Panic buying.

[Workingman]

TIC

I read the articles about Morrison's and Tesco restricting the number of purchases for some items and thought to get my skates on. So, off I have been a "panic buying".

I now have another roll of iron-on hemming tape, a watch battery, a spray of furniture polish, and a box of indoor plant food.

I might have to shuffle the 37 24x packs of bog roll and the 76, sorry, make that 77, kg of pasta and rice to make room, but in these armageddonish times needs must.

Seriously: I called in Asda, Morrison's and B&M and people are at it again!

[meriad]

I don't get why the stores aren't putting a stop to it - no more than 2 or 3 packs of anything per customer; end of. It's not rocket science, is it?

[saundra]

It all seems so pointless panic buying loads get thrown away
I don't have enough storage space anyway

[cruiser2]

We have just bought the first pack of toilet rolls since lockdown started from Tesco. The old pack held 24 I think and we had another pack not opened.
We only buy what we like and need. So we do not have deliveries.
Saw some customers with full trolleys but it did not look like panoc buying just a regular weekly shop. That was in both Morrisons and Tesco.

[saundra]

May be it's just end of the month when is get paid and just shop once a month

[Workingman]

I don't get why the stores aren't putting a stop to it - no more than 2 or 3 packs of anything per customer; end of. It's not rocket science, is it?

Ria, that's what Morrison's and Tesco are doing and I expect more will follow.

Maybe what I witnessed in Leeds is because the news during the day was that it was going into enhanced measures (tighter lockdown) from midnight and people were reacting to that news.

The latest from the council is that we will be in this for the long haul. All people in my situation can do from now on is Zoom family and friends - no visits, go grocery shopping and go for a lone walk for exercise.

[TheOstrich]

In the spirit of WM's opening TIC comment, doing the rounds locally on the internet ..

Latest Purchase Limits placed on shops in the light of the Coronvirus due to panic buying:

ASDA: 2 hand sanitisers and a 4 pack of toilet rolls
TESCO: 1 hand sanitiser, 500g of rice and a 4 pack of toilet rolls
WAITROSE: 1 lobster, 6 quails eggs and 100g of Foie Gras
ALDI: a MIG Welder, a pink sports bra, 2 trumpets and 1 wetsuit.

Seriously, though, I think what's happening with the local lockdowns is beginning to affect people's thinking and yes, you might well be seeing a Leeds effect, but it's reported to be happening here too - Asda have been cleaned out of loo rolls, and Waitrose last night was certainly depleted in that department; there was a "Be Considerate" notice up but I don't think it went so far as a restriction. And I don't know if your experiences have been the same but the supermarket supply chain seems quite iffy - canned tuna is another commodity I haven't seen for some time now. So after last March, the prudent and the panic-stricken are both beginning to restock.

Yes, I have bought 25 loo rolls this week. But we do get through an awful lot of them, for example they're a lot cheaper than Kleenex when you've got the sniffles, they won't go to waste and they'll all get used. Generally, we've identified what food and cleaning items we use most, and we've got about a month's supply in now, so we can go back to "replacement" shopping.

Cruiser, I'd agree that from what I've seen, it's not so much "panic buying" as "enhanced regular weekly shopping" - and Saundra, rest assured, now't gets thrown away in this household!

[Workingman]

Ossie, I did mention on another thread the recent lack of some fresh vegetables and fruits. It is not a big issue, ATM, but it is something I do keep an eye on.

I am also another who does the "replacement" shopping thing, and sometimes I also get one for now and one for the cupboard. I freely admit that I have a decent supply of long-tern tins of all-round nutritious foods such as soups and mixed beans, and I have done so without panic buying, but they are getting used on a rolling programme of eat and replace.

I might be being paranoid, but my main concerns for the winter are disruptions to electricity, gas and water. I am covered, but many are not.

[Kaz]

Sorry to hear that Frank ((((hugs))))

No signs of panic buying here - yet! I might get a couple of extra boxes of dog food - Pepper's tum gets upset if we change it and I had trouble getting it when lockdown started!

[cromwell]

Yes, people round here are at it as well. I went round Sainsbury's at 9.30am and it was busier than usual for that time. One woman had four bags of muesli in her trolley, another had several bottles of clothing conditioner and so on. They were trying to look as if butter wouldn't melt though.
But the shelves were well stocked and it certainly isn't on the scale of last March's mad panic - yet.

One thing I would say is that the media has been actively encouraging this panic buying by running story after story on it for the past week, when there was no panic buying whatsoever. The Daily Mail was using stock photos from last March of empty shelves - absolutely appalling, irresponsible journalism.

We are not too badly off atm because I could see what the media were about and I bought a couple of extra things weeks since. I can't stockpile food, we don't own a freezer or anything like that, just a bigger pack of toilet rolls and kitchen than we usually get and a bit more flour and soap.

If any future government cracks down on press freedom in the future then I'm sorry, but they will have brought it on themselves.