@World Traveler wrote:
Went to buy groceries this morning, which I usually do on this day of the week. Because I go when the place just opens up (6:00am), there are usually only about ten other people in the place. When I drove into the parking lot, almost every space was taken already!
It is usually nice, quiet time shopping at this place, sipping on my Starbucks as I go up and down the aisle. Not today!
Really ticks me off to see all these people hoarding stuff! I just got my usual items for the week, not getting anything more than I normally do. These people are followers. If they see someone else taking a bunch of stuff, they were doing it too. I asked one person why he was taking large containers of water; didn't his faucet work at home? He said he was doing it because everyone else was! I walked right by the water. The water at home, with a filter on it, is just fine.
Of course, there were no paper towels, toilet paper, napkins, etc. I didn't need them, but it was so pathetic looking to see people freaking out and grabbing anything and everything. One person told someone else, "I don't care for this, but I better take it, just in case." Sad.
I talked with the produce guy, saying "I guess this is good for business, right?" He said, "No, everyone is mad at me because I couldn't get what I ordered." He ordered four times as much potatoes than what he received. "People think I didn't order enough, but the supplier isn't giving all the outlets as much as they are asking for because they don't have enough either."
If people would just calm down and be sensible, not hoard, everyone would be fine with getting the products they want/need.
We aren't going to stop people hoarding or overbuying even when it isn't hoarding, during a time of crisis. The time this has to be addressed is during a time of non crisis, and people need to be made to see the light in having a certain amount of stock in their homes. I'm not going to say what amount it should be, that is kind of a personal choice, based on need (a single person needs less than a family of 10), availability of resources (how much money they have to work with) and space to store.
But short of limits set by retailers at this time, and many of those limits falling way short of what some people might need, (therfore making the panic even more intense for them, especially if they are large families, or the one person sent out to shop for several households who are self quarantining), this is to be expected, anticipated and personally planned for so we don't have to be a part of it.
I've said it before, but preparing a stock of goods necessary to get one through a lean time, can be done over time, when not in crisis, for as little as just a couple dollars a week.
I wonder if people who are so upset about this, who are just going and getting 'their regular things for the week' consider that they are actually contributing to the problem and their own stress levels. If they were more and better prepared, and had to get nothing for weeks, or say, just a fraction of what they normally would buy, they would be freeing up products space and time for others, and not have to worry in the least what was going on and how it was going to affect them. Just a thought.
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