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Especially that they would "hoard" it at the last minute when a disaster was already in progress. People who stock up on necessities as a normal part of their
by philwelch 7y ago
Especially that they would "hoard" it at the last minute when a disaster was already in progress.
People who stock up on necessities as a normal part of their lives would have been stocked up already and typically only buy these things to backfill from their current consumption. I don't know if this applies to toilet paper, but it's common in the LDS community to have at least 6 months' supply of nonperishable food at all times. Mormons don't typically buy 6 months of food at a time though, they just buy groceries at a normal rate to backfill their pantries via a FIFO rotation.
Of course, the rare occasions where someone would buy 6 months of something at a time--e.g. if they recently adopted a lifestyle and/or religion that encouraged this behavior--are easily absorbable by the supply chain assuming not everyone does it at once.
- wideasleep1 7y agoI suppose there was a delay realizing 'The shit has hit the fan! Hoard TP", and they took it too literally. Honestly, the compulsion to 'do something..anything' panic mode is a good explanation, aside from profiteers.
- philwelch 7y agoThere's something very viscerally gross about an imaginary scenario where you've been locked inside your own home for weeks and you run out of TP. I think a lot of people reacted emotionally to that scenario without thinking critically about it.
- wideasleep1 7y agoIf I were the panicky type, I'd prioritize input before 'output', it seems more limited and difficult to remedy by comparison. edit: besides, if I've done the former properly, the latter takes care of itself.
- philwelch 7y agoIf you were the panicky type, you wouldn’t address the issue rationally. A lot of people can’t really imagine long term hunger. They can imagine running out of toilet paper.