So, I went to Safeway today as I do most Fridays and found the checkout lines stretched halfway across the store. Even though covid-19 hasn't really affected my area yet. Nearest case I've heard of is over 20 miles away. When I talked to a few people it turned out they weren't that afraid of corona, they were just afraid stores would be empty if they waited. People who saw all the news reports of stockpiling got worried and started stockpiling themselves. Then word of mouth spread that it was happening here, panicking more people, and so on. I'm ashamed to admit I joined in. I didn't want to go through a line like that twice so I grabbed a bunch of protein bars while I was there. Weirdly, there were plenty still on the shelves, even though I'd have thought they were the perfect mostly balanced non-perishable food to stock up. On the other hand, the cheese section was almost completely empty. Why?! Sure it keeps pretty well, but it's still perishable.
Stocked up almost 2 weeks ago. Still, go out to get fresh food while preserving non-perishables for later. Saw this trainwreck coming miles away.
Went to the local supermarket and bought some groceries for the week today. And that's pretty much all I have at home, enough groceries for a week, tops. I'll go buy more next week~
I mean wouldn't (unopened) cheese just continue to age and get better and better? So technically it's even more non-perishable. In a similar vein, imagine complaining about wine ageing for too long...
Yeah, I went to Walmart and Cosco, and it's so stupid! There's no toilet paper, paper towels, sanitizer, or wipes. It's like seriously? That's not going to save you.
I went two days ago and it was fine. Sure, there was less toilet paper than usual, but I still managed to stock up and everything else was pretty much the same. Even the lines were the same.
Thats the problem, if everyone starts to stock pile... and you dont join... what you find are the leftovers, if you find any... so its better to stuck up items before the shit hits the fan... i have stocked up water, food, and other stuff, i have food for about 2 months if i consume little.... now if you add the corona virus plus corrupt politic bastards, riots, arson etc (chile) then my problems are way bigger than yours
I go shopping, reluctantly, every two weeks. not much stocking up here. last time I went, though, it was normal. admittedly, I didn't go down the tp isle so I suppose it could have been cleaned out and I didn't notice.
It's like the end of the world... all empty shelves here and the queues! It's absolute carnage out there!! Good job I got the weekly shop yesterday. Shops are still going to be there people.
Basically, what we also plan to do. Why is it stupid? it's just a manifestation of people's fear and worries. Also, how do you know if it had not prevented anything? Food is the main issue for us. I will miss going out just to have a change of scenery. We're good on non-peroishable but we have a growing tyke and he eats everything he could get his hands on.
Oh yeah, the only thing I noticed to be missing in the market was alcohol in gel, that was annoying. I was going to a picnic with my friends in which we were going to play card games and eat. So I needed the alcohol to clean my hands to not dirty the cards (Like, sure, the cards were protected by sleeves, but I didn't want to dirty the sleeves! >.<) and the like... But 2 supermarkets had no alcohol in gel remaining! >.< I ended up needing to buy it at a drugstore, and they're always more expensive at those... T.T ... That was pretty much the only effect I've seen from the panic so far.
Business as usual in my suburb. No panic buying. We're not the wealthiest suburb, but we're considered fairly affluent. Might be a factor.