#panicbuyer

Panic buyers think that in the event of a quarantine, there will be food shortages. They believe this, because of the fact that they will have to remain at home for the vast majority of the time. 

What they fail to realise, of course, is that supermarkets selling essentials will have to remain open during a lockdown (as they currently are in Italy and Spain). It is access which will be limited, as people will have to form orderly queues and remain at least 1 metre away from each other while shopping. 

This begs the question of why people supposedly concerned about self-isolation would congregate in supermarkets with other people to fight over shopping items. Potentially, they could have the virus by the time they got home! Toilet paper won’t help, then! 

Panic buyers absurdly over-estimate how much they will need to eat, while ignoring the constant availability of food and essential household materials. They also over-estimate how many times they will have to wash their hands, while ignoring the fact that people without access to soap are more vulnerable to contracting coronavirus and unknowingly spreading it. 

After the next few months, panic buyers will be left with shelves full of mouldy tomatoes, stale bread, rancid milk, unused toilet paper, unopened soap, sealed hand sanitisers, uneaten pasta, bags of flour, and stacks of tins. They will then panic again, rushing to the supermarket to buy yet more possessions “just in case” coronavirus comes back and they have to self-quarantine again. 

The cycle continues. 

I have often been guilty of over-buying groceries and the subsequent waste. Fortunately, I have taken steps within the last 1-2 years to consume less overall, which has been hugely beneficial for my health and well-being. At no point have I starved, or faced imminent starvation. 

This is an illusion spread by panic buyers, who then infect others with this panic when they see empty shelves. I am pleased to say that I felt nothing but amusement and pity when I saw shelves devoid of pasta or toiletries today. It may take a few weeks, but the food and non-food essentials will be back in plenty, because there is absolutely no shortage and no need to hoard anything. 

It’s worth nothing that we already live in a panic buyer society. Every year, people hoard food and non-food items for Christmas. Black Friday, one of the most insidious and damaging “holidays” ever devised by man, is nothing but panic buying at artificially low prices. It’s not worry about the virus or the need to take precautions which fuels panic buying: it’s greed, artificial worries, and sheer stupidity which leads people to strip supermarket shelves bare. 

As I have said beforehand, every shop assistant I have met says “people have gone mad”, and that there is no need for panic buying. Supermarket heads are saying that people should not stockpile, because there is enough for everyone. Doctors and other medical professionals have given advice which can be followed using reasonable amounts of soap, water, tissues, and kitchen towels. At no point, even with the most dire (but unproven) predictions, have they ever sanctioned hoarding products. 

It’s hard not to run into someone who has been devastated by the panic buying pandemic. Just today, I heard about someone who had entirely run out of toilet paper, having to call his sister, who could only procure two boxes of man-sized tissues. All the stores were wiped clean. 

As mentioned beforehand, panic buying is stupid on its face. Were it only stupid, though! In fact, it is outright dangerous and will imperil the lives of millions in this country unless people put a cap to their greed and selfishness. 

Panic buying presumes that the country will face a shortage of toilet paper, soap, handwash, hand sanitiser, bread, and pasta as a result of coronavirus. This is pure nonsense. Coronavirus may affect shop assistants (who are being abused as I type this, trying to please greedy and aggressive customers), but as supermarkets have stated, there are *more* than enough food items and toiletries for everyone. 

Have the panic mob forgotten that Britain’s supermarkets waste *hundreds* of millions of pounds worth of food and other products each year, because of surplus? Yet they believe that the coronavirus will imperil the food and toiletries supply. 

Further stupidity can be found in the fact that hoarding toilet paper will not protect anyone from coronavirus. Firstly, there was no shortage of toilet paper (and other bathroom necessities) before panicking banshees raided the supermarket shelves. Secondly, coronavirus has no currently known impact on your digestive system. It is a respiratory disease. 

Meanwhile, we have millions of vulnerable people, many of whom are more likely to contract coronavirus, who are unable to access crucial resources. While some pack entire shelves of toilet paper into their bags, others are running out and cannot afford to buy more. If they can, they discover empty shelves in every store-- even those further away. 

I was lucky to get another packet of toilet roll yesterday, but only a 4-pack. I usually buy a 9 pack, which lasts a couple of weeks. Yesterday, the dazed shop assistants said that “people have gone mad”. So they have. Hoarding resources that will not protect them from the virus, as well as hoarding resources that other people also need to protect them from the virus, is not taking “precautions”. 

Many panic buyers seem to think that hoarding bread and tomatoes will assist them during a potential lockdown. What they have failed to realise is that these products have a shelf life which will not last several potential months of quarantine. They also fail to realise that in countries experiencing a lockdown, shops are still open. 

Why not? People will not suddenly stop needing groceries during a lockdown. This isn’t a nuclear apocalypse. We’re not at war. It will be necessary to continue to buy groceries during a potential lockdown. And for that to happen, we need stocks. All those who have hoarded will find much of their possessions useless. Even more ironically, by the time the danger has passed (and it will), they will be left with a giant, useless surplus of goods which could have gone to the needy. 

A word on soap etc. hoarding. Panic buyers seem to think that if they can clear the shelves of soap, they will not contract coronavirus. Of course, their hoarding means that many go without soap, meaning that they are unable to practice the highly effective method of handwashing. Without this, they are more vulnerable to contracting coronavirus and more likely to spread this unknowingly to others. 

Put simply, panic buying is endangering lives and making the potential number of infections *more* likely and the potential deaths *higher*. How people cannot see this is beyond me. If everyone bought a reasonable amount of soap, even a little extra, there would be *plenty* to go around. But never underestimate the power of greed, fear and stupidity in the midst of a crisis. 

Another aspect of panic buying: if we face a potential lockdown in Britain, the last thing we need are empty shops. As mentioned earlier, we need access to groceries, toiletries, etc. during the height of the infections phase. Panic buyers, with their head full of alarming statistics and blaring media reports (but no common sense or compassion), have forgotten this (or are entirely unaware of this). 

To survive coronavirus, we need a functioning economy. Essential shops must be open, and shop assistants kept in employment for as long as possible. This poses a risk (this can be mitigated using the lockdown methods of Italy and Spain), but will prevent the far more calamitous consequences of mass unemployment, increased dependency on welfare, and the health consequences associated with that. 

Panic buying will inevitably lead to less shopping in the future, which will damage the economy. A shop assistant wisely explained to me yesterday that people won’t want to buy anything in a couple of months. So how is hoarding sensible? It isn’t. Anyone with a brain can see that unstable economies often suffer in the face of epidemics, let alone a pandemic such as this. 

Supermarkets, dazed by the pestilence of greed (I have seen videos of fights over toilet paper in Australia) masquerading as “protection” and “precaution” (where does the NHS advice on coronavirus include hoarding 8 packets of toilet roll?), are now pleading with people not to stockpile resources. 

Much of the damage has already been done, however. When people automatically assume that predictions and statistics are unchangeable, see rising death tolls, and accept any speculation on social media as fact, they will ignore practical solutions (such as the highly effective advice to wash your hands more often).

Panic will not save *anyone* from coronavirus. In fact, it will (and already does) make the situation far worse. We survive during a crisis by keeping a cool head, taking precautions, and if necessary, more severe measures to fight the problem. Hoarding, fighting, spreading nonsense, exaggerating predictions, speculating and other nonsense has never stopped the spread of a disease and never will. 

I am embarrassed and disgusted by the wimpy greed shown by British people (as well as those in America and Australia). At the same time, I am encouraged by the large-scale condemnation of panic buying by sensible Britons (as well as other nationalities), as well as the courage and dignity being shown by the Italians, Spanish, South Koreans (and other nationalities). Where society isn’t run by greed and selfishness, people survive crises such as coronavirus.