Anyone stockpiling food?

[RamblingMad]

Bought another pair of running shoes on sale.

 

[Imzadi]

This was the toilet paper section at my Frys (Kroger grocery store) a few hours ago.
View attachment 479945

It's seeing scenes like these that I wonder if I missed the note on this? Do they know something i don't know? Even Jimmy Kimmel made a joke about this, asking why are people buying up the toilet paper?

I got back from Rite Aid where they were stocking the shelves with this week's sale. I picked up a couple 12-packs of toilet paper. Still no problem on supplies here. The disinfecting wipes & alcohol are gone. But they still had bleach, hydrogen peroxide & some cold meds. And chocolate.

 

[Imzadi]

Bought another pair of running shoes on sale.

I had to get a new pair a couple weeks ago. The store was out of the ones I usually get. I have a feeling I won't see them for quite a while as there will probably be restocking problems. I have a feeling they are made in China.

 

[Scoobie]

Bought another pair of running shoes on sale.

Where?? I need to stock up. Waiting for my coupon from REI. Soon...

 

[DisneyOma]

i just mentioned to dh that we should pull this out to watch. i love 'trashcan man'.

No - read the book, it's much, much better!

 

[RamblingMad]

Where?? I need to stock up. Waiting for my coupon from REI. Soon...

REI. Got a pair of Timp 1.5 for $67.

 

[Hikergirl]

Bought another pair of running shoes on sale.

Is that so you can run away from the sick people?
You can always run faster in new sneakers, maybe we should all stock up.

 

[RamblingMad]

Is that so you can run away from the sick people?
You can always run faster in new sneakers, maybe we should all stock up.

What if there is a shoe shortage? That’s almost as bad as a TP shortage.

 

[Wendy31]

DH has not been buying into all this panic at all & thinks after this initial “the world is ending!” craziness that there will be more toilet paper because companies will keep making toilet paper & stores will restock.

Which is fine.

Until the shelves are completely cleared & not re-stocked, & we have no toilet paper because we didn’t “panic-buy”.

I just counted. Not counting the rolls already in use, we have 27 rolls.

 

[luvsJack]

I remember during Y2K, there was talk of a need to stock up on things. And a lot of people did. But it seemed like every time something ran low in the stores, it made a slight panic to "need" that item. It was like "LOOOOK! They are low on green beans! Everyone must think they need green beans!" And the customer would grab many cans of a vegetable that no one in their family will eat because they needed to "stock up". It was like a panic started because a shelf was slightly bare and it caused it to be more bare and then an actual shortage of the item.

Could that be the thing here? People are just panicking because they think its going to run out and then buying more and causing the shortage themselves?

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Could that be the thing here? People are just panicking because they think its going to run out and then buying more and causing the shortage themselves?

The uncertainty has people that I know stocking up on a few things. What if the government literally imposes martial law and does not allow you to leave your home for a week or two? Unlikely, but this is an unprecedented event in the lives of most Americans. We don't know how to react, so over-preparing seems to be an appropriate reaction, not an over-reaction.

I don't know of anyone who is in a state of panic, but I know many who are trying to prepare for the unknown. It makes them feel like they have a little control.

 

[wenrob]

I remember during Y2K, there was talk of a need to stock up on things. And a lot of people did. But it seemed like every time something ran low in the stores, it made a slight panic to "need" that item. It was like "LOOOOK! They are low on green beans! Everyone must think they need green beans!" And the customer would grab many cans of a vegetable that no one in their family will eat because they needed to "stock up". It was like a panic started because a shelf was slightly bare and it caused it to be more bare and then an actual shortage of the item.

Could that be the thing here? People are just panicking because they think its going to run out and then buying more and causing the shortage themselves?

Oh yeah, I think so. Stuff was vanishing here before we even had a single case.

This has had me thinking about Y2K as well. My parents, normally rational people, bought a generator. It’s probably still in its box to this day. The media frenzy and public panic made it all but impossible for places like power and water plants not to have all hands on deck. My DH (a power plant operator) was required to work. He woke me up at about 12:20 am on 1/1/2000 to tell me he was home and the world was still turning.

 

[luvsJack]

Oh yeah, I think so. Stuff was vanishing here before we even had a single case.

This has had me thinking about Y2K as well. My parents, normally rational people, bought a generator. It’s probably still in its box to this day. The media frenzy and public panic made it all but impossible for places like power and water plants not to have all hands on deck. My DH (a power plant operator) was required to work. He woke me up at about 12:20 am on 1/1/2000 to tell me he was home and the world was still turning.

Yes, I remember it well! My mother and my aunts would be on the phone every day discussing what their local grocery stores would be out of and one would check to see if her store had whatever it was for the others. I mean seriously, Mom would tell me, "your aunts store is out of Spam! We need to get some!" "Mom, you don't eat Spam" "I know, but times may get hard". I would just roll my eyes and think to myself, I really don't think they are going to get that hard, like ever.

And when I would tell her or any of them "don't panic". I would be told in a very severely, insulted, southern lady voice--"We are NOT panicking, we are being PREPARED". Yeah. . . ok.

 

[luvsJack]

The uncertainty has people that I know stocking up on a few things. What if the government literally imposes martial law and does not allow you to leave your home for a week or two? Unlikely, but this is an unprecedented event in the lives of most Americans. We don't know how to react, so over-preparing seems to be an appropriate reaction, not an over-reaction.

I don't know of anyone who is in a state of panic, but I know many who are trying to prepare for the unknown. It makes them feel like they have a little control.

hmmmm. All depends. Exactly how much TP do you need for a week or two?

Look at this way. Person A goes to Walmart to get TP. Walmart is out (stock boy is in the back loading up the cart but A doesn't know this). She calls Person B who is at Target. B wasn't even buying TP but goes to look for A and finds that Target is out too. OH NO!! So now A and B are on the hunt and B wasn't even planning to buy the stuff. They find it at Kroger. They don't want to drive back to Kroger and are worried Walmart and Target won't be restocking soon so they load up. Person C sees how many packs they are buying, figures A and B knows something C doesn't and C runs back and buys the rest of the stock. Now, Kroger doesn't have any of the shelves. And here come D and F and now they are one the hunt because there MUST be some horrible shortage and they MUST find it.

Now, none of these people are running around screaming like Chicken Little so no, its not actual panic. But sometimes thinking one is just "preparing" or "over preparing" causes a bit of an overly exaggeration on the "need" for these items.

I see it every year when a hurricane starts threatening our coast. People flock to the stores to buy water, bread, etc., the normal stuff. If one person in that store fills their buggy with an item that is out of the norm for hurricane preparedness, I can just about guarantee that half of the rest of the people in that store will go buy that same thing. I have to admit, I have done it too. Its just human nature for some reason. We want to be just as prepared as the other guy and if he needs whatever it is, we must need it too.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

hmmmm. All depends. Exactly how much TP do you need for a week or two?

The TP panic started because of a shortage in China. For whatever reason, China was not able to restock paper goods in stores in their major cities for weeks. The story spread across the internet with pictures of empty shelves where paper goods are sold, and folks all over the world started buying paper goods. There were no food shortages in China - just paper goods.

So, there was a legit shortage in stores in China, and it was not the result of panic buying - it was the result of their inability to resupply under their lock-down restraints. But it created panic buying across the globe - even in countries that had not seen a single case of this virus. And panic buying creates further panic buying. There is no logic or thought - shortages are reported, you have to have TP, so you go stock up before those shortages hit your area.

It is a cycle that feeds itself.

As for the other stuff - there are real shortages of disinfectant and wipes and hand sanitizer, mostly because people are buying those things who never bought them before. We simply did not have supply on hand to meet the huge increase in demand.

 

[DopeyDame]

Oh yeah, I think so. Stuff was vanishing here before we even had a single case.

This has had me thinking about Y2K as well. My parents, normally rational people, bought a generator. It’s probably still in its box to this day. The media frenzy and public panic made it all but impossible for places like power and water plants not to have all hands on deck. My DH (a power plant operator) was required to work. He woke me up at about 12:20 am on 1/1/2000 to tell me he was home and the world was still turning.

I hope he also sent a thank you note to the IT department and computer programers who spent countless hours in the years leading up to Y2K to ensure that it was a non-event.

Just because you identify a problem, work hard to fix it, and the solutions all worked, doesn't mean there wasn't a problem to begin with.

 

[wenrob]

I hope he also sent a thank you note to the IT department and computer programers who spent countless hours in the years leading up to Y2K to ensure that it was a non-event.

Just because you identify a problem, work hard to fix it, and the solutions all worked, doesn't mean there wasn't a problem to begin with.

Did I say no one was working on it or there may not have been a problem? I don’t believe I did. My point was the reaction was disproportionate to the actual concern. Even if the units had all gone down at once it wouldn’t have taken all shifts and man power there at once to bring them up again.

 

[RamblingMad]

Just bought new tires for my car. They had to transfer from another store. The manufacturer is experiencing a nationwide shortage. I guess tires are next.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Just bought new tires for my car. They had to transfer from another store. The manufacturer is experiencing a nationwide shortage. I guess tires are next.

I don't think people are stockpiling those. I think that's much more likely to be related to materials/supplies obtained from impacted countries.

 

[dez1978]

Yes, the elderly might actually prefer the old dinosaur method of contacting their doctor and not having to go in. Just have the doctor prescribe flu meds that they can pick up at their local pharmacy.

I'm curious: Of those of you who have gotten the "regular flu" in the past and did go to the doctor, did you have to get any tests done to prove it was the flu? Or did your doctor just go through all the symptoms, mentally checkmark them all and say, "Yep,

yep,

you have the flu. Here's a prescription to have filled."

The number of confirmed cases in NYC is around 149 now. More than the total cases in all of the rest of the U.S. (98-ish are up near Patient #2, the lawyer.) The number of cases here seems to grow exponentially every day. NO deaths reported yet in NY.

Are "regular flu" cases tested & confirmed like this every winter? The news always says how deadly it is each year. And they usually report when there is an actual death. But, they haven't been giving a daily count of all the people who have tested positive for the latest flu.

There were also many suspected cases here that were ruled NOT to be Coronavirus after all. I'm wondering if they just turned out to have the "regular flu"?

The local news here doesn't talk about the "regular flu" anymore. It's like it's been wiped off the planet. Which we know it hasn't been. And no reports of people dying of the "regular flu."

Both of my kids have had the flu in the last month, 1 had A and the other had B. Both were tested automatically. Also they both had the flu shot. After having been sneezed on directly in my face by both, I am unsure how I have escaped. Also I made the mistake of reaching back blindly while driving when my kid said "here mommy" only to have a snotty wet tissue put in my hand.