Panic buying

[runs as required]

 

20 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

Even locally on a Facebook page someone posted "Heard in the Co-Op that they're closing Aldi", are they so stupid to not see the implications of their need to spout bullocks?

The answer then seems to fit such armchairs with ejector seats to remove them from the environment they're affecting.

 

Those sorts of rumours seem to have run rife for yonks - long before social media.

Except round our way it is the other way round "They say the Co-op is selling out to Lidl".

Last time I heard that, I asked at the tabs and whisky counter while exchanging the voucher for wife's newspaper. 

The lady of a certain age, long term guardian of all the expensive stuff from tiny villains said

"If so, then why has the Co-op just gone and renewed all our Contracts at much better rates?"  

 

PS

Work or not - whatever Picasso did always seemed to pull the women -more, I submit: than you can claim for P4 

Edited March 21, 2020 by runs as required

[The Stationmaster]

Another facet of all this is the simple question of what do many people know about cooking and making the best of ingredients so minimising waste/. If we buy a pre-cooked chicken from Waitrose (none available when herself visited twice this week) all of it is used (although to do that does need help from Red Kites as they will happily dispose of any bones leftover).  Any surplus mashed potato has gone into either  thickening homemade soup or making potato cakes.   Any surplus pastry from making the quiche yesterday went into an (open top) jam tart and so on.   But how many people buy a whole chicken and only eat the white meat - throwing away the rest?  How many people throw away surplus cooked veg which could be used in soup?  One thin g which never seems to be rerducing in stock levels compared with normal are teh packets of pre-prepped veg for soup making - weird.

 

Alas the education system has neglected such basics as this for far too long with the result that loads of people only understand convenience food and shun the real thing.  Time for some public service broadcasts perhaps and let loose the squanderbug with some new messages?

 

The other thing is profiteering - with reports of it from all over the place and one small shopkeeper locally is already doing it.  Here the local Council are trying to establish if anything can legally be done to stop him apart from folk simply boycotting his shop, it will be interesting to hear what they come up with.

[The Stationmaster]

13 minutes ago, JohnDMJ said:

 

How do Darwin awards fit into this schema?

Alas I think all we have to do is 'wait & see', and perhaps not for very long especially in London.   But regrettably a lot of the sufferers won't be the worst of the panic buyers, wasters, and profiteers but will be the victims of their greed and stupidity.

[jjb1970]

I just visited Morrisons,  while some items were running low I got everything I wanted. I then visited Aldi and again, a few items running low but everything I wanted was available. And certainly both shops had more than enough to provide people with ample food and a balanced diet.

[midlands]

I feel sorry for the supermarket staff. On my last visit to morrisons , standing in front of a stripped isle of ex loo rolls, I asked a young lady if the shelves actually did get restocked from yesterday, to my dismay the poor girl was almost in tears as she described the mornings events, I could tell she was both shocked and probably a tad scared, she reported that at opening time a large crowd of unruly people qued at the door and cars backed up all the way to the nearest roundabout...She went on to explain that when the doors opened they all rushed in shouting abuse at staff for being made to wait and litterally fighting each other over who gets what produce wise....I just stood there with my mouth open..The police were called but it was several hours before order wasrestored but not before the shop was again ransacked and most produce gone.

 

I'm gobsmacked..I've never seen this kind of behavour before and wouldnt normally believe it possible in this country. Are we as a nation such horrid people in reallity?

[Mark Saunders]

3 minutes ago, midlands said:

I feel sorry for the supermarket staff. On my last visit to morrisons , standing in front of a stripped isle of ex loo rolls, I asked a young lady if the shelves actually did get restocked from yesterday, to my dismay the poor girl was almost in tears as she described the mornings events, I could tell she was both shocked and probably a tad scared, she reported that at opening time a large crowd of unruly people qued at the door and cars backed up all the way to the nearest roundabout...She went on to explain that when the doors opened they all rushed in shouting abuse at staff for being made to wait and litterally fighting each other over who gets what produce wise....I just stood there with my mouth open..The police were called but it was several hours before order wasrestored but not before the shop was again ransacked and most produce gone.

 

I'm gobsmacked..I've never seen this kind of behavour before and wouldnt normally believe it possible in this country. Are we as a nation such horrid people in reallity?

 

What would happen if there were a real emergency or disaster, no wonder they are queuing for guns in USA! 

[teaky]

Ditto here.  My wife popped into town for a few fresh items.  (I had an urgent appointment with some plywood. )

 

She visited Waitrose, Morrisons and Wilko.  A decent assortment of food.  Restrictions on multiple puchases in some cases but not everything (e.g. could not buy three packs of mince but could buy three packs of fish).  One bloke trying to panic buy wine was prevented from doing so.  Toilet rolls, paracetamol available but still no hand sanitiser gel.

 

One comment she did make was that a number of people came up to talk to her and they all came too close, requiring her to take a step back to keep anything like the 2m gap.

 

I read an article yesterday describing similar panic buying in Italy which was eventually calmed by a concerted effort to publicise that the shops and supermarkets had no problems with supplies of anything and that any shortages were entirely artificial.

[LBRJ]

The Local Spar have introduced a "two items only" for any product - which is quite sensible of course.

 

The only issue is that it really is any product; so although I couldn't buy 3 four-packs of cider, I could buy two crates of the stuff - which I did!

Edited March 21, 2020 by LBRJ

[stewartingram]

55 minutes ago, Mattc6911 said:

 

At the moment all the speculation is being carried out by Armchair theorists.and SHOT DOWN JUST AS FAST BY OTHERS.

  

On here maybe. My daughter is a FF (facebook fanatic).  She doesn't get her info from anywhere else. Some of the things she has been coming out with, and won't believe anything else, are astounding.

[Enterprisingwestern]

3 minutes ago, stewartingram said:

On here maybe. My daughter is a FF (facebook fanatic).  She doesn't get her info from anywhere else. Some of the things she has been coming out with, and won't believe anything else, are astounding.

 

I blame the parents!

 

Mike.

[runs as required]

2 minutes ago, midlands said:

I'm gobsmacked..I've never seen this kind of behavour before and wouldnt normally believe it possible in this country. Are we as a nation such horrid people in reallity?

So am I.

 

Our family have been saying how it has been reminding us of our 12 years in Africa in places like Zambia and West Africa with the Zambezi war and the army coups and wars in W Africa - but nothing like what you've witnessed in the Midlands.

 

At Morrisons here in Blaydon, there was a wry sense of Geordie humour running around a queue outside just before 7am  (i'd thought it opened between 6-7 for OFs).

Once inside, assistants helped folk find things and suggested where the best spots were to queue for the checkouts.

I spent most time  in the checkout queue (2 metres part thanks to our trolleys).

My (over sixty I'd say) check-out lady said she'd come in despite it being  her day off, and would work as long as it was needed - all she said she wanted was a coffee or two (or three).

Thank you Morrisons (and with a full tank of petrol too!).

[Gwiwer]

4 minutes ago, stewartingram said:

On here maybe. My daughter is a FF (facebook fanatic).  She doesn't get her info from anywhere else. Some of the things she has been coming out with, and won't believe anything else, are astounding.

I have said before that the social media platforms stand accused of spreading hype, panic and misinformation faster than a virus can spread through the population.  The first images of panic-buying were from Australia and flashed around the social world in seconds.  With the result we see today.  That has been driven to the power of infinity by the posts of empty shelves which has perhaps induced more panic-buying.  Anyone with an account is effectively free to post a comment which may or may not contain any fact, might be blatantly untrue or misleading and may well give rise to others following like sheep (because that is what the human race tends to do) and add "I heard ..... " type posts which drives the spiral of doom.

 

We expect that most of us will come out the other side of this fairly soon.  We expect that most who contract the virus will make a good recovery.  We expect that shops will be able to re-stock particularly so now that they are closing earlier and employing more staff to stack shelves.  There are short-term supply issues but we are constantly assured there are no shortages.  Cows don't stop making milk.  Chickens don't stop laying eggs. It's all in the system and being moved as fast as possible.  

 

No-one knows for sure what the outcome of this virus will be and all the informed opinions are based upon previous cases, mathematical modelling and even perhaps "best informed guess" work.  That is not to belittle the amount of work going on to fix the problem in all areas.  But there is still a degree of scepticism that it will be as bad as the experts predict. And that, in turn, is leading to people in some areas carrying on as though things are almost normal.  There is a highly infections virus going around and it will claim some lives.  

[eastglosmog]

41 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

.....................

Alas the education system has neglected such basics as this for far too long with the result that loads of people only understand convenience food and shun the real thing.  Time for some public service broadcasts perhaps and let loose the squanderbug with some new messages?

...........

Sadly all to true.  I have been shocked by some comments from people who seem not to have even the basics of cooking (like boiling eggs).  My mother taught me how to cook before I left home.  Whilst I am far from a good cook, I know enough to be able to mix the ingredients cook them and survive. 

In my day, schools only taught girls how to cook (domestic economy), so it was not much better then for boys.

(I also learnt some of the basics from reading Swallows and Amazons et seq.)

[midlands]

10 minutes ago, runs as required said:

At Morrisons here in Blaydon, there was a wry sense of Geordie humour running around a queue outside just before 7am

 That is the kind of que i'm used to.

[eastglosmog]

16 minutes ago, runs as required said:

So am I.

 

Our family have been saying how it has been reminding us of our 12 years in Africa in places like Zambia and West Africa with the Zambezi war and the army coups and wars in W Africa - but nothing like what you've witnessed in the Midlands.

 

At Morrisons here in Blaydon, there was a wry sense of Geordie humour running around a queue outside just before 7am  (i'd thought it opened between 6-7 for OFs).

Once inside, assistants helped folk find things and suggested where the best spots were to queue for the checkouts.

I spent most time  in the checkout queue (2 metres part thanks to our trolleys).

My (over sixty I'd say) check-out lady said she'd come in despite it being  her day off, and would work as long as it was needed - all she said she wanted was a coffee or two (or three).

Thank you Morrisons (and with a full tank of petrol too!).

Is advertising where full shelves are to be found a socially responsible thing to do?

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

2 minutes ago, eastglosmog said:

...In my day, schools only taught girls how to cook (domestic economy), so it was not much better then for boys...

Based on an assumption central to the 'Sabre tooth curriculum'. If we plan that 90% of households will have one member able to use a hammer and point and shoot a gun as necessity dictates, and the other able to keep house and raise children, then that will take care of the general population, and supply the workforce for the 10% to manage. (The O level as originally conceived was for the upper decile only.)

 

[kevinlms]

1 hour ago, Legend said:

I was hoping that things would return to some semblance of normal once everyone had stocked up. I mean how big are some folks freezers !  No sign of it I’m afraid . The thing is that we have restricted pubs and clubs rightly but no restrictions on folk queuing to get into supermarkets . No social distancing there . And as others have pointed out they are having to go round many shops to get provisions thus increasing the chance of transmission . 

In Australia there are some early signs of things returning to normal.

The big supermarkets are still saying that foods are not a major issue. The problem of the excess demand is causing distribution problems. To overcome it, they have contracted additional trucking companies to get the produce into the supermarkets and opening later and closing earlier. Those staff are stacking shelves outside the new trading hours - early/late and the shelves aren't quite so dire. Still some shelves stripped bare.

I managed to get a 10 pack of toilet paper today, something I haven't seen for 2 weeks.

[Joseph_Pestell]

13 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

I have said before that the social media platforms stand accused of spreading hype, panic and misinformation faster than a virus can spread through the population.  The first images of panic-buying were from Australia and flashed around the social world in seconds.  With the result we see today.  

 

But this was surely foreseeable. It has happened before when similar events have struck. Social media may have aggravated it a bit.

 

So the very first thing that Govt should have done was take some control of the food network to ensure that the vulnerable and the key workers would not have any problems in this regard.

 

I don't want to make this political. In most regards, I think the Govt is doing very well, but they tripped up badly on this, most basic, requirement. 

[kevinlms]

37 minutes ago, Mark Saunders said:

 

What would happen if there were a real emergency or disaster, no wonder they are queuing for guns in USA! 

They don't need a disaster/emergency to do that!

[chris p bacon]

1 minute ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

I don't want to make this political. In most regards, I think the Govt is doing very well, but they tripped up badly on this, most basic, requirement. 

 

The fault lies with the population, not the government.

[Joseph_Pestell]

Just now, chris p bacon said:

 

The fault lies with the population, not the government.

 

Only a part of the population. Govt is there to protect the rest of us from them.

[Fat Controller]

2 minutes ago, eastglosmog said:

Sadly all to true.  I have been shocked by some comments from people who seem not to have even the basics of cooking (like boiling eggs).  My mother taught me how to cook before I left home.  Whilst I am far from a good cook, I know enough to be able to mix the ingredients cook them and survive. 

In my day, schools only taught girls how to cook (domestic economy), so it was not much better then for boys.

(I also learnt some of the basics from reading Swallows and Amazons et seq.)

I've recently been attending Cardiac Rehabilitation following some major surgery a couple of months ago. As part of the course, we had a visit from a nutritionist who gave us an hour-long talk on how to read the labels on pre-prepared ready meals, at the same time telling us to only put low-fat spread, not butter, on our baked potatoes. Sod that for a game of soldiers....

I do wonder if the seemingly general lack of skills (and interest) in cooking is due to the absence of grandparents in many people's day-to-day life. Parents are often too busy when it comes to passing on basic skills, whilst the older generation are , in many cases, 'time-rich'.  I know I spent a lot of my childhood 'helping' nan and grandad, picking up skills along the way.

Mike- I trust you simmered the chicken bones to make a stock before feeding the Red Kites? I remember my late mother-in-law telling us how she'd dropped in to see her nephew, just as he was about to throw the bulk of a chicken carcase away, having eaten the breast meat. She took it home with her, and told us that she'd got almost a week's worth of meals out of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Enterprisingwestern]

34 minutes ago, runs as required said:

 

Thank you Morrisons (and with a full tank of petrol too!).

 

Just where exactly do you think you will be allowed to go with it?!!

 

Mike.

[Ron Ron Ron]

The government's daily briefing from No. 10 has just taken place.

 

No Boris today, but  George Eustace, SoS for Food, Environment and rural affairs, along with Helen Dickinson, CEO British retail consortium and Stephen Powis, National Medical Director NHS England.

The briefing was dedicated to the food supply, panic buying and future supply chains, including a number of press questions regarding the possibility of rationing.

Worth a look on iPlayer.

 

 

.

[Baby Deltic]