Coronavirus virus fears causing panic buying

JonathanH · 14 Mar 2020

Bletchleyite said:
I don't think anyone takes the view that it will continue indefinitely, though. (The virus might, but not issues with everyone getting it at once).

So how does the strategy work? If there is a continued move to people not leaving their home for work (where they can) and they are forbidden by their employer from leaving the house, does there come a point in a few months time when those restrictions imposed by employers are overriden by government policy?

How long could a full lockdown policy apply for?

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SHD · 14 Mar 2020

The Lad said:
Where can you buy Ethanol by retail other than somewhat dilute in the form of Vodka?
I'm pretty sure HM Customs and Excise would be very interested.

https://www.diy.com/departments/la-hacienda-bio-ethanol-fuel-2l/540224_BQ.prd

and, I imagine, from any pharmacist, although it may be 70-degree alcohol, and in smaller containers.

AM9 · 14 Mar 2020

JonathanH said:
So how does the strategy work? If there is a continued move to people not leaving their home for work (where they can) and they are forbidden by their employer from leaving the house, does there come a point in a few months time when those restrictions imposed by employers are overriden by government policy?

How long could a full lockdown policy apply for?

A full lockdown policy can last forever, but it would for the most part be unenforceable anyway. Social distancing is adequate which means that people need to keep (say) 2 metres from each other. If people are self-isolated, they can go into their gardens if they have one, (bear in mind that the weather is getting better every week). If they live in flats, then leave the building when stairs aren't too busy, and seek out the local parks and open spaces. Generally it would be healthier for them to dress properly and 'walk' around in the fresh air, (unless they are going through the crisis stage with a roaring temperature). Walking around outside won't threaten anyboy else's health if they are warned not to come too close.

Baxenden Bank · 14 Mar 2020

JonathanH said:
So how does the strategy work? If there is a continued move to people not leaving their home for work (where they can) and they are forbidden by their employer from leaving the house, does there come a point in a few months time when those restrictions imposed by employers are overriden by government policy?

How long could a full lockdown policy apply for?

The idea seems to be of 'lockdown fatigue' where people simply get fed up of being locked down and go out anyway. China is a different country with a different style of government and populace.

I don't see how an employer can forbid you from leaving your house though. The Government certainly can - under current rules the self-isolation can be mandated by a health official if you are suspected of having the virus. Not sure what the penalties are for ignoring it though.

Bletchleyite · 14 Mar 2020

JonathanH said:
So how does the strategy work? If there is a continued move to people not leaving their home for work (where they can) and they are forbidden by their employer from leaving the house, does there come a point in a few months time when those restrictions imposed by employers are overriden by government policy?

In what manner can an employer "forbid someone from leaving the house"? They can close their offices but they have no control over what is done in spare time.

John Griffiths · 14 Mar 2020

They may consider employees to be "working from home" and so be a bit miffed if they are instead mooching about the local park.

Bletchleyite · 14 Mar 2020

John Griffiths said:
They may consider employees to be "working from home" and so be a bit miffed if they are instead mooching about the local park.

Well, er, clearly, if you're within working hours you need to, er, work. But before and after work what you do is up to you.

As someone who works from home, I know my employer doesn't give a monkey's if I am *actually at home* provided I am working.

trainophile · 14 Mar 2020

If "working from home" was literal, you wouldn't see so many open laptops with boring looking stuff on them on trains. :lol:

High Dyke · 14 Mar 2020

ATW Alex 101 said:
The whole thing is stupid.... I’m not sure one of the symptoms of coronavirus involves having the sh*ts

Absolutely. Still at least there were plenty of tissues available in Aldi this morning.

philjo · 14 Mar 2020

Morrisons had lots of empty shelves this morning. No porridge, flour, yeast and the tinned soups and tinned rice shelves were almost empty. Some of freezers in the frozen veg section also nearly empty.
I got the last large pair of rubber gloves (so I can wash the glass in the greenhouse)

trainophile · 14 Mar 2020

It's got nothing to do with having an upset stomach. Most of you are blokes, right? A large proportion (I know there are exceptions) have a partner, who deals with essential shopping and keeping track of what is needed? You go to the bathroom and expect there to be soap, towels and loo rolls there? Spare a thought for the woman (usually) who takes responsibility for the continued supply of such essentials. How many of you who have a wife or partner could currently say how many spare loo rolls you have at home?

High Dyke · 14 Mar 2020

trainophile said:
It's got nothing to do with having an upset stomach. Most of you are blokes, right? A large proportion (I know there are exceptions) have a partner, who deals with essential shopping and keeping track of what is needed? You go to the bathroom and expect there to be soap, towels and loo rolls there? Spare a thought for the woman (usually) who takes responsibility for the continued supply of such essentials. How many of you who have a wife or partner could currently say how many spare loo rolls you have at home?

I can...I purchased some loo roll a couple of weeks ago; we buy the larger packs from Asda (NB: other retail outlets also sell the product).
In our house it's whoever gets to the supermarket first to purchase essential household items.

typefish · 14 Mar 2020

Dad witnessed a lass buying £300 of mostly perishable goods (and nappies) at his local Morrisons

Like, what?

trainophile · 14 Mar 2020

typefish said:
Dad witnessed a lass buying £300 of mostly perishable goods (and nappies) at his local Morrisons

Like, what?

Maybe she runs a childcare nursery? I often wonder when I see people with a whole trolley load full of bread or milk or cereal, surely they must have a guest house or something.

Mag_seven · 14 Mar 2020

Just back from my local Co-op: an oasis of calm. Plenty of stocks of everything and most using a basket rather than a trolley.

trainophile · 14 Mar 2020

Mag_seven said:
Just back from my local Co-op: an oasis of calm. Plenty of stocks of everything and most using a basket rather than a trolley.

Everything? Hand gel? o_O

typefish · 14 Mar 2020

trainophile said:
Maybe she runs a childcare nursery? I often wonder when I see people with a whole trolley load full of bread or milk or cereal, surely they must have a guest house or something.

Surely somewhere such as a cash and carry would be more cost effective though?

Mogster · 14 Mar 2020

Mag_seven said:
Just back from my local Co-op: an oasis of calm. Plenty of stocks of everything and most using a basket rather than a trolley.

People seem to be heading to the big supermarkets apparently. Smaller places don’t seem to be affected as much.

trainophile · 14 Mar 2020

typefish said:
Surely somewhere such as a cash and carry would be more cost effective though?

Yes good point, but I can't think of any other reason for people buying 20 loaves and 30 packets of bacon!

Puffing Devil · 14 Mar 2020

My local Aldi was busy this afternoon, though there was plenty of fresh food and veg and the freezers were well stocked.

I didn't check out the pasta as I already have my own Pasta Mountain at home, as, like many people, I tend to order-up when offers are on and built up my stocks pre COVID-19 just to save some £££. My family always like to tease me, though now they are viewing the store cupboard in a different light......

PeterC · 14 Mar 2020

Yesterday my local Waitrose was out of loo roll and kitchen towel and I noticed that frozen chips in particular had sold out.

scotrail158713 · 14 Mar 2020

Mag_seven said:
Just back from my local Co-op: an oasis of calm. Plenty of stocks of everything and most using a basket rather than a trolley.

Same with my local one when I went at lunchtime. Only difference I noticed was a sign at the till advising certain products (soap, hand gels, toilet roll etc) were limited to 3 per person.

bramling · 14 Mar 2020

scotrail158713 said:
Same with my local one when I went at lunchtime. Only difference I noticed was a sign at the till advising certain products (soap, hand gels, toilet roll etc) were limited to 3 per person.

Sainsbury’s in Clapham was chaos this morning, people queuing out the door before opening and when they got in there was a mass stampede towards the toilet roll aisle.

I ended up doing a bit of a supermarket crawl this afternoon, whilst (unsuccessfully) trying to seek out a particular brand of facial moisturising cream - which I couldn’t get hold of although I don’t think that was Covid19 related.

My local Sainsbury’s was very busy, and not a toilet roll on the shelves, as well as the lack of hand gels and pasta. By contrast Waitrose was pretty civilised, didn’t seem to be any restrictions on anything and they even had a reasonably plentiful supply of liquid hand soap (not gel), and even the toilet roll aisle was only half bare.

Definitely a strange atmosphere, people visibly more aggressive than normal, and saw a couple of minor squabbles in Sainsbury’s, mainly over people getting in each other’s way.

edwin_m · 14 Mar 2020

About a week ago the supermarket people were saying that this situation would clear in a week or so as extra orders worked their way through the supply chain. This seems not to be the case - I was another one to find the local supermarket almost out of toilet rolls and completely devoid of pasta and rice, with the shelves for all non-cooled food items and even frozen pizzas not fully stocked.

I wonder if we are facing the situation where the combination of reports of panic buying and uncertainty about how long and how bad this situation will be means that whenever certain people see one of these "scarce" items they buy and hoard it. If so it's unlikely to be checked until people have run out of money or completely filled all available space.

I wonder too if this is about distrust in the government. They wobbled when Nick Hancock claimed he'd been talking to the supermarkets and they denied it. Earlier this week I would have said Boris was handling this well by apparently leaving it to the scientists, but now I'm not so sure given the concerns being raised about the "herd immunity" strategy. Not in the Trump league probably, but Boris has form for blatant dishonesty and if he's caught trying to spin this then the consequences could be severe.

Darandio · 14 Mar 2020

Anyone doing it just joins an increasing bunch of selfish idiots. They don't need 384 toilet rolls and they don't need 50kg of dried pasta. It would be hilarious if it wasn't so serious.

bramling · 14 Mar 2020

edwin_m said:
About a week ago the supermarket people were saying that this situation would clear in a week or so as extra orders worked their way through the supply chain. This seems not to be the case - I was another one to find the local supermarket almost out of toilet rolls and completely devoid of pasta and rice, with the shelves for all non-cooled food items and even frozen pizzas not fully stocked.

I wonder if we are facing the situation where the combination of reports of panic buying and uncertainty about how long and how bad this situation will be means that whenever certain people see one of these "scarce" items they buy and hoard it. If so it's unlikely to be checked until people have run out of money or completely filled all available space.

I wonder too if this is about distrust in the government. They wobbled when Nick Hancock claimed he'd been talking to the supermarkets and they denied it. Earlier this week I would have said Boris was handling this well by apparently leaving it to the scientists, but now I'm not so sure given the concerns being raised about the "herd immunity" strategy. Not in the Trump league probably, but Boris has form for blatant dishonesty and if he's caught trying to spin this then the consequences could be severe.

I suspect the panic buying is now having a consequential effect of other people now thinking “with all this panic buying going on to hell with it I’d better get some extra if I can” and then buying extra in case the shelves are bare next time.

I’ve felt obliged to do this for a couple of things we regularly have as getting them has proved a problem the last couple of times. Not toilet rolls though!

dgl · 14 Mar 2020

I must have been seen as a god like figure when I had the task of delivering toilet rolls to all the vans we had people staying in yesterday (and that was quite a few toilet rolls, had over 100 on me at one point and probably delivered near double that), we could have sold them to the guests instead of giving them away for free!

As for manic supermarkets, LIDL on Portland was quiet when I went in at opening this morning and was of a normal level of busyness at about 4:30 this afternoon. Plenty of toilet rolls I believe.

Cowley · 14 Mar 2020

dgl said:
I must have been seen as a god like figure when I had the task of delivering toilet rolls to all the vans we had people staying in yesterday (and that was quite a few toilet rolls, had over 100 on me at one point and probably delivered near double that), we could have sold them to the guests instead of giving them away for free!

As for manic supermarkets, LIDL on Portland was quiet when I went in at opening this morning and was of a normal level of busyness at about 4:30 this afternoon. Plenty of toilet rolls I believe.

I tried to steal a toilet roll from my dad’s bathroom earlier but it fell out of my jumper while I was putting my shoes on.

Re pasta though - I find that if I eat a massive plateful of the stuff half an hour later I feel hungry again.
If anyone wants my share they’re more than welcome because I’d rather have rice or noodles personally.

R G NOW. · 14 Mar 2020

KevinTurvey said:
Parents and grandparents generation always added salt to the cooking water, as it has been said it raises the boiling point, but you need loads to make more than a degree or two difference. I suppose with the advance of pressure cookers, later microwaves and the associated health scares around salt the practice has been abandoned and forgotten about.

Probably in a similar way as frying sausages, bacon and bread (in lard) which would horrify some of the younger generation!

Anyway most tissues, paper towels, cleaning gel and washing up liquid (apart from the very expensive one) mostly gone.

This is very odd about the washing up liquid, it was the other way round in my Sainsburys yesterday, loads of their own brands, but fairy gone except the very large ones on the bottom shelf, how strange is that.

deltic · 14 Mar 2020

Sainsbury’s this morning was packed and virtually empty of anything edible that was not perishable.

Lots of pet food available!

Coronavirus virus fears causing panic buying

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