Panic buying

[Bulleidboy100]

New opening hours for Morrisons - 8am until 8pm.  The store will be open from 7am-8am for NHS staff only - staff on the doors - customer needs to be wearing an NHS badge  for admission. Sundays will be normal hours (8-8?).  I hope the store will be re-stocked each night?

Edited March 21, 2020 by Bulleidboy100

[GWR-fan]

It seems that the more the politicians demand us to stop panic buying the more people buy.  In my area the basics are always in short supply.  Now given that the local population over a short period of time is relatively stable,  then repeat buyers must be returning to the stores to stock up even more on those "hard to get items".  charities will tell us on a regular basis that approximately half of all food products purchased each year will end up in landfill.  My local supermarkets are run off their feet keeping some degree of stock on the shelves,  so in the short term the balance sheet for the financial year will look healthy.  While canned food will last for a long time it is the perishable items vanishing from the shelves that amazes me.  What are people going to do with all the milk, meat and produce items when they reach their life expectancy (the goods, not the people)?  Mountains of perishable food will find its way into landfill.  Tinned food will clog up pantries as old prescription drugs clog up bathroom cabinets.  For the majority of us accessing an adequate supply of food has never been an issue.  Some idiot posts a warning message on social media about an impending shortage of items and like sheep we all follow the leader.

 

Apart from the stupidity of these morons that simply have to purchase something simply because it has reappeared on the shelves,  there is definitely a criminal element here exploiting the shortages.  People still have the same number of backsides that they had before the virus appeared so the hoarding of toilet paper in particular is a joke.  Like the blackmarket trade in baby formula with the insatiable demand from China,  no doubt there are those who are creating a shortage by bulk buying simply to profit at a later date.  Toilet paper manufacturers are working 24 hours a day ramping up normal production to satisfy the demand and yet their increased production cannot even meet the first initial frenzy of shoppers waiting at store opening time with a trolley firmly in their grasp.  Should an actual apocalypse occur then at least the behaviour shown by current shoppers should be an indication that far more drastic anti-social behaviour is to be expected when something more important than wiping one's bottom becomes paramount,  like actual survival.

[zarniwhoop]

I've had emails today from Sainsburys (I had home deliveries when my ankle was broken) and Asda (I ordered something from George to collect in a store) telling me they are now closing at 8pm to give more time for the staff to restock the shelves.

 

I normally go in to supermarkets late, so I'm theoretically disappointed - except that even at 6pm most of them now have little stock. For those of you who keep earlier hours than I do, I hope the shortages will calm down. If so, the effect will eventually ripple down to late risers like me (assuming I'm still able to get out).

 

Unfortunately it probably won't stop the "too many people too close" problem for a while, so I suspect Britain too will be going into lockdown.

 

If only they hadn't buried Agnes Nutter's sequel to her prophecies! (google or duckduckgo Good Omens if you don't understand the joke).

 

Meanwhile, stay safe.

 

ĸen

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Given that it's a mathematical certainty that a percentage of the panic buyers will die from coronavirus, I do hope that they have amended their wills to avoid unseemly family squabbling afterwards.

 

Mike.

[zarniwhoop]

16 minutes ago, newbryford said:

No onions - except of the red variety, plenty of other fresh produce except potatoes and low stocks of oranges.

 

I wonder if supermarkets will note this and realise that there is minimal demand for some products/flavours as they haven't been hoovered up by the brainless hoards.

For oranges, I can understand people buying them: at this time of year most come from Italy or Spain and both of those countries are in lockdown. I try to get blood oranges for my breakfast throughout the season, and assumed I'd had my last one yesterday. Then I eventually went to M&S (wanted longlife milk, which I normally have, managed to get a litre of some longer-life filtered milk to keep in the fridge) and got another four Sicilian blood oranges (and no, I didn't take them all!).

 

But for reducing the choice (assuming we eventually get out of this), please don't encourage the supermarkets to reduce their ranges. "First they removed my Vichy water, but I said nothing. Then they removed Badoit, but still I said nothing because I could now get cans of Perrier. Then they removed the Perrier." (OK, if you understand the analogy this is nowhere as serious). My point is that many of us have reasons (sicknesses and/or choices) not to get the stereotypical bacon on white bread.

 

However, if they reduced the amount of not-sold-out pseudo milks I personally would not be affected (tried a hemp 'milk' in the absence of longlife milk, disgustingly sweet in my opinion).

 

Oh, and since I've given up statins (too problematic for a 'seems like a good idea because of your age') I'm happy to buy grapefruit juice, but that already seems to be heading for "no longer imported" (a little in Tesco these past few months, none in Sainsburys).

 

ĸen

[melmerby]

2 hours ago, Butler Henderson said:

Food marking standards;

 

Only show a ‘use by’ date where there is a safety issue with eating the food after this date." If there is no issue then Best Before should be shown.

However freezing renders that pretty unreliable as it depends on how quick the produce was frozen

Proper freezers will freeze much quicker than the freezer box in a fridge.

We used to have a chest freezer which we kept at >-20C. Anything put in that was frozen very quickly.

Still nowhere near as quick as commercial freezing plants though.

[melmerby]

33 minutes ago, zarniwhoop said:

 

 

Unfortunately it probably won't stop the "too many people too close" problem for a while, so I suspect Britain too will be going into lockdown.

 

ĸen

People "at risk" have now been told not to go out for at least 12 weeks.

They haven't told me when this week's food will be delivered in lieu of a shop visit though......

Those in power still haven't got the message that people can't get food. Full stop.

[NIK]

1 minute ago, melmerby said:

People "at risk" have now been told not to go out for at least 12 weeks.

They haven't told me when this week's food will be delivered in lieu of a shop visit though......

Those in power still haven't got the message that people can't get food. Full stop.

Hi,

 

I was thinking about this - nobody who hasn't had the virus test and that test prove positive knows if they will get the virus, but all people need food. If they are in a non vulnerable group and have to self isolate they will need 14 days food if they restrict their shopping to once a week they need 21 days food in stock. If as you say I agree they are in a vulnerable group or think they are they think they are in need at least 12 weeks food.

 

Also the UK government has quite logically told places that serve food at tables to close.

 

So that increases the requirement for food from shops and also the perceived requirement.

 

My Sainsburys supermarket had very little stock of the things I buy when I tried to just do my regular shop at 9.30am today. The choice of items was also reduced so their limit of 3 or 2 items so I ended up with two days food. So at some stage I may have to expose myself to extra risk by going back to food shop earlier.

 

My thoughts are focussed at present on all people such as health care staff who it has been reported on the BBC just now as being made more vulnerable to the severe effects of COVID19 by working even harder in the crisis so far.

 

 

Take care.

 

Nick

[melmerby]

 

 

As we require some fresh food, I thought I would try and get a click and collect.

No chance. Every slot for the next three weeks taken, not a single one left.

So it's out mixing with everybody else again Monday in the bunfight for what's left, if any.

 

Compulsion is needed or at least priority for those vunerable or people such as NHS workers, anything else is p*ssing into the wind.

Asking people to stop panic buying quite clearly hasn't worked (I expected no less)

 

 

 

Edited March 21, 2020 by melmerby

[Erichill16]

6 minutes ago, melmerby said:

 

 

As we require some fresh food, I thought I would try and get a click and collect.

No chance. Every slot for the next three weeks taken, not a single one left.

So it's out mixing with everybody else again Monday in the bunfight for what's left, if any.

 

Compulsion is needed or at least priority for those vunerable or people such as NHS workers, anything else is p*ssing into the wind.

Asking people to stop panic buying quite clearly hasn't worked (I expected no less)

 

 

 

I bet these people who are panic buying will be the first to complain when they can’t get any treatment for the virus!

keep well,

Robert

[LBRJ]

10 minutes ago, melmerby said:

 

 

As we require some fresh food, I thought I would try and get a click and collect.

No chance. Every slot for the next three weeks taken, not a single one left.

So it's out mixing with everybody else again Monday in the bunfight for what's left, if any.

 

Compulsion is needed or at least priority for those vunerable or people such as NHS workers, anything else is p*ssing into the wind.

Asking people to stop panic buying quite clearly hasn't worked (I expected no less)

 

 

 

 

Plenty of shops are open tomorrow and I think some have even already got "special times" for certain groups to do some shopping

[bradfordbuffer]

1 hour ago, newbryford said:

Did the required panic buying of paint at the DIY shed earlier.

We're now the proud owners of two tins of paint and a pack of brushes (I stockpile rollers as a matter of course)

As an aside, I panic bought 4 new LED tubes for the slightly dim fluo fittings in my shed, as it's likely I'll be spending more time in there in the coming weeks - provided I'm not using the above mentioned paint,

TBH, it wasn't as busy as I thought it would be, given conversations earlier in the day whilst I was practising social distancing outside doing something recommended by the Governments Chief Health advisor. 

 

On the way home from the essential paint collection, a visit to Tesco as we actually needed food and a few other provisions.

Time of arrival - 4pm Saturday. Not looking at all busy - probably because of earlier raiding parties,

As Mrs NB and Junior NB did the real shopping, for amusement, I wandered around looking at which shelves were empty or full. 

Some items of note:

I admit to not looking down the TR aisle as our as yet unopened 9-pack will suffice for a few days.

Plenty of eggs - of the chocolate and Creme variety. None of the chicken type.

Bread - virtually zero white bread, some brown/wholemeal and loads of bread with seeds and other lumps in.

Flour - all gone. I expect lots of entries for GBBO next series as everyone has been practising (not)

Loads of flowers for Mothers Day - nobody was stocking up on them as the panic buyers must have no parents.

No onions - except of the red variety, plenty of other fresh produce except potatoes and low stocks of oranges.

Very little meat - minimal chicken and plenty of the pre-packed stuff - especially the "Tesco Premium" range. Which is really quite good compared to some of the water-and-other-chemical-filled cheap stuff)

Plenty of milk, but very little cheese.

Specialist foods - e.g. Asian and Polish - empty (Blackburn has a high population of both)

No beer or lager - except for a few bottles of "real" ale - but that didn't worry me.

What did was the lack of vodka - except for a couple of premium brands. (Lucky I stocked up last night at my local Spar)

The same was true of gin and the tonic shelves were completely bare.

Whisky - reasonable stock.

Red wine was low stock, but white seemed OK

Soft drinks - not too much full-fat Coke, but plenty of Diet (yuk) stuff.

Not a single bottle of flavoured water and s*d all cordial.

Cat food (we have 3) totally empty. (We don't normally buy any as we have a monthly repeat order from Amazon)

Gluten free and other "free from" shelves - full.

Crisps and snacks. Plenty of cheese n onion left......

Other foodstuffs - interesting to note that some more esoteric flavours were still on the shelves, standing out like the last kid being picked to play footy in the school yard

Lentil and Bacon soup for example.

I wonder if supermarkets will note this and realise that there is minimal demand for some products/flavours as they haven't been hoovered up by the brainless hoards.

 

There were others, but these were the ones I remembered.

Although we missed out a few items of our normal shop, we aren't going to go hungry.

 

Mmmm same in skipdale...

 

No beeeeerrrrr.....end of days!

Rather enjoy a glass of vermouth over ice with a slice....oddly supermarkets own brand preferred!  Not a sodding bottle on shelf.....who the hell drinks it apart form me?....

Local builders yard was absolutely mental to day...nipped in for some 2x1 for a garage storage cabinet i am building...one chap was taking the wood cutters time up and as I found out later being a bit of a prat put several lengths of timber in his estate car and found out that thay where probably 5mm too long for car as when he shut boot a nice spiders web design was printed on front windscreen! (Done similar myself with some chipboard but found when braking heavy for a cat crossing that conti board is very slippy and top sheet....wizz bang spiders web!)

The wood yard lads hate Saturdays 7 till12noon coz it DIY day not tradesmen week but it was bonkers....

if you get any poorly in in the next few weeks are you going to want to paint/tile...etc

 

Suppose it's the anticipation that's fuelling the prepping knowing what other countrys have had to endure with the virus...

Stay safe...and hand wash!

 

[Joseph_Pestell]

1 hour ago, melmerby said:

People "at risk" have now been told not to go out for at least 12 weeks.

They haven't told me when this week's food will be delivered in lieu of a shop visit though......

Those in power still haven't got the message that people can't get food. Full stop.

 

I seem to have missed this.

 

Having self-isolated too soon earlier this week, is the 12-week thing now official?

 

If so, certainly worried as how to get access to any food deliveries.

[LBRJ]

A lady of my acquaintance made the following astute observations today...

 

The next places to be hit by panic levels of use will be

 

• Garden Centres and DIY stores as everyone needs to keep busy
• Divorce Lawyers - as the results of the above are discovered and discussed
• Estate Agents - as a result of the above discussions failing

 

Maybe tongue in cheek but we shall see!

Edited March 22, 2020 by LBRJ

[melmerby]

7 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

I seem to have missed this.

 

Having self-isolated too soon earlier this week, is the 12-week thing now official?

 

If so, certainly worried as how to get access to any food deliveries.

The restrictions have been tightened up.

No going out to parks etc. any more, no mountain walks and so on. They will be closed to the public.

Too may have been ignoring it. UK Seasides have been having a bank holiday level of visitors apparently.

Nothing compulsory (yet!) just very strong advice.

 

There was a report on Bondi beach in Oz where there was hardly room to sit due to the numbers there.

The Australian govt. have now closed them down.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 22, 2020 by melmerby

[Joseph_Pestell]

2 minutes ago, LBRJ said:

A lady of my acquaintance made the following astute observations today...

 

The next places to be hit by panic levels of use will be

 

• Garden Centres and DIY stores as everyone needs to keep busy
• Divorce Lawyers - as the results of the above are discovered and discussed
• Estate Agents - as a result of the above discussions failing

 

Maybe tongue in cheek but we shall see!

 

I was already having quite enough difficulty with the divorce lawyers!

[zarniwhoop]

Meanwhile, on BBC news about 40 minutes ago someone was saying that people who had to isolate could get food deliveries, and that their infectious waste (separately bagged with yellow/black hazard tape) would be separately collected.

 

Just like that, no mention of needing to make separate arrangements. As if.

 

And no mention of prescription deliveries (the pharmacy I use will probably make deliveries if asked, but at the best of times they are too busy to answer the phone).

 

These days the BBC seems to have become so frightened of the government that it has become its mouthpiece without the usual questioning.

 

Fortunately (for my sanity) that encouraged me to see what else was on.  Currently watching Deep Purple on Sky Arts, so not panicking, nor buying anything ;-)

[Reorte]

18 minutes ago, melmerby said:

The restrictions have been tightened up.

No going out to parks etc. any more, no mountain walks and so on. They will be closed to the public.

Too may have been ignoring it. UK Seasides have been having a bank holiday level of visitors apparently.

Nothing compulsory (yet!) just very strong advice.

 

No restrictions on such things as of now, even if the advice has been changed. Walking around a national park though, that doesn't really bring you into close contact with people.

 

If it is really putting people at risk (and piling off to the beaches seems a much, much bigger one than walking up a mountain, although I can only assume some places have had much nicer weather today than I've had here) then I'd prefer something like petrol rationing than an outright ban. It'll make it impractical for many of them.

Edited March 22, 2020 by Reorte

[NIK]

25 minutes ago, melmerby said:

 

 

As we require some fresh food, I thought I would try and get a click and collect.

No chance. Every slot for the next three weeks taken, not a single one left.

So it's out mixing with everybody else again Monday in the bunfight for what's left, if any.

 

Compulsion is needed or at least priority for those vunerable or people such as NHS workers, anything else is p*ssing into the wind.

Asking people to stop panic buying quite clearly hasn't worked (I expected no less)

 

 

 

Hi,

 

I tried click and collect for food when it first appeared and I couldn't get a slot then so I haven't tried now when there is a crisis.

 

Some friends of my sister have bought four chickens to provide eggs, but they already had a fox unfriendly enclosure and past experience of keeping chickens).

 

My brother in law was in the last stage of becoming a taxi driver, there's little taxi work at present but his local council is thinking about employing taxi drivers to deliver stuff to vulnerable people (leaving the deliveries without handing it over to the home owner directly).

 

Take care.

 

Nick

[zarniwhoop]

7 minutes ago, NIK said:

My brother in law was in the last stage of becoming a taxi driver, there's little taxi work at present but his local council is thinking about employing taxi drivers to deliver stuff to vulnerable people (leaving the deliveries without handing it over to the home owner directly).

Sounds useful for both parties if it happens.

 

But one of the first government responses was to let businesses off their rates (no problem with that in itself, but the money goes to the council which is not able to borrow in the same way that the government can and so councils are already underfunded before paying for deliveries to the vulnerable, and I suppose they might get surcharged). Unfortunately, we don't do joined-up thinking in the national government.

 

Please correct me if I am wrong about this.

[TheSignalEngineer]

It would be easy to stop panic buying. 

Date and shop name stamped on hand (or better still forehead) then no more visits that day. 

Toilet rolls nearest to the door followed by beer. One basket per customer.

Try getting food into a basket which already has a 24 pack of toilet rolls and a box of beer in it.

[GWR-fan]

The medical authorities tell us if you have a suspected coronavirus issue or need medical assistance then call the hotline.  My neighbour waited over 45 minutes and then hung up the call.  People after waiting are being redirected to other hotline numbers, waiting inline there and then being redirected back to the original hotline to again wait inline there.   Somehow calling up for urgent food deliveries does not seem a possibility.  Fine in theory but impractical due the services being overwhelmed.  What if a real catastrophe occurred?  Medical authorities do pandemic training rehearsals on a relatively regular basis and yet the possibility of actually responding to overwhelming emergency calls or dwindling food supplies seemed not to be part of their scenario.  Our infrastructure is not built for full scale emergency situations, only sporadic outbreaks.

[pH]

50 minutes ago, Reorte said:

I'd prefer something like petrol rationing than an outright ban. It'll make it impractical for many of them.

 

I don't know what's happening elsewhere, but the price of gas (petrol) is plummeting here. Before all this happened, we were paying between $1.30 and $1.45 a litre - prices vary regularly with no obvious cause. Then they started downwards. I filled the tank at $1.19 a litre, it had been literally years since I'd seen that price. It's now averaging $1.09, and actually fell to $0.99 in the city of Vancouver last night. (It was back up to $1.09 again there today.)

[Pacific231G]

[Reorte]

1 minute ago, pH said:

 

I don't know what's happening elsewhere, but the price of gas (petrol) is plummeting here. Before all this happened, we were paying between $1.30 and $1.45 a litre - prices vary regularly with no obvious cause. Then they started downwards. I filled the tank at $1.19 a litre, it had been literally years since I'd seen that price. It's now averaging $1.09, and actually fell to $0.99 in the city of Vancouver last night. (It was back up to $1.09 again there today.)

The price of oil has dropped massively (OPEC not cutting production, or at least hadn't when I heard this on the news some time last week, and much less demand than usual).