5 ms·

If they were open and upfront about limited masks and reserving N95 and other PPE for healthcare workers there was a possibility of a social stigma of individua

If they were open and upfront about limited masks and reserving N95 and other PPE for healthcare workers there was a possibility of a social stigma of individuals buying up and using N95 and PPE. Like how scalpers get the stink eye and angry stares when they take all the toilet paper, hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes. Sure the masks might not have all gone to the right place but I imagine it would have been better than telling people you don't need masks.

ssully 5y ago
Doubtful. Just think about the toilet paper shortage; a common household item that never would have had a supply shortage if people just maintained their regular buying patterns. Now think of masks; a non-household item that a small percentage of households carried. Even if people were reasonable and only bought an amount to cover their needs, that would have introduced hundreds of millions of new buyers for that item.
- speedybird 5y ago
  Solution, be honest: "Masks work, but we don't have enough and need them for hospitals so you're not allowed to buy any. Wrap a tshirt around your face instead, it's probably better than nothing."
  - whimsicalism 5y ago
    The government cannot easily quickly ban the buying/selling of a certain thing like that. Just not how it works, far too slow moving.
    - yissp 5y ago
      They were able to completely shut down entire sectors of the economy pretty quickly quickly.
      - whimsicalism 5y ago
        States did that, and still not on the timescales we are discussing.
    - mint2 5y ago
      Huh come to think of it, banning the sale of masks would have been the most brilliant strategy to get people wearing masks. Imagine if instead of putting out a press release, they had quietly banned selling masks by retailers and then 3 days later when people caught wind of it explained the shortage mean they were only for hospital workers. All the anti government reactionaries that are now anti-maskers would be the most ardent mask wearers.
- PeterisP 5y ago
  There would have been a supply shortage even if people just maintained their regular buying patterns, simply because they started to use their home toilets much more and their business toilets much less, and those are different products (sometimes literally physically incompatible with the holders) with different supply chains, so an unexpected switch from people using product A to product B is inevitably going to cause a supply shock.
cat_plus_plus 5y ago
Toilet paper shortage was caused by shift from commercial to residential purchasing, with different packaging/distribution/purchase size characteristics. It's not a convenient item for scalping due to low value per volume (comparing to hundreds of $1K iPhones easily fitting in a car trunk.
- ravel-bar-foo 5y ago
  One temporary solution would be for businesses to distribute / sell rolls of their no longer needed toilet paper to employees. Employees might not have a compatible dispenser at home, but in a shortage they could put it on a flat surface and peel off as needed. Lack of out of the box thinking...
  - HWR_14 5y ago
    Businesses did sell their stock. But the distribution lines to businesses rapidly collapsed due to lack of demand (or not in the case of essential businesses), and it wasn't viable to keep them open to just distribute commercial toilet paper.
- Natsu 5y ago
  I dunno, I ended up buying some scam toilet paper on Amazon that was the tiniest roll of paper I've ever seen with fraudulent pictures thereof.
speedybird 5y ago
Toilet paper scalpers... Last year I scoffed at the people buying two or three packages of toilet paper. I thought that was selfish, and refused to participate in that hysteria. Then a few weeks later, I was wiping my ass with paper towels for a month because I ran out of toilet paper and couldn't buy more. It got me thinking that I should buy a bidet. It also got me thinking that if I had been "part of the problem" and bought more toilet paper than I needed, I would've had enough for myself.
- autoexec 5y ago
  It convinced me to keep a reasonable amount in reserve at least. I don't expect another run on it like before, but toilet paper isn't likely to go bad sitting on a shelf. I can keep a few extra packs around 'just in case' and I can't see the price of toilet paper doing anything but going up in the future, so getting a little extra now makes sense.
  - Sebb767 5y ago
    This mentality actually was part of the problem. One person buying a few packs is nothing compared to a lot of people thinking they need to increase their stock by just one pack. Not to accuse you, it's the sane thing to do. But part of the shortage wasn't caused by hoaders, but by a lot of people stocking up a little.
    - autoexec 5y ago
      I agree. it's kind of unavoidable, but I took care to only grab a little extra over a long period, and hopefully if people do the same then the next time there's a problem in supply they won't have the sudden pressure to buy up everything available and the jerks who buy up pallets and fill the backs of pickup trucks will be stuck again with product they can't move.
- yissp 5y ago
  Bidets also sold out pretty quickly, along with exercise equipment, hair clippers, and so on.

ssully 5y ago

Doubtful. Just think about the toilet paper shortage; a common household item that never would have had a supply shortage if people just maintained their regular buying patterns. Now think of masks; a non-household item that a small percentage of households carried. Even if people were reasonable and only bought an amount to cover their needs, that would have introduced hundreds of millions of new buyers for that item.

speedybird 5y ago
Solution, be honest: "Masks work, but we don't have enough and need them for hospitals so you're not allowed to buy any. Wrap a tshirt around your face instead, it's probably better than nothing."
- whimsicalism 5y ago
  The government cannot easily quickly ban the buying/selling of a certain thing like that. Just not how it works, far too slow moving.
  - yissp 5y ago
    They were able to completely shut down entire sectors of the economy pretty quickly quickly.
    - whimsicalism 5y ago
      States did that, and still not on the timescales we are discussing.
  - mint2 5y ago
    Huh come to think of it, banning the sale of masks would have been the most brilliant strategy to get people wearing masks. Imagine if instead of putting out a press release, they had quietly banned selling masks by retailers and then 3 days later when people caught wind of it explained the shortage mean they were only for hospital workers. All the anti government reactionaries that are now anti-maskers would be the most ardent mask wearers.
PeterisP 5y ago
There would have been a supply shortage even if people just maintained their regular buying patterns, simply because they started to use their home toilets much more and their business toilets much less, and those are different products (sometimes literally physically incompatible with the holders) with different supply chains, so an unexpected switch from people using product A to product B is inevitably going to cause a supply shock.

cat_plus_plus 5y ago

Toilet paper shortage was caused by shift from commercial to residential purchasing, with different packaging/distribution/purchase size characteristics. It's not a convenient item for scalping due to low value per volume (comparing to hundreds of $1K iPhones easily fitting in a car trunk.

ravel-bar-foo 5y ago
One temporary solution would be for businesses to distribute / sell rolls of their no longer needed toilet paper to employees. Employees might not have a compatible dispenser at home, but in a shortage they could put it on a flat surface and peel off as needed. Lack of out of the box thinking...
- HWR_14 5y ago
  Businesses did sell their stock. But the distribution lines to businesses rapidly collapsed due to lack of demand (or not in the case of essential businesses), and it wasn't viable to keep them open to just distribute commercial toilet paper.
Natsu 5y ago
I dunno, I ended up buying some scam toilet paper on Amazon that was the tiniest roll of paper I've ever seen with fraudulent pictures thereof.

speedybird 5y ago

Toilet paper scalpers... Last year I scoffed at the people buying two or three packages of toilet paper. I thought that was selfish, and refused to participate in that hysteria. Then a few weeks later, I was wiping my ass with paper towels for a month because I ran out of toilet paper and couldn't buy more. It got me thinking that I should buy a bidet. It also got me thinking that if I had been "part of the problem" and bought more toilet paper than I needed, I would've had enough for myself.

autoexec 5y ago
It convinced me to keep a reasonable amount in reserve at least. I don't expect another run on it like before, but toilet paper isn't likely to go bad sitting on a shelf. I can keep a few extra packs around 'just in case' and I can't see the price of toilet paper doing anything but going up in the future, so getting a little extra now makes sense.
- Sebb767 5y ago
  This mentality actually was part of the problem. One person buying a few packs is nothing compared to a lot of people thinking they need to increase their stock by just one pack. Not to accuse you, it's the sane thing to do. But part of the shortage wasn't caused by hoaders, but by a lot of people stocking up a little.
  - autoexec 5y ago
    I agree. it's kind of unavoidable, but I took care to only grab a little extra over a long period, and hopefully if people do the same then the next time there's a problem in supply they won't have the sudden pressure to buy up everything available and the jerks who buy up pallets and fill the backs of pickup trucks will be stuck again with product they can't move.
yissp 5y ago
Bidets also sold out pretty quickly, along with exercise equipment, hair clippers, and so on.