Panic buying

[spamcan61]

47 minutes ago, Rivercider said:

I suppose it all depends on circumstances.

The virus might only cause one person to undertake a two week self-isolation.

Imagine though they normally do a two-weekly shop, and also care for an elderly relative who cannot, or would not shop, for themselves in the circumstances, and one or the other of them might contract the virus. Then now they are looking at 2 + 2 + 2 weeks  worth of shopping.

 

cheers

There's always internet shopping or good old phone, it's not like anyone has to physically go to the shops. Even my local co-op is out of bog roll and pasta, didn't realise there were so many morons locally.....sigh...

[Rivercider]

14 minutes ago, spamcan61 said:

There's always internet shopping or good old phone, it's not like anyone has to physically go to the shops. Even my local co-op is out of bog roll and pasta, didn't realise there were so many morons locally.....sigh...

Where do you think the internet shop comes from if you order from a supermarket?

If our store is out of a product then ordering it on-line will not get it delivered.

 

As I understand it 6-7% of supermarket groceries are delivered via the home delivery system.

At our store overtime is often required to fulfill the normal delivery slots. It is probably not possible to increase the delivery slots to any meaningful extent, there are no extra vans, nor drivers to drive them (even if there was the stock).

 

I'm not meaning to be unduly pessimistic, but having worked for BR/EWS for 30 years I know it is often not  possible to rustle up extra resources.

 

cheers

Edited March 8, 2020 by Rivercider
spelling

[Robin Brasher]

Looks like there has been some panic buying of the Hornby R3809 'Rocket' set. Something to play with in quarantine,

 

[jonny777]

22 minutes ago, Tony Davis said:

This isn't a new thing, I remember the "shelves stripped bare of sugar", and "shelves stripped bare of bread" in the past.

 

The news broadcasters seem (to me) to be doing their best to whip up mass hysteria about this whole thing. I was glad to see some people agreeing with me on Newswatch yesterday.

 

I remember (in the 1980s) newspaper reports there were problems with salt extraction, cue - panic buying of salt (I know, it is hard to believe now) and the shelves were emptied of the stuff in 48 hours. 

 

Then one year (1986 I think) the US bean harvest failed, and people started panic buying tins of baked beans (ably assisted by newspaper and TV news reports). 

[spamcan61]

Sorry I didn't make myself clear, I meant idiots seem to be stockpiling more or less random things now "in case they can't get to the shops next week" or whatever, which is nonsensical. I appreciate internet shopping doesn't magically make extra stock available :-)

[Rivercider]

9 minutes ago, spamcan61 said:

Sorry I didn't make myself clear, I meant idiots seem to be stockpiling more or less random things now "in case they can't get to the shops next week" or whatever, which is nonsensical. I appreciate internet shopping doesn't magically make extra stock available :-)

Yes you are quite right.

Sorry, I did jump in there a bit.

(A bit like defending BR in my former career - I do get a bit defensive!)

 

cheers

[spikey]

1 hour ago, Clive Mortimore said:

I don't know why people are buying so much bog roll ...

 

Neither do I. I have never forgotten that prior to our course's first escape and evasion exercise 50+ years ago, we were assured by an RAF Regiment instructor that the meagre quantity of bogpaper included in our individual ration packs was sufficient to last us the four days: "All you need is three sheets - one to wipe front to back, one to wipe back to front and one to polish."

[Steamport Southport]

Don't people normally have a stockpile of food anyway?

 

I thought that is why you have fridges and freezers and cupboard space. I'm pretty sure normal people have easily enough to last a few weeks. After all you normally buy things like baked beans in packs of four or six. I doubt I would eat them in two weeks. Same with a 5 pound bag of potatoes, that's two weeks worth to me. A loaf of bread will last for days. A packet of rice would last for months.

 

Or do people just eat the same things everyday?

 

 

 

Jason

[Erichill16]

2 hours ago, jonny777 said:

Yes, and it is the middle classes who seem to be the guilty party in this; probably because they have the money. 

 

They should hang their heads in shame. 

 

My daughter (who mainly shops in Aldi/Lidl because she tries to make ends meet) says there was no problem with toilet rolls in Aldi, but when she popped into Waitrose for some gluten free items (she is coeliac) the shelves there were empty. 

 

The cynic within me wonders why pasta is quite so popular with panic buyers. Is it simply because it keeps, but then so does rice; or could it partly be that people associate it with Italy and assume it must all come from there? 

I’m also intolerant of gluten, (can’t eat anything made in a factory that handles gluten) but have avoided panick buying. I went to M and S and Morrison yesterday to do our usual shop and only bought one extra long life loaf to usual. I felt a little guilty about this as though the shelves appear full there’s no stock ‘in the back’ what u see is what there is. With your daughters comments I’m upset about the situation. It doesn’t make me wish I’d bought more, just disappointed about people’s  attitude.

I think pasta is popular at the moment because you don’t need a dirty bit freezer to store it.

Any way we’ll see what pans out,

regards Robert

[russ p]

I think I'll be making a run on bouys toys in cromer for building materials and adhesives , may just lock myself down in the railway room anyway! 

[spamcan61]

This was the bog roll aisle in Morrisons Totton yesterday lunchtime (after a visit to the Romsey exhibition) , not sure what brand that is left in the middle but it comes to something when even the panic buyers won't touch it lol.

[Busmansholiday]

Where I live, self isolation means sitting on a table on your own in the pub (and I'm not joking!), seriously, 90% of the people I know believe this Corona virus hype is a load of rubbish as flu kills more people per year. 

[Erichill16]

Mrs H says people are going to need the bog rolls if they eat all the extra baked beans that have been buying!

[Tony Davis]

25 minutes ago, spamcan61 said:

This was the bog roll aisle in Morrisons Totton yesterday lunchtime (after a visit to the Romsey exhibition) , not sure what brand that is left in the middle but it comes to something when even the panic buyers won't touch it lol.

 

There was a certain rough type of paper available in my youth, always reminded me of greaseproof paper but with the texture of wet and dry! The council bogs seemed to be well supplied with it back then.

[Nearholmer]

22 minutes ago, Busmansholiday said:

90% of the people I know believe this Corona virus hype is a load of rubbish as flu kills more people per year. 

Yes, I’ve heard plenty of people say that too, but the facts point to a different conclusion: seasonal ‘flu has a mortality rate <0.1%, while the mortality rate for Covid 19 is at least ten times that, so at least 1%. 
 

And, it can only be kept down to 1% if the healthcare system can cope adequately with the numbers of people suffering severely (maybe 5% of those who catch it).

 

The real challenge seems to be when it hits an elderly population, making people severely ill at a rate that swamps the healthcare system, as seems to be happening in Italy.

 

My bet is that people over 70, maybe even as young as 60, will be told very soon to hide indoors and batten down the hatches to avoid catching it, both for their own protection and to prevent the NHS being totally overwhelmed (mortality rate increases with age, and is up at 15% for people over 80yo.)

 

 

[jonny777]

46 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

I’m also intolerant of gluten, (can’t eat anything made in a factory that handles gluten) but have avoided panick buying. I went to M and S and Morrison yesterday to do our usual shop and only bought one extra long life loaf to usual. I felt a little guilty about this as though the shelves appear full there’s no stock ‘in the back’ what u see is what there is. With your daughters comments I’m upset about the situation. It doesn’t make me wish I’d bought more, just disappointed about people’s  attitude.

I think pasta is popular at the moment because you don’t need a dirty bit freezer to store it.

Any way we’ll see what pans out,

regards Robert

 

 

Sorry, I have been a bit misleading. Reading through my post again, I can see how it can be interpreted in a different way to how I intended. 

 

When I mentioned the shelves were empty in Waitrose, I was only referring to toilet rolls - not the gluten free pasta.

 

I apologise for any upset I might have caused. 

[jonny777]

18 minutes ago, Tony Davis said:

There was a certain rough type of paper available in my youth, always reminded me of greaseproof paper but with the texture of wet and dry! The council bogs seemed to be well supplied with it back then.

 

Izal toilet paper. 

 

I have horrendous memories of that stuff. It was government standard issue for decades. 

Edited March 8, 2020 by jonny777

[Erichill16]

1 minute ago, jonny777 said:

 

 

Sorry, I have been a bit misleading. Reading through my post again, I can see how it can be interpreted in a different way to how I intended. 

 

When I mentioned the shelves were empty in Waitrose, I was only referring to toilet rolls - not the gluten free pasta.

 

I apologise for any upset I might have caused. 

No upset caused, bit relieved really. Feel a bit better about my ‘extra’ gf loaf.

Regards Robert

[Tony Davis]

3 minutes ago, jonny777 said:

 

Izal toilet paper. 

 

I have horrendous memories of that stuff. It was government standard issue for decades. 

That's the one!

[PaulCheffus]

3 hours ago, spikey said:

 

But, bizarrely, jars of it still have a BBE on them!

Hi

 

I went to a bee farm (don’t know what else to call it) and they said the BBE was a legal requirement but honey doesn’t actually need one.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

[ikcdab]

Meanwhile, last year in the USA, 35 million people caught flu and 50000 died from it. Nothing different expected this year. So quite why the panic about coronavirus?

[Enterprisingwestern]

2 minutes ago, ikcdab said:

Meanwhile, last year in the USA, 35 million people caught flu and 50000 died from it. Nothing different expected this year. So quite why the panic about coronavirus?

 

Because it fills the newspapers and the interminable hours of TV news broadcasts.

 

Mike.

[Steamport Southport]

Izal? Now wash your hands.

 

Made by Newton Chambers who also made railway rolling stock.

 

 

 

 

Jason

[russ p]

The thing is with big roll, in worst case scenario at home you can use your hand and wash it in boiling water and bleach 

[Dungrange]

3 minutes ago, ikcdab said:

Meanwhile, last year in the USA, 35 million people caught flu and 50000 died from it. Nothing different expected this year. So quite why the panic about coronavirus?

 

If 35,000,000 people in the USA caught the flu and 50,000 died from it (which sounds about right), that works out at a mortality rate of 0.142% (ie 50,000 / 35,000,000).  Look at the latest Coronavirus statistics from Italy, and from 7,375 people who have tested positive, 366 have died (as of today).  That works out at a mortality rate of about 5% - ie about 1 in 20 people who have tested positive have gone on to die.  However, half of the active cases have only recently tested positive, so some of them may die as well.  If you compare the number who have died in Italy (366) with the number in Italy who have tested positive and recovered (622) then the Coronavirus mortality rate could be quite a bit higher than current estimates.

 

Even taking the World Health Organisation's latest estimated mortality rate of 3.4%, if you apply that to 35 million catching Coronavirus, you'd get 1.19 million deaths - quite a bit more than 50,000.

 

It's definitely something that needs to be taken seriously, even if as yet the numbers testing positive in the UK works out at about one in every 250,000 people.