Panic Buying: Theory of Advanced Stupidity
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.
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.
Panic buying is a product of artificial worry, greed, and stupidity.
