Behavior Patterns in Panic Buying

[candrew]

Grocery stores in our area have been out of shell eggs for days now. We're going to hit up a small farmer's market this Saturday morning.

 

[Winemaker]

In the late '70s, I worked in a hardware store that was part of a syndication. When the stores had a promotion, each store was required to buy a number of items, whether there was a market for them or not. Our non-seller was Joe Namath Popcorn Poppers, which we paid about $4 for and were selling them at about $8, and we had about 40 of them and they sat up on an overhead shelf. It was Dec 23, and we had an large empty space on some floor shelves. I told my manager that I'd fill that empty spot with the poppers. Instead of bringing them down a ladder and carry them over to the shelf in Aisle #3, I had a co w*rker stand there and catch the poppers. I joked out loud that "this was the last of them" and "we probably won't get any more" and we all laughed. Well, something clicked and soon they were flying out the door. We sold all but 3 of them that evening and it was a real eye opening experience about herd mentality/impulse buying. Obviously, I never forgot about that experience and the fun we had that evening!

 

[W2R]

Just now I checked and I have EIGHT ROLLS of paper towels!!!

I couldn't remember, and was thinking that if I didn't have any then I'd have to use hand towels and launder them because I do not want to go to the store.

Also, I told F about the cheddar cheese story (above) for laughs, and after we laughed he said he'd get some for me because he has to go back for something he forgot. Yes he is the nicest man who ever lived.

 

[JoeWras]

I joked out loud that "this was the last of them" and "we probably won't get any more" and we all laughed. Well, something clicked and soon they were flying out the door. We sold all but 3 of them that evening and it was a real eye opening experience about herd mentality/impulse buying. Obviously, I never forgot about that experience and the fun we had that evening!

You are a natural salesperson.

Every time I buy a car, the salespeople are insistent that the model with 10x the number of the other model are in short supply. Yeah, right.

... Joe Namath ... ? Shaking my head.

 

[cathy63]

I don't know if this is true elsewhere, but here in New Orleans, it helps to shop around. People are saying that while one store might be out of something, another store will have it. Or, the first store might have it early on the next morning if they have been restocking overnight. I don't know this personally but this is what people have been saying online around here.

That's what I found here also. Our local grocery store was out of several things I wanted yesterday, but I stopped at the same chain grocer as I passed through the neighboring town this morning and they had everything I needed, although they were out of other things. I think part of it is different demographics. The really noticeable one was that the store that serves a larger hispanic population is out of tortillas, while the other one is out of bread.

Since we live within walking distance of the grocery store, it's not unusual for us to decide what we want to make for dinner and then go buy the ingredients. Now I'm finding that I have to switch my mindset to "buy what they have and then decide what to make from it".

 

[cathy63]

People also cannot stock up enough water for a hurricane.

On the other hand, I just saw a headline that the public has to be reminded that there's no fear of virus in the public water supply, and that tap water is safe to drink.

Yep, I got this in an email from our water company yesterday:

WATER QUALITY
California American Water’s drinking water treatment barriers provide protection that includes filtration and disinfection of our surface water supplies (e.g., those from lakes, reservoirs, or rivers) and disinfection of our groundwater sources (e.g., underground wells).  These treatments are effective in removing and/or inactivating viruses. Our water meets all current federal and state drinking water requirements.
​

They also promised not to shut anyone off for non-payment during this crisis.

 

[Ready]

Several hundred people in line this morning at Costco. It’s been like this every morning for the past few weeks. Normally once the toilet paper and disinfectant products sell out the lines go away but I tried again this afternoon and the lines were just as long. It was looking about 2 hours wait just to get into the store.

Part of the problem is that kids are out of school and most people are out of work, so nobody has anything to do. Almost all of the stores are closed around here. Health clubs are closed, no movies, no restaurants, nothing to do. Costco is the big activity for the day for everyone.

But while Costco is attempting to keep the stores from getting too crowded, the people waiting in line to get in the stores are standing right next to each other, which only makes the overall situation even worse.

 

[NW-Bound]

^^^ 2 hours wait to get in? Lordy. Are other grocery stores as busy?

As a Costco member, I know the prices there are good particularly if you are stocking up and buy $1000 worth of "stuff", but for standing in line particularly if you are afraid of getting infected, I would pay more to go to Safeway or Fry's. And Winco is actually quite inexpensive, as we recently found out.

PS. Perhaps because restaurants and other places have been closed, people are now hanging out in grocery lines for camaraderie. And that why they bunch up to chat, and to trade war stories.

 

[cathy63]

View attachment 34188

Several hundred people in line this morning at Costco. It’s been like this every morning for the past few weeks. Normally once the toilet paper and disinfectant products sell out the lines go away but I tried again this afternoon and the lines were just as long. It was looking about 2 hours wait just to get into the store.

Part of the problem is that kids are out of school and most people are out of work, so nobody has anything to do. Almost all of the stores are closed around here. Health clubs are closed, no movies, no restaurants, nothing to do. Costco is the big activity for the day for everyone.

But while Costco is attempting to keep the stores from getting too crowded, the people waiting in line to get in the stores are standing right next to each other, which only makes the overall situation even worse.

It depends which store you go to. The Southest San Diego store was fine yesterday (except for being out of TP, water, eggs, rice, flour, tortillas and dried beans). There was only one person in the checkout line in front of me, and I was chatting with the bagger who said it was a huge relief after the crowds over the weekend.

 

[Ready]

It depends which store you go to. The Southest San Diego store was fine yesterday (except for being out of TP, water, eggs, rice, flour, tortillas and dried beans). There was only one person in the checkout line in front of me, and I was chatting with the bagger who said it was a huge relief after the crowds over the weekend.

It was like that last week on the weekdays. But a lot of businesses just announced they were shutting down today after the White House advised people to avoid groups of ten or more. So now every day is like the weekend here.

At some point people are going to have so much stuff in their house they won’t have any more room for it. Or they are going to run out of money after getting laid off and no longer will be able to afford to buy anything.

This will pass. Hopefully soon.

 

[prudent_one]

Our local news at 5 had a report of TP shortages. He did a live shot in a supermarket where they were restocking the TP shelf - the clerk who had brought out a carton of TP packages couldn't hardly get any up on the shelf as a steady stream of people came by and took a package (limit 1, you know). He moved around the store to show some skimpy supplies of meat and produce and came back to the TP shelf just as another clerk wheeled out a whole pallet of TP and plopped it down in the aisle. Nobody touched it as he went through the rest of his report. They looked, saw the massive supply, and moved on.

 

[Sunset]

The issue with this hoarding trend is not that folks think the stores will run out of certain goods and they won't be restocked. Rather, it's because they fear the virus will become so prevalent that it is dangerous to be around other shoppers at a store or perhaps that the gov't quarantines us. So, they think they should have enough of some items that they can stay home and not be in public venues for weeks (months?) if necessary.

Even at our house where DW and I are very much into eating fresh (consume little that comes out of a can, jar or the freezer), I've now stocked up on that sort of stuff and we are good for a few weeks of being home bound if it comes to that. But this isn't because we think that stores will run out of food/household supplies and not restock.

++++++++
We have older relatives who might need our help, if we constantly go out to the stores, we might be infected and not know it.
Annoyingly this Covid-19 can take what seems to be a max of 14 days to show up, so if we really want to play safe, we have to isolate for 14 days and then go visit.
Then go to the store, and isolate for 14 more days

 

[NW-Bound]

Our local news at 5 had a report of TP shortages. He did a live shot in a supermarket where they were restocking the TP shelf - the clerk who had brought out a carton of TP packages couldn't hardly get any up on the shelf as a steady stream of people came by and took a package (limit 1, you know). He moved around the store to show some skimpy supplies of meat and produce and came back to the TP shelf just as another clerk wheeled out a whole pallet of TP and plopped it down in the aisle. Nobody touched it as he went through the rest of his report. They looked, saw the massive supply, and moved on.

Kimberly-Clark, a producer of TP and Kleenex, has been running its plants 24/7 to meet demand. But the fact is that unless people's bathroom frequency changes, they still use the same amount of TP.

This means that eventually, when people start to use the TP they hoard and stop buying, the TP plants will throttle down to a lower speed. Feast and famine.

 

[Moemg]

Amazon is now price gouging on some board games . I went to buy "Ticket to ride " and it was $59.99 and when I looked again it had gone to $69.99 on amazon so I got it at walmart online for $44.99.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

I'm happy to say I haven't stepped in any store since last Friday.

I will run out of fresh strawberries and blueberries first. I cooked up some chicken (made Chicken Marsala) so that it doesn't go to waste (will freeze it as soon as it is done cooling down). Salad will go next, although I have some Aerogarden salad greens coming along. Plenty of everything else.

I did order some powdered eggs (Augason Farms™ Dried Eggs Emergency Food) from Cabela's on March 1st. After Brewer told me that Augason's parent was backlogged for months, I figured I would never get them. But happy day? I've gotten a tracking notice (and see it is sitting for a couple days now at my local FedX waiting for that literally last 5 miles to go). (Note: Cabela's now shows as sold out.)

 

[USGrant1962]

Amazon is now price gouging on some board games . I went to buy "Ticket to ride " and it was $59.99 and when I looked again it had gone to $69.99 on amazon so I got it at walmart online for $44.99.

This sounded ridiculous to me so I looked. It is $44.25 to $44.99 from Amazon from at least 4 different vendors. There is one vendor selling it for $64.95 but I had to search for that.

Anyway, I don't think the term "price gouging" is very relevant to a board game.

 

[CardsFan]

Made a trip to Aldi's this afternoon. I had been there a couple of times over the weekend, but early in the day. What a difference! No eggs, very little meat, very few canned goods, no bread, and of course, no paper goods at all.

Then stopped at Fresh Thyme (on the way home and no more than 1/2 mile from Aldi's). Pretty much everything was in stock (except paper goods). Bought some large shrimp (Frozen, from Argentina, $7.49/lb) and a nice eye of the round (for beef jerky) at $3.99/lb. Fresh baked bread Italian bread for $1.99.

So, it depends on when you go and where you go.

 

[Aerides]

according to camelcamelcamel, the $45 range isn't that crazy for the history on that game. It was higher last summer and seems to average over $38.

 

[NW-Bound]

++++++++
We have older relatives who might need our help, if we constantly go out to the stores, we might be infected and not know it.
Annoyingly this Covid-19 can take what seems to be a max of 14 days to show up, so if we really want to play safe, we have to isolate for 14 days and then go visit.
Then go to the store, and isolate for 14 more days

If you are careful, I think the risk can be minimized.

For example, limit your visit, keep a safe distance, wash or disinfect your hands before entering their home, be careful of what you touch, wear a mask, etc...

 

[ERD50]

Kimberly-Clark, a producer of TP and Kleenex, has been running its plants 24/7 to meet demand. But the fact is that unless people's bathroom frequency changes, they still use the same amount of TP.

This means that eventually, when people start to use the TP they hoard and stop buying, the TP plants will throttle down to a lower speed. Feast and famine.

Exactly. Yet, so many people get all upset at the thought of letting prices rise to adjust to supply/demand. These companies incur costs for a temporary increase in production, and then some workers will get furloughed as that demand plunges. Those costs are eventually passed on to the consumer (and taxpayer in some cases, for unemployment benefits).

The price adjustments would level off some of the feast/famine, a benefit to all.

-ERD50

 

[John Galt III]

I don't know anything about the panic buying patterns because we didn't go to the store. I guess we're screwed now, although we have 2 weeks to live on. Will the hoarders just keep going back until their damn basements are filled?

LOL ! Maybe a lot of people are being clever, and waiting x number of days before they descend on the stores to get their hoarding share, thinking the stocks will be resupplied by then! Thus dragging out the depletion event. Latent panic buyers, lol.

 

[Ready]

At some point people’s basements and refrigerators will simply be full. The pandemic does not require us to eat more food nor use more toilet paper. The day will come when stores will be swamped with toilet paper inventory that nobody wants because they already have a year supply.

 

[MRG]

Kimberly-Clark, a producer of TP and Kleenex, has been running its plants 24/7 to meet demand. But the fact is that unless people's bathroom frequency changes, they still use the same amount of TP.

This means that eventually, when people start to use the TP they hoard and stop buying, the TP plants will throttle down to a lower speed. Feast and famine.

The whole wood industry runs like that. New guys are buying new equipment one year and repossessed another.

 

[Ready]

Bidet seats are selling out fast. We have two bidets in our house so we use far less toilet paper than the average household. Bidets have not traditionally been popular in this country but with the shortage of toilet paper I bet a lot of people are going to discover them. And the more people buy them, the less toilet paper they will need. So it will solve the shortage problem on its own.

 

[Nemo2]

Bidet seats are selling out fast. We have two bidets in our house so we use far less toilet paper than the average household. Bidets have not traditionally been popular in this country but with the shortage of toilet paper I bet a lot of people are going to discover them. And the more people buy them, the less toilet paper they will need. So it will solve the shortage problem on its own.

Aw great......now there's going to be a run on bidets....pics of people with cartloads of 'em filling up the trunks of their cars.