Friendship vs Greed

[Blackswanwood]

As you say TN … unsubstantiated.

Do you have the logistics data for UK supermarkets? Not a snide dig - I certainly don't. I once worked for a white goods outlet during my career-change, so I know the basics of how deliveries, orders and restocking works in the real world (not as well as you might think, in other words).

No I don’t. Neither do you though so why start pumping half @rsed theories that the supply chain is failing?

What I do know though is that the government, supermarkets and suppliers have all said several times that the supply chain is secure. The problem is selfish muppets clearing the shelves when there is no need to do so.

This is a time where people need to behave responsibly.

 

[beech1948]

Did you confront your friend?

Us English hate causing a fuss with friends and family, and tend to avoid confrontation and argument. I don't hold by the same strictures, and a number of my friends are the same. If that had been a friend of mine I would have said how sad and disappointed I was to see such selfishness from someone I thought to be above that sort of thing. Friendship can survive a bit of honesty, generally, and if it can't, then it wasn't worth the candle in the first place.

Not yet. I'm still considering but am erring on the side of confrontation. I was a bit shocked to be honest at seeing all this stuff in one place. I'm seeing him again on Wednesday so will wait until then.

 

[ColeyS1]

I'm debating whether to venture out for milk ham and bread in a couple days when it runs out. I can live without both but would only be a short journey and 5-10 minutes in the local shop. A couple 5 minute visits a week would be comfy or would buying enough food for 7-10 days be a better choice to lessen the chance of catching it? I want to do my part at preventing catching it or passing on to others but I do rely on 4 slices of bread a day and milk with my coffee.

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[beech1948]

This friends behavior got me thinking. I have today sent an email and written a letter to the CEO of Tesco to ask them to restrict sales per family unit to £100 per trolley per week. I'm not expecting any action but felt it was needed bearing in mind the NHS staff/vulnerable/disabled/autistic etc etc etc.

 

[Sawdust Sam]

I'm debating whether to venture out for milk ham and bread in a couple days when it runs out. I can live without both but would only be a short journey and 5-10 minutes in the local shop. A couple 5 minute visits a week would be comfy or would buying enough food for 7-10 days be a better choice to lessen the chance of catching it? I want to do my part at preventing catching it or passing on to others but I do rely on 4 slices of bread a day and milk with my coffee.

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Are none of your local shops offering delivery services, a fair few are around our way. Even taxi firms are offering to deliver based on one way fare. It’s not s if they will have many passengers.

Also some local shops offer order and pay over the phone then drive over and they put your stuff in your boot for you and you drive away.

Perhaps give them a ring and ask.

 

[sunnybob]

Cyprus has reacted quickly and strongly, locking down the whole island well before most other countries. But there is no sign of panic buying anywhere. My wife went to a supermarket yesterday, only to be flattered by the staff asking if she was old enough to go in on the "old age pensioners" slot, yes, she easily qualifies. She hadnt even realised that was happening
she bought what we needed for several days, and left, A very pleasant experience for her.

I can easily understand buying extras, say for 2 weeks instead of 1, but I cant see or understand the need to have 6 months supply of anything, because as said, its the panic buying that will cause the shortages.
Please tell your hoarder friend that some toilet rolls sent to my daughter, who is not only a nurse but has two primary school age children to look after, and is rapidly running out of them, would be appreciated.

 

[Woody2Shoes]

He had been shopping 3-5 times a day for the past 6 weeks.

What a twunt! If he had built this cache over a much longer period and showed evidence of managing/rotating it effectively and without waste then you might say "this guy probably tucks his shirt into his underpants", but the best you can say about him really is that he's a selfish twunt.
I do worry that a lot of the food being panic-bought may end up being wasted. Many households are clueless without ready meals and/or takeaways - people increasingly don't know how to cook from scratch with basic ingredients.

 

[Woody2Shoes]

This friends behavior got me thinking. I have today sent an email and written a letter to the CEO of Tesco to ask them to restrict sales per family unit to £100 per trolley per week. I'm not expecting any action but felt it was needed bearing in mind the NHS staff/vulnerable/disabled/autistic etc etc etc.

It's a good idea but unenforceable, sadly.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

Yup, I second the above comment "T n". Along with your earlier IMO very silly comments in this thread along the lines of "I can panic better than you can".

Yes, of course we all have a ("duty"?) to look after our family, but as my old man used to say "There's a difference between scratching yer (A-R-S- bottom) and tearing lumps out of it."

That would be the "He who panics first, panics best" quote? Not a suggestion to run around with your hair on fire, but a hint that if you get in/out first, before the thundering herd, you will be better off. It's just a boy scout "Be prepared" mentality. Hope for the best, but plan for the worst. If you passively wait for things to happen to you, you won't be in the best position. It entirely up to you to make your plans and take the action you believe appropriate. It is also up to everyone else, unfortunately, and their actions may impact on you. That is what we are seeing here. People are selfish. It's the most logical behaviour, and is the basis of economics - self-interest. Expecting people not to be selfish seems a little unrealistic. Planning that assumes people are altruistic and selfless is also not going to go as well as it might.

UK is slightly behind the curve compare to Italy, Spain and even Greece. I've told you what draconian police state conditions have been applied here - will they come to the UK, too? If so, at you prepared? Or should you all keep calm and carry on? Not for me to say, as it's not my problem - I have my own challenges to overcome. So far, I have been depressingly correct about my situation. Unusual, for me - I'm normally far too pessimistic, which show just how bad this all is. And I haven't even caught the virus yet.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

Hoarding is clearly unattractive and potentially denies needy others critical supplies. But if you are in a high risk group (age or health), covering your needs
for a period would make good sense. My own take is that up to 4 weeks may be reasonable - 6 months or more is clearly excessive. Tins and dried food with extended use by dates can subsequently offset future food purchases when the situation stabilises.

But I am very aware government and retailers can be economical with the truth.

Most supermarkets will carry in store just a couple of days normal sales of fresh produce - meat, vegetable, fruit, bread. Stocks of tinned and non-perishable food may be higher - perhaps a week? The need to minimise stock investment with just in time deliveries means there will be limited stocks locally, and not much more held in central distribution locations.

It may be possible to increase production of some foods. In the medium term food consumption may not vary materially - but panic demand will create the impression of shortage and drive individual behaviours now.

Imported foods - particularly perishables from the European mainland will be impacted. They have similar or greater problems to the UK, and potentially a shortage of food processing staff and lorry drivers. They may also be mandated to prioritise their own markets first.

The last thing the government want to do is drive up panic buying. They will continue to maintain that there are more than adequate supplies to go round. This is a predictable response whether you believe it to be correct or not!

 

[MikeG.]

Another unattributed assertion, TN, I see. I'm not sure what motivates this unbridled scare-mongering. Let me show you the proper way to make an argument on line. Here is the Chief Executive of the Food and Drink Federation speaking earlier this month:

Ian Wright, the chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation, said.......
“At this stage, supply chains have experienced disruption but there is no evidence of significant disruption to food supplies. UK food and drink manufacturers have robust procedures in place.”

Source: The Guardian.

 

[AES]

FWIW, personally my wife and I (risk group) have decided only one of us will go out only once/week for a "normal" weekly shop, + any hospital visits really necessary . (She has one tomorrow).

The reasoning is that it makes little difference if the stay in the supermarket is much less than an hour (weekly shop, whereas daily shop perhaps 15 mins/visit) so overall our(my) exposure is lower. Don't know if that's actually correct, but seems "logical" to me. Oh yeah, and wherever possible, timing that weekly shop to coincide with any other "must go outs" (e.g. hospital visit).

On a lighter note, don't know if it's occurred to anyone else, but with hairdressers all closed here, my hair, which was already in need of a cut before this started, is going to look pretty "poetic" by the time this little lot's over (and NO, she's already offered, but SWMBO is NOT going to have a go at "tidying it up", I've got little enough left to play with as it is)!

Keep smiling folks and all the best to everyone.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

Another unattributed assertion, TN, I see. I'm not sure what motivates this unbridled scare-mongering. Let me show you the proper way to make an argument on line. Here is the Chief Executive of the Food and Drink Federation speaking earlier this month:

Ian Wright, the chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation, said.......
“At this stage, supply chains have experienced disruption but there is no evidence of significant disruption to food supplies. UK food and drink manufacturers have robust procedures in place.”

Source: The Guardian.

Thank you Mike. I was hoping someone might actually have the facts on what and how and how much when it comes to stock and warehousing - and on the mathematics of restocking after a supply shock such as we are seeing. I am in a completely different country, so it is all intellectual curiosity - it's not quite a visceral as it would be if it was my supermarket with empty shelves. Sincere apologies if anyone thought I was trying to assert the end of the world - I found a comment on a less than reputable website, and thought it an interesting proposition, hence my saying it was entirely unsubstantiated. There are people with degrees in logistics who know this stuff intimately. I'm not one of them.

 

[Rorschach]

I would have given him a piece of my mind. Shortages and troubles have been caused by people like him and now almost everyone is panic buying because of these fake shortages.

We have done zero panic buying and have not stocked any more food than we usually would but have been forced to make many more trips to supermarkets because things we need/want were out of stock due to these idiots.

Thankfully going out shopping today it looked like things were getting back into some sort of normality with most products available though in reduced numbers.

 

[selectortone]

I found a comment on a less than reputable website, and thought it an interesting proposition, hence my saying it was entirely unsubstantiated. There are people with degrees in logistics who know this stuff intimately. I'm not one of them.

This entire panic-buying situation has been sparked by unfounded and sensationalist rumour-mongering on social media. We reap what we sow.

 

[selectortone]

When I go to do my modest weekly shop and I am confronted by foul-mouthed fat tattooed women fighting over toilet roll, I despair for the human race.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Foul-mouthed fat tattooed women have that affect on me no matter where they are or what they're doing.

 

[Nigel Burden]

Foul-mouthed fat tattooed women have that affect on me no matter where they are or what they're doing.

Yuk.

Nigel.

 

[Deadeye]

I've had a bit of a shock this morning. A very good friend whom I have known for over 28 years asked me to visit him and help in his workshop doing some heavy lifting.

He asked me in for a coffee after and showed me his "stockpile" room. A 14ftx11ft bedroom converted with wood shelving and crammed to the ceiling and all over the floor with canned food stuff and toilet rolls, and disinfectant etc etc etc.

I was shocked and almost breathless at his obvious pride in his achievement.

I was revolted by this display of selfishness and greed. He had at least 6 months worth of stuff if not 9 months. He had been shopping 3-5 times a day for the past 6 weeks.

I walked away knowing that my wife and I had not stockpiled anything, we seemed to be getting along OK with occasional shortages. I felt somewhat angry at this friend and my wife and I talked about just dropping the moron.

Wondering what you would choose to do.

Selfish imbecile. Either too stupid to understand or too morally vacuous to care.
Either way, just e-mail him a link to this thread and the problem will resolve itself!

 

[eezageeza]

I used to work in an industry that supplied all the major UK grocers - a few years ago now, but I imagine the logistics are still much the same.
The retailers typically held no more than a weeks stock on their premises - both in shops, and central distribution warehouses. We held more stock, ready for them to call in 'just in time' - we were contractually obliged to always deliver their orders with a week.
Unfortunately, their sales forecasting was always appalling, so in order to cope with their sometimes outrageous order quantities at short notice, we would hold sometimes several months stock, 'just in case'.
So in reality, there probably is quite a bit of stock still out there, and of course more can be made while all the existing stock is sold through, so hopefully we'll be okay for a bit yet.
There was an expert on TV this morning who guessed that there is probably £1bn worth of groceries currently stockpiled in peoples homes, so hopefully things will calm down soon, because there is simply no more house room to hoard in!