Why on Earth are People Still Hoarding Toilet Paper etc.?

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timo2 said:
People that were previously concerned about supply chain issues have had their fears confirmed by the USPS issues,
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What new USPS issues? Same as they've been for years. Now being demagogued.
 
Either COVID or USPS. Please, just one crisis per thread :)
 
audreyh1 said:
Hmmm - but USPS doesn’t ship wine.
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Yes, that's true. So I personally am not concerned at the moment. :) But last March and April the wine shipments were very slow as everyone from the wine clubs to the UPS and FEDEX were getting their processes revised for COVID. and our Total wine stores were closed because we can't have curbside pickup for liquor stores in NM (Drive thru is banned). I read where the membership in wine clubs grew by leaps and bounds at the outset of the stay-at-home orders.
 
timo2 said:
Yes, that's true. So I personally am not concerned at the moment. :) But last March and April the wine shipments were very slow as everyone from the wine clubs to the UPS and FEDEX were getting their processes revised for COVID. and our Total wine stores were closed because we can't have curbside pickup for liquor stores in NM (Drive thru is banned). I read where the membership in wine clubs grew by leaps and bounds at the outset of the stay-at-home orders.
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Yes, I was also ordering wine this spring as I was locked down in rural GA without access to a decent selection. FEDEX came through for me, but you’re right I noticed late Spring my faves were no longer available. Then it got too hot to order.
 
We went from hand sanitizer being impossible to find to now where there is such a glut that Costco is dumping it. I bought a 67 ounce Germ-X bottle last week there for $8.00.
 
Ready said:
We went from hand sanitizer being impossible to find to now where there is such a glut that Costco is dumping it. I bought a 67 ounce Germ-X bottle last week there for $8.00.
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Only where you are and I'm not.
 
I'm wondering where all the rubbing alcohol is. I've not seen a bottle since March...in SW Florida nor SE Michigan.

Does anyone else see rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol on their store shelves?

omni
 
omni550 said:
I'm wondering where all the rubbing alcohol is. I've not seen a bottle since March...in SW Florida nor SE Michigan.

Does anyone else see rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol on their store shelves?

omni
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I don't know, I've had to resort to drinking vodka.
 
In all the stores I have been to in the past month in the DMV (DC-MD-VA for us older folks :)), other than everyone wearing masks, all looks normal. All of the traditional storage items are well stocked. I'm seeing hand sanitizer being sold in places I never saw it before (or at least it was not obvious), like gas station stores. The prices seemed to have returned to pre-lockdown levels.

The only shortages are fewer varieties of soda, due to the aluminum can shortage.
 
omni550 said:
I'm wondering where all the rubbing alcohol is. I've not seen a bottle since March...in SW Florida nor SE Michigan.

Does anyone else see rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol on their store shelves?

omni
Click to expand...

We've had rubbing alcohol for some time now, SF Bay Area. The only empty shelves are cleaning products, namely Lysol sprays, any type of disinfectant and wipes. And diet, caffeine free root beer for DH :(.
 
Hand sanitizer? DW and I have never bought a bottle of it in our 62 YO lives. The only time we have ever used it is when a retailer requires it for entry into their store. We have always washed our hands, though.Toilet paper is plentiful, paper towels not so much.
 
omni550 said:
I'm wondering where all the rubbing alcohol is. I've not seen a bottle since March...in SW Florida nor SE Michigan.

Does anyone else see rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol on their store shelves?

omni
Click to expand...


I rarely go into stores anymore and rubbing alcohol and liquid soap refill bottles have been hard to find on-line. However, last week when I needed to get my Walmart order up to $35 to qualify for few shipping I found both available so I order some of each. You might check there.
 
I finally found some 70% isopropyl alcohol at Target.
Hand sanitizer is plentiful here.
Paper products iffy
No disinfectant/clorox wipes to be found. I make my own, or use the alcohol with paper towels or handiwipes.
 
Interesting the shortages seem to vary from region to region and product to product. Again, I can’t understand why demand is still outstripping supply after 6 months - that suggests there are more and more hoarders every day. Otherwise usage would have to stabilize at some (new) level.
 
Toilet paper is about half stocked here, some brands are completely out and others are in, so it depends on the shipment they get that day. But they are not getting every brand in on every shipment like they used to. Disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizer are gone, can never find either one anywhere. Our school is small and handles all school supplies for the kids normally all taken care of with tax money. They have asked this year for parents to supply one Lysol/Clorox wipes container and one large hand sanitizer container per child to the classrooms. None of us parents can find them anywhere. I am hoping the schools have secured supplies through the state health departments because if they are counting on parents to supply it's not going to happen. I did see a 3 pack of Lysol wipes on Amazon for $95!!!

For my own home I was able to pick up two large jugs of bleach in the past month and I make my own bleach solution to disinfect clean my own house. I don't think we will see a normal supply of wipes until next spring. TP will also be in short supply for a while, but not as bad as Lysol wipes.
 
Midpack said:
Interesting the shortages seem to vary from region to region and product to product. Again, I can’t understand why demand is still outstripping supply after 6 months - that suggests there are more and more hoarders every day. Otherwise usage would have to stabilize at some (new) level.
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Yup, some hoarding must be occurring on TP as it is hard to understand such a huge increase in demand. Of course, a little bit of the TP issue might be explained by differences between home and office suppliers (i.e. more folks are working from home). The other items (wipes, sanitizer, IPA, etc.) are easily explained as just an increase in demand. For example, historically we never wiped down our golf carts prior to use, so I'm sure we are using more sanitizer now than in the past.
 
I never bought Lysol wipes but I saw a bunch of small packages at the grocery store yesterday.
The Clorox type wipes I get at Dollar General and they still keep them behind the counter. Have to ask the clerk for them.
No TP or paper towel issues here. But im a single guy so a Costco big pack 2x a year about covers it for me.
 
Midpack said:
Interesting the shortages seem to vary from region to region and product to product. Again, I can’t understand why demand is still outstripping supply after 6 months - that suggests there are more and more hoarders every day. Otherwise usage would have to stabilize at some (new) level.
Click to expand...

Or that supply is still lower than normal and hasn’t been able to catch up.

Way more people at home, rarely going out, cooking most meals at home, explains a lot of the imbalance.
 
My guess is the new hoarding is occurring because of various events and statements made in the political spectrum.
 
I'll admit to buying a bit more TP, paper towels, and some other household items then normal. Not to hoard or stock up, but because I'm buying pretty much all of my groceries online and I need to add things to my order to hit free shipping. Costco has a $75 minimum for free shipping and pretty much all of the items I want (oil, flour, sugar) are limited to 1 per order so I add a pack of TP or something similar to hit $75.
 
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