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>it's more important to educate people not to panic-buy fuel since that's adding a significant strain to the problem I wonder how true this actually is, certai

>it's more important to educate people not to panic-buy fuel since that's adding a significant strain to the problem I wonder how true this actually is, certainly a useful narrative for the government. But surely, if fuel supply at point of sale is down 30%, there is 30% less fuel, no matter how you dress it. There were isolated reports of people bringing jerry cans to petrol stations, and I agree this is artificially inflating demand, but I'm not sure this is very widespread.

oarsinsync 5y ago
> There were isolated reports of people bringing jerry cans to petrol stations, and I agree this is artificially inflating demand, but I'm not sure this is very widespread. I know several people who have brought jerry cans to petrol stations. None of them were panic buying / hoarding. All of them were buying fuel for other people who were literally at zero, having burned whatever little they had left in queues that led to nothing. Beware the assumption that jerry cans == hoarding / panic buying. It's great for tabloids to stir up anger and resentment, but the real world is always more nuanced than the headline.
- rich_sasha 5y ago
  Yeah I'm not judging. Also I can imagine people whose lives depend on petrol (taxi drivers, delivery drivers etc.), at least I sympathise with the position. In any case it seems to be the exceptions, not "everyone fills up the tank, then 20 jerry cans and a bottle of Coke".
Cthulhu_ 5y ago
It doesn't need to be panic buying, a relatively small increase in demand - 10-20% - can already put a lot of strain on the system. I don't recall there being much toilet paper hoarding over here, but stores were still sold out because people bought a little extra, just in case they would be out later.
- OJFord 5y ago
  And then seemingly over-corrected for it - a while later (late 2020 iirc, or early this year) a Waitrose delivery driver gave me a pack (I hadn't ordered) for free. I was quite confused at the time, but I assume they were just dishing them out to free up capacity for other products. (I also assume stock control is quite highly automated, so you can certainly see how it would happen.)
- Veen 5y ago
  Yes, that's a consequence of just in time supply chains. The benefit is that you dont' have to store a lot of product, but the downside is you run out unless you're careful about demand prediction.

oarsinsync 5y ago

> There were isolated reports of people bringing jerry cans to petrol stations, and I agree this is artificially inflating demand, but I'm not sure this is very widespread. I know several people who have brought jerry cans to petrol stations. None of them were panic buying / hoarding. All of them were buying fuel for other people who were literally at zero, having burned whatever little they had left in queues that led to nothing. Beware the assumption that jerry cans == hoarding / panic buying. It's great for tabloids to stir up anger and resentment, but the real world is always more nuanced than the headline.

rich_sasha 5y ago
Yeah I'm not judging. Also I can imagine people whose lives depend on petrol (taxi drivers, delivery drivers etc.), at least I sympathise with the position. In any case it seems to be the exceptions, not "everyone fills up the tank, then 20 jerry cans and a bottle of Coke".

Cthulhu_ 5y ago

It doesn't need to be panic buying, a relatively small increase in demand - 10-20% - can already put a lot of strain on the system. I don't recall there being much toilet paper hoarding over here, but stores were still sold out because people bought a little extra, just in case they would be out later.

OJFord 5y ago
And then seemingly over-corrected for it - a while later (late 2020 iirc, or early this year) a Waitrose delivery driver gave me a pack (I hadn't ordered) for free. I was quite confused at the time, but I assume they were just dishing them out to free up capacity for other products. (I also assume stock control is quite highly automated, so you can certainly see how it would happen.)
Veen 5y ago
Yes, that's a consequence of just in time supply chains. The benefit is that you dont' have to store a lot of product, but the downside is you run out unless you're careful about demand prediction.