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Coronavirus virus fears causing panic buying

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Bald Rick

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Wife went doing the shop earlier and said pretty much everything in stock so either the idiots are lacking storage space for the things they over bought or the supply chain has been simplified.
Hopefully this self made 'crisis' will subside over the next week or two.

My experience too, the local Tesco was just about fully stocked at 1130 this morning, save for pasta (delivery due tomorrow). I also spoke to the shift managers at the local Sainsbury’s last night who said that the issue is getting it all out of the regional distribution centres and on to the shelves. Sainsburys had quite a few gaps, but did have plenty of toilet roll though!
 
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Mag_seven

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My local co-op had plenty of milk and bread this afternoon. Even so I did internally "tut-tut" when I saw a man with two of the larger sized cartons of milk in his basket. I was tempted but as I don't need any bread or milk at the moment I resisted. If everybody else does that (i.e. only buy when needed) then we should be fine. I did treat myself to some chocolate eclairs though.
 

matt

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Wife went doing the shop earlier and said pretty much everything in stock so either the idiots are lacking storage space for the things they over bought or the supply chain has been simplified.
Hopefully this self made 'crisis' will subside over the next week or two.

I've heard the same from a friend today who was out shopping that the local supermarkets had most things back in stock, including toilet roll.
 

Ianno87

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My local co-op had plenty of milk and bread this afternoon. Even so I did internally "tut-tut" when I saw a man with two of the larger sized cartons of milk in his basket. I was tempted but as I don't need any bread or milk at the moment I resisted. If everybody else does that (i.e. only buy when needed) then we should be fine. I did treat myself to some chocolate eclairs though.

Really don't tut tut. Two cartons of milk is not unreasonable.

Our family of 5 (with two wee ones) can practically inhale the milk we purchase at present.
 

AndrewE

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I sometimes struggle with spelling, I'm sure people know what it was meant to be.
Don't worry, of course we do, but it was a lovely typo. Some sad individuals will whinge, but more balanced people will be grateful for a smile.
 

Aictos

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Don't worry, of course we do, but it was a lovely typo. Some sad individuals will whinge, but more balanced people will be grateful for a smile.

Thank you, it's just sometimes I do struggle with pronouncing or spelling of words which does frustrate me.

My local Lidl still has shelves that are half empty, no toilet roll at all and restrictions in place to how many items you can buy eg 2 tins of food regardless, 2 toilet items, 2 instant noodles packs etc.

They were also only allowing a certain number of people in the store at any one time with a staff member counting how many people were in the store at any one time and also timing before letting more people enter the store.
 

hexagon789

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Really don't tut tut. Two cartons of milk is not unreasonable.

Our family of 5 (with two wee ones) can practically inhale the milk we purchase at present.

Two six-pinters isn't really a lot. It's those who stuff trolleys with a couple dozen jugs
 

trainophile

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I can't see how restricting the number of people in the store is going to be a foolproof way of preventing the virus spreading.

Sorry but although I'm not doing it myself (haven't been out since first thing Tuesday morning) I can understand why people want to avoid having to make multiple trips out every couple of days.
 

hexagon789

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I can't see how restricting the number of people in the store is going to be a foolproof way of preventing the virus spreading.

Sorry but although I'm not doing it myself (haven't been out since first thing Tuesday morning) I can understand why people want to avoid having to make multiple trips out every couple of days.

It's not foolproof but surely it reduces the chances of spreading the virus?
 

SHD

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It's not foolproof but surely it reduces the chances of spreading the virus?
*

Yes, provided that the outside queuing is well-organised.
It also facilitates the working conditions (particularly tiring at the moment) of store clerks and other staff.
 

AndrewE

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I can't see how restricting the number of people in the store is going to be a foolproof way of preventing the virus spreading.
Sorry but although I'm not doing it myself (haven't been out since first thing Tuesday morning) I can understand why people want to avoid having to make multiple trips out every couple of days.
Nothing is foolproof, but I can see the logic of limiting the number of people in a shop - if you accept that distance from an infectious person might help you avoid it.
I would be more impressed if the shops sanitised trolley handles before letting the next customer take them.
A friend has insisted on wearing cotton gloves anywhere outside her home for a few years now. we used to think she was a bit obsessive, but in the present circumstances it might be a good strategy. Pity the shops are so warm I can't keep my cycling gloves on in them...
 

hexagon789

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Yes, provided that the outside queuing is well-organised.
It also facilitates the working conditions (particularly tiring at the moment) of store clerks and other staff.

It will likely become normal practice so imagine many well get used to queuing outside soon enough.
 

SHD

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It will likely become normal practice so imagine many well get used to queuing outside soon enough.

Outside queuing was very quickly adopted in Italy and France, I have no doubt it will be perfectly practiced in the United Kingdom of Polite and Well-Organised Queing.
 

hexagon789

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I can only assume it's a joke (but without the ;)) smiley/emoticon symbol to make this clear) and presumably a reference to a supermarket TV programme (perhaps the one hosted by Dale Winston?)

Oh right, I was thinking along the lines of people dashing to secure the last available trolleys at the entrance.
 

trainophile

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No I was serious, but possibly an unfortunate choice of words. Just thinking that if there's a queue of 100+ waiting outside, will there be a time restriction on how long you can spend in the store once you get in?
 

SHD

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No I was serious, but possibly an unfortunate choice of words. Just thinking that if there's a queue of 100+ waiting outside, will there be a time restriction on how long you can spend in the store once you get in?

After the first few days, it should settle, really. My observation in Paris is that you can count on 2 minutes of queuing for each person in the queue. Quite reasonable, really - and no wait at the till!
I use self-scan, which speeds things a little bit, and helps avoiding the use store trolleys.
 

Baxenden Bank

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It's sadly proving to already be too late...



Link
However, the quote relates to statistics for 2019, so not relevant to the current crisis. A bit of jumping on the bandwagon. It reads as though the problem has just occurred in the past two weeks. It already was a problem, and may get worse if more people start putting more unacceptable 'wipes' into the system.
 

hexagon789

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No I was serious, but possibly an unfortunate choice of words. Just thinking that if there's a queue of 100+ waiting outside, will there be a time restriction on how long you can spend in the store once you get in?

How long are people going to take?
 

trainophile

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I doubt it. There will also be queues at the till in the bigger shops in the larger towns such as London

Shouldn't be queues at the till if they are only allowing half a dozen people to shop at the same time. Scope for a slick system to be operated, but of course even then no-one knows how many people will be in the queue outside.

I still maintain the best thing supermarkets can do, with the help of government if necessary, is sort out the problems being encountered by people unable to book a home delivery slot. Deals with several problems and reduces risk all round.
 

yorkie

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I still maintain the best thing supermarkets can do, with the help of government if necessary, is sort out the problems being encountered by people unable to book a home delivery slot. Deals with several problems and reduces risk all round.
I am sure people are putting a huge amount of thought and effort in how to "deal with" this problem.
 

Puffing Devil

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I am sure people are putting a huge amount of thought and effort in how to "deal with" this problem.

Simply not the capacity in the current system. Ignoring the Ocado/Morrisons model of fulfilment you need a 1:1 shopper/picker ratio for those orders supplied from a store.
 

tsr

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My family is involved with a care home in London which has been let down by a local supermarket which had promised "priority" deliveries for many essentials. The reality is that it is not entirely the fault of said local supermarket - they may have promised to prioritise, but there is simply nothing in that part of the supply chain to fulfil the order.

Two of us spent several hours yesterday searching supermarkets in a 10 mile radius for essentials including bread and milk. No eggs to be found anywhere whatsoever. Not a lot of anything useful, really. It came very very close to the residents going without the bulk of their breakfast today.

As you can imagine, such a facility does not have infinite capacity to store food, even with the best equipment and contingency planning (and there's a ton of it). It's been long enough that supplies have started to run seriously low.

I felt bad lifting the maximum permitted amount of bread from a store near us, chancing upon a batch straight from the oven. It would have looked like I was panic buying, but the reality is that some places are really, deeply desperate.

(There is little evidence of supermarkets pooling resources on the frontline - I can understand it might be OK within factories which supply several chains, perhaps using generic packaging and so on - but the logistics of merging deliveries for Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Waitrose etc. is not to be sniffed at, and probably something they don't actually have the manpower to do at the moment).

I don't understand why anyone would panic-buy eggs and milk. The UK has a large amount of chickens and cattle (you only have to see how many places proudly say how they "buy British", including massive supermarkets). The animals aren't just going to mysteriously stop producing essentials, and in many cases, the farmers are basically able to "do" self-distancing quite happily (and many of the collection drivers could, too). Beyond that, if people weren't buying a shipping container of bog roll every time they go to a shop, the supply chain would more or less cope.
 
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Cowley

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My family are involved with a care home in London which has been let down by a local supermarket which had promised "priority" deliveries for many essentials. The reality is that it is not entirely the fault of said local supermarket - they may have promised to prioritise, but there is simply nothing in that part of the supply chain to fulfil the order.

Two of us spent several hours yesterday searching supermarkets in a 10 mile radius for essentials including bread and milk. No eggs to be found anywhere whatsoever. Not a lot of anything useful, really. It came very very close to the residents going without the bulk of their breakfast today.

As you can imagine, such a facility does not have infinite capacity to store food, even with the best equipment and contingency planning (and there's a ton of it). It's been long enough that supplies have started to run seriously low.

I felt bad lifting the maximum permitted amount of bread from a store near us, chancing upon a batch straight from the oven. It would have looked like I was panic buying, but the reality is that some places are really, deeply desperate.

(There is little evidence of supermarkets pooling resources on the frontline - I can understand it might be OK within factories which supply several chains, perhaps using generic packaging and so on - but the logistics of merging deliveries for Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Waitrose etc. is not to be sniffed at, and probably something they don't actually have the manpower to do at the moment).

I don't understand why anyone would panic-buy eggs and milk. The UK has a large amount of chickens and cattle (you only have to see how many places proudly say how they "buy British", including massive supermarkets). The animals aren't just going to mysteriously stop producing essentials, and in many cases, the farmers are basically able to "do" self-distancing quite happily (and many of the collection drivers could, too). Beyond that, if people weren't buying a shipping container of bog roll every time they go to a shop, the supply chain would more or less cope.
I must admit that I’ve been thinking about this too.
It’s easy to instantly judge people with trolleys that are stacked high as panic buying, but they may be shopping for a few family members or a care home etc and are actually doing the right thing...
 
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