restocking.

The only thing unavailable was paracetamol but they had an abundance of ibruprofen.

We are just back from Sainsburys. The only empty shelf we noticed was the toilet rolls. However there are no cases in our county yet so this may be why. We have no plans to buy extra of anything, we have a well stocked freezer and pantry. Why people would buy quantities of sugar is beyond me as we hardly ever use it and people who do would improve their health if they cut it out. We did our usual shop at Aldi yesterday and the only gap I noticed was where the small bottles of bleach should be. I didn’t look at the hand sanitiser section at all as we are retired and wash our hands well after returning home as well as at the other normal times. People don’t seem to have learned from the millennium bug panic buying and more recently the Brexit no deal panic buying.

Greeneyed, it beggars the question did folk never wash their hands or clean their homes before? I don't get the panic buying of toilet roll or water. There was also a post about someone buying 15 bottles of bleach, what is that all about? I have never seen such craziness. What did folk do during the Great Wars? I bet there wasn't all this carry on and I bet people didn't just think about themselves either. It's not young, fit or well people that are really going to be affected. Most of the time I have a good stock in as due to up and down health, sometimes I am indoors. I haven't gone mad buying though.

As I surveyed the empty cleaning and soap product shelves in my local supermarket, I thought I bet that British houses have never been so clean!

Because it's profit for them Calendargirl; where money is concerned, common sense and decency are nowhere to be seen. It's just greed by the stockpilers and the supermarket chains.

Sorry, off topic.

I used a public toilet today, spotlessly clean and was washing my hands when another woman (not a lady today!) left without washing her hands. My hard stare was wasted on her receding back. ?. Pulled my sleeve down o open the door. ?

Chewbacca

As pointed out previously by many posters, why are Aldi or any major supermarket allowing people to buy massive quantities of loo paper, bottled water, milk, sugar?
Limiting everyone to a reasonable amount of any item is what’s needed.

I did my usual weekly shop at Tesco yesterday, plenty of people and mostly plenty of stock on shelves - but no handwash and very few loo rolls. An elderly pair in front of me (I'm only 74, they must have been at least 78) had 4 packs of 9 loo rolls; I gave them my very best Paddington Bear "Hard Stare" ...

My DS has just popped in on his way from doing the usual Friday evening family shop at Aldi. He said that he'd never seen anything like it; people with 6 packs of 24 roll loo paper, piled high in trollies. Dozens of bottles of water, whole trays of long life milk and trays of sugar. He said it was chaos; much busier and more frenzied than even at Christmas. What is the matter with these people? What's so important about having toilet rolls? I'm flabbergasted!

Yes please support your local foodbank during this time, and if funds run to it an Easter egg or two is always welcome. The joy on a parent's face when they are handed their bag of food, and another with an egg for each of their children is priceless.

I didn't think of foodbank users. How sad.

We passed a sign outside a small shop today which said
'PLEASE come in and panic buy'!!

The American Communicable Disease Commission published a formula to make your own hand sanitizer.
3parts liquid soap, 1 part alcohol (if you don't have alcohol, substitute liquor, but it must me at least 60 proof, add essential oil drops if you want it to smell good). This only works if it is used!
Use common sense...not fear.
Greed spawned from fear is so very sad and cruel to all society. Those that price gouge during this are beyond deplorable.

That's what I heard - that donations are down.

Perhaps, once all the panic is over and people realise they don't need 50 tins of beans or 20 packets of pasta, they might donate it to food banks.

The Food Bank. That's a thought. Folk who use that don't have the option of panic buying. I hope donations continue.