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I believe that the panic buying is primarily a leadership problem. Especially in Europe, the governments have, for the past decades but even more so in the past

I believe that the panic buying is primarily a leadership problem. Especially in Europe, the governments have, for the past decades but even more so in the past 5 years, retreated and said "we can't do anything anyhow, so you'll just have to deal with it". People have learned and do whatever they have to to protect themselves, because the society at large is falling apart and losing cohesion. If you have no leadership, you can't expect people to behave orderly. The US population is historically suspicious of the government and it's ability to get things done, so individuality is much more pronounced there. Secondly, I think the government, media and experts just haven't thought their communication strategy through. They've told people "you might need to get isolated in your home for a few weeks, and remember to wash your hands a lot". What, besides stocking up on food, soap/sanitizer and toilet paper, would you expect them to do in response?

kjakm 7y ago
>> What, besides stocking up on food, soap/sanitizer and toilet paper, would you expect them to do in response? I would have hoped people would keep in mind that staying home for a few weeks doesn't necessitate buying all that much more than a lot of families do in a "big shop". Take toilet paper as an example. The amount of it that's being bought by most people will last them 6-12 months. I know there's a lot of factors pushing people to make these decisions but it's certainly altered my generally optimistic/positive view of people as a whole.
- luckylion 7y ago
  I've seen some pictures of people walking out with mountains of toilet paper as well, but I don't think that was the norm. It's not three guys making off with a truckload, it's a lot of people buying and extra package or two, enough for the next six weeks which will quickly deplete the aisles, since stores are operating without storage space (because storage is expensive, and stored goods are dead capital), so they have no reserves. Also, from my personal experience, it's a distribution problem. There is enough toilet paper, but it's sold out at some stores while others have more than enough. Can't level that out though, because margins are thin and the companies would lose money.
- 0xffff2 7y ago
  It necessitates that all of those families buy twice as much this month so that they're prepared to spend a few weeks staying home starting the day before they would have gone shopping again. It also necessitates that I (a single person living alone who normally goes grocery shopping every other day or so) buy way more than I ordinarily would. Most people are not out there buying truckloads of TP. Everyone buying twice as much TP (and everything else) as usual is more than enough to create shortages.

kjakm 7y ago

>> What, besides stocking up on food, soap/sanitizer and toilet paper, would you expect them to do in response? I would have hoped people would keep in mind that staying home for a few weeks doesn't necessitate buying all that much more than a lot of families do in a "big shop". Take toilet paper as an example. The amount of it that's being bought by most people will last them 6-12 months. I know there's a lot of factors pushing people to make these decisions but it's certainly altered my generally optimistic/positive view of people as a whole.

luckylion 7y ago
I've seen some pictures of people walking out with mountains of toilet paper as well, but I don't think that was the norm. It's not three guys making off with a truckload, it's a lot of people buying and extra package or two, enough for the next six weeks which will quickly deplete the aisles, since stores are operating without storage space (because storage is expensive, and stored goods are dead capital), so they have no reserves. Also, from my personal experience, it's a distribution problem. There is enough toilet paper, but it's sold out at some stores while others have more than enough. Can't level that out though, because margins are thin and the companies would lose money.
0xffff2 7y ago
It necessitates that all of those families buy twice as much this month so that they're prepared to spend a few weeks staying home starting the day before they would have gone shopping again. It also necessitates that I (a single person living alone who normally goes grocery shopping every other day or so) buy way more than I ordinarily would. Most people are not out there buying truckloads of TP. Everyone buying twice as much TP (and everything else) as usual is more than enough to create shortages.