Call it tragedy of the commons, call it whatever you like; your not buying stuff now isn't going to prevent a run later. Socially, you're probably still better

Call it tragedy of the commons, call it whatever you like; your not buying stuff now isn't going to prevent a run later. Socially, you're probably still better off buying sooner rather than later, because that means the system has more time to restock and ship things around for people later. If you're part of the end pile up, you're another stresser at the worst time. As evidence of this... the ideal time to stock up with emergency supplies was months or even a couple of years ago, when it would bother nobody. I've buffed up some supplies a bit, but I wasn't starting from scratch because I've been keeping stuff on hand for a while now. Giving the system months or years of headstart is better than weeks, but weeks or even a single week is better than nothing.