4 ms·

It's not irrational any more, enough people were/are acting irrationally to cause real shortages, so much so that at this point the rational thing to do is to m

It's not irrational any more, enough people were/are acting irrationally to cause real shortages, so much so that at this point the rational thing to do is to make sure you're prepared and stocked up with basic essentials.

mygo 7y ago
we have developed a very efficient supply chain, where stores generally keep on shelf what they expect to sell, and everything else stays in some warehouse somewhere. stores restock every day; every week. there will not be supply shortages, just things out of stock until they get restocked the next day. For all we know, stores may start having things that are selling out quickly shipped to them in larger quantities. This isn’t like the potato famine or similar where the actual production was disrupted, or a war or natural disaster where supply chains are disrupted, leading to real shortages. Just people buying in larger quantities than stores have stocked for. If you can’t get what you need today, it’ll be there tomorrow, etc. While the stock market has crashed, retail stores are seeing their biggest profits in years. They have every incentive to keep restocking and even to respond by stocking in larger quantities during this time.
- phpnode 7y ago
  They'll restock tomorrow and a large proportion of people who saw the empty shelves today will buy more than they would normally to make sure that they don't go without, leading to empty shelves, goto 10. Supply chains are intact but they can't deal with this level of demand immediately and so there's going to be a period in which there are shortages. How long those shortages last depend not only demand but on other factors, e.g. how many people in the supply chain are directly or indirectly affected by the virus.
  - mygo 7y ago
    This assumes that people have infinite money, infinite demand, infinite space, and infinite time. But there are diminishing marginal returns. Check your local retailers today and see if they’re still sold out of toilet paper.

mygo 7y ago

we have developed a very efficient supply chain, where stores generally keep on shelf what they expect to sell, and everything else stays in some warehouse somewhere. stores restock every day; every week. there will not be supply shortages, just things out of stock until they get restocked the next day. For all we know, stores may start having things that are selling out quickly shipped to them in larger quantities. This isn’t like the potato famine or similar where the actual production was disrupted, or a war or natural disaster where supply chains are disrupted, leading to real shortages. Just people buying in larger quantities than stores have stocked for. If you can’t get what you need today, it’ll be there tomorrow, etc. While the stock market has crashed, retail stores are seeing their biggest profits in years. They have every incentive to keep restocking and even to respond by stocking in larger quantities during this time.

phpnode 7y ago
They'll restock tomorrow and a large proportion of people who saw the empty shelves today will buy more than they would normally to make sure that they don't go without, leading to empty shelves, goto 10. Supply chains are intact but they can't deal with this level of demand immediately and so there's going to be a period in which there are shortages. How long those shortages last depend not only demand but on other factors, e.g. how many people in the supply chain are directly or indirectly affected by the virus.
- mygo 7y ago
  This assumes that people have infinite money, infinite demand, infinite space, and infinite time. But there are diminishing marginal returns. Check your local retailers today and see if they’re still sold out of toilet paper.