Panic buying

[Michael Hodgson]

1 hour ago, bbishop said:

Can you still buy Evaporated Milk?  Only ask because we bought it in the 1970s because the cat preferred his cup of tea made with "Vap" rather than ordinary milk.  Bill

 

I drink my tea black but when I make a brew I usually make a milky coffee for herself.  But it's never even occurred to me to offer the cat a cuppa!  Does he take sugar?  ... the dog is definitely partial to biccies.

[TheQ]

On 08/03/2020 at 17:58, Jinty3f said:

As a long retired teacher, I well remember  how many children with a cold would come to school with a long ribbon of bog roll tucked in their sleeves  for wiping runny noses. Those who had none would  ask  to get some from the school toilets. The home logic, which I entirely understand was, why buy two types of tissue when one  would wipe both ends equally well. (On a par with Einstein who refused to buy shaving soap when ordinary hand soap would do the same job.)

 

But agree,  stockpiling like we are seeing is selfish and antisocial.

Long retired? well that meant those that brought their own, were avoiding the grease proof paper in the school toilets.. and those that didn't still had parents who used "medicated Izal"

Edited December 2, 2020 by TheQ

[bbishop]

3 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

 

I drink my tea black but when I make a brew I usually make a milky coffee for herself.  But it's never even occurred to me to offer the cat a cuppa!  Does he take sugar?  ... the dog is definitely partial to biccies.

 

Both the cat and the dog (both long deceased) were partial to a "nice hot cup of tea".  Harvey knew when the neighbours partook of their morning cup of tea and there would be a large tabby and white cat on the doorstep at the relevant time.  Harvey probably drank four cups a day - plenty of milk, preferably Vap, no sugar - didn't do any harm, he was pushing 20 when he died.  Bill

[rockershovel]

On 02/12/2020 at 14:07, TheQ said:

Long retired? well that meant those that brought their own, were avoiding the grease proof paper in the school toilets.. and those that didn't still had parents who used "medicated Izal"

 

Don’t forget that in those distant days, toilet paper required a high level of resistance to cold and damp! 

[TheQ]

2 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

 

Don’t forget that in those distant days, toilet paper required a high level of resistance to cold and damp! 

As did those of us using outside only partly roofed school toilets..

[rockershovel]

After two rounds of online ordering at two different shops, followed by visits to Tesco, Morrison and M&S I can confirm that large size jars of pickled onions, of any description, have been completely abolished. 

[StuAllen]

5 hours ago, rockershovel said:

After two rounds of online ordering at two different shops, followed by visits to Tesco, Morrison and M&S I can confirm that large size jars of pickled onions, of any description, have been completely abolished. 

Have you tried garden centres? I’m sure I saw some in there earlier

[John Isherwood]

34 minutes ago, StuAllen said:

Have you tried garden centres? I’m sure I saw some in there earlier

 

..... or greengrocers - if you have such a rare emporium nowadays!

 

..... or a fish & chip shop - though they may charge over-the-odds!

 

John Isherwood.

[melmerby]

I see the greedy b*stards have been at it again.

Just tidying up my order for my regular delivery slot on Wednesday to find that our regular orders of fruit, vegetables (fresh & frozen), salad, milk (both fresh & UHT) are now all out of stock ( as well as a few other odds and ends)

Great. Christmas dinner with no veg. pudding with no custard, coffee without milk (yuk!)

 

Thanks all you vultures I hope you choke on your excess purchases.

Edited December 21, 2020 by melmerby

[newbryford]

Just now, melmerby said:

I see the greedy b*stards have been at it again.

Just tidying up my order for my regular delivery slot on Wednesday to find that our regular orders of fruit, vegetables, salad, milk (both fresh & UHT) are now all out of stock ( as well as a few other odds and ends)

Great. Christmas dinner with no veg. pudding with no custard, coffee without milk (yuk!)

 

Thanks all you vultures I hope you choke on your excess purchases.

 

At least if they get the sh*ts because of eating all the food, they'll have plenty of bogroll left from earlier in the year.

[Dave47549]

.

Edited October 4, 2021 by Dave47549
Removed pointless guff

[57xx]

38 minutes ago, melmerby said:

I see the greedy b*stards have been at it again.

Just tidying up my order for my regular delivery slot on Wednesday to find that our regular orders of fruit, vegetables (fresh & frozen), salad, milk (both fresh & UHT) are now all out of stock ( as well as a few other odds and ends)

Great. Christmas dinner with no veg. pudding with no custard, coffee without milk (yuk!)

 

Thanks all you vultures I hope you choke on your excess purchases.

 

Went to Tesco tonight as I now have to sort a xmas dinner for one, there was loads of certain veg out of stock, but plenty of carrots, sprouts at 19p a bag and 2.5kg of potatoes at 29p a bag. I also noticed the pasta shelves stripped again (some strange xmas dinners going to be had there...) and milk was non-existant. Xmas puddings were also out of stock so I had to make do with a chocolate bomb. Ah well.

[melmerby]

I can understand short term shortages of fresh stuff that's imported daily (lettuce/tomatoes etc.) due to travel stoppages. but I can't understand how there can be a shortage of milk, potatoes and frozen peas

The cows don't stop producing and (AFAIK) the UK produces all the frozen peas we consume as well as all the main crop spuds, which come out of storage as required.

Incidentally rice & pasta was still showing OK.

 

We do have a stock of UHT but we don't freeze fresh milk because it takes up too much room in the freezer. (14pints/fortnight!)

 

 

[57xx]

43 minutes ago, melmerby said:

I can understand short term shortages of fresh stuff that's imported daily (lettuce/tomatoes etc.) due to travel stoppages. but I can't understand how there can be a shortage of milk, potatoes and frozen peas

 

I don't think there is a "shortage" of milk per se, just a whole load of idiots stockpiling again. My milkman hasn't missed a beat all year, so milk when supplied responsibly is still fine.

Edited December 21, 2020 by 57xx

[Platform 1]

3 hours ago, newbryford said:

plenty of bogroll left

Local Lidl well-stocked with everything this evening including fresh veg - except bog-roll.  Not one roll or packet to be seen!

[Rivercider]

As I have mentioned before some shortages on supermarket shelves will simply explained.

The warehouse probably only holds enough fresh stock for 24-36 hours trading so if one delivery lorry is delayed, or fails to arrive then some items will sell out. The reasons for a missing delivery are many and varied. It could be there is a general shortage of a product, but it could be shortage of a tractors, trailers, or drivers - some might be self isolating, there is a pandemic on you know!

 

cheers 

[Johann Marsbar]

Went to the local Sainsburys at my usual, pre 07.00, time yesterday morning and found the car park fairly wedged and a large number of people pushing trollies piled high with stuff around the shop. Normally at that time, most of the customers are getting food to eat whilst at work that day.

No way was it a case of "normal" shopping for most of them, even for those doing a last minute stock up for the Christmas week.  All the shelves seemed fully stocked though, with the exception of potatoes, though I did manage to get a bag of the sort I usually buy (the cheap, "Imperfectly Tasty" ones which provide an excellent mash...) although I did get the second to last bag of those!

Thankfully I won't be going near the place for at least a fortnight now......

[RFS]

Having read reports in the press and in this thread about shelves being stripped, I was worried about my big Sainsbury's delivery today. But I needn't have worried: although a big order to last 7 days till the next one, there were only two fresh items flagged as being shorter life. Otherwise everything is being delivered as ordered which is a great relief. 

[Jol Wilkinson]

We are in Suffolk, a Tier 2 area (at the moment!) and went out yesterday morning to get the "late" items for Christmas. Long queue at M&S Foodhall, but reasonable inside despite an  apparent "one couple, two trolleys" rule. Saw quite a few couples coming out with one trolley loaded with one or two bags and another empty one. My wife opted to go back and sit in the car, leaving me with the short list!

No queue at the nearby Tesco's and nothing obviously out of stock (11.00 Monday). However, when we got to the checkout were amazed by the number of absolutely stacked large trolleys in the line up. Oddly, large bottles of water were in demand , while several people were clearly getting ready for a large gathering/party.

 

Family members in Hatfield and Stevenage - both Tier 4  - were shopping at the same time and later said that is was very busy and crowded.

 

Panic buying or just a normal pre Christmas Monday? I don't know.

[woodenhead]

We were given bonus vouchers for shopping yesterday by Sainsburys to encourage earlier Christmas day grocery shopping, I think most of the shopping is seasonal, last Monday before Christmas and it will only get heavier up to Christmas Eve.

 

There are plenty of trolls, anti-Brexit and doom mongers (including some newspapers) who really get a kick out of posting images of empty aisles in shops and then getting the images of people queueing in reaction (or to even create a bigger reaction).

 

Food will be an issue in the New Year on some lines if the European and UK leaders remain at loggerheads regarding Covid or Kentish Flu / Flu of Kent (naughty Mr Nevard).

 

But as train lovers let us look at this as an opportunity - if all those escorted (and perhaps a big chunk of the unescorted) groceries coming across the Channel made a modal shift to containers on the back of a train from Europe to the middle of the UK, think how many lorries could be taken off the roads in the South East.

[melmerby]

As to the piled high trolleys.

I fully expect the "rules" to be widely flouted over the Christmas period.

Why wouldn't they when there are loads of people still not complying with them?

Mask wearing in shops* seems to be treated as optional by some, social distancing just isn't happening in a lot of places.

So why would large Christmas gatherings not happen?

 

I see a totally miserable period post Christmas for many families as the consequences of these non compliances wreak havoc.

 

* I've noticed a growing number of people wearing perspex visors instead.

These are not allowed as an alternative as they offer virtually no protection compared to even the basic cloth type masks

 

 

 

[melmerby]

3 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

 

But as train lovers let us look at this as an opportunity - if all those escorted (and perhaps a big chunk of the unescorted) groceries coming across the Channel made a modal shift to containers on the back of a train from Europe to the middle of the UK, think how many lorries could be taken off the roads in the South East.

When the Channel Tunnel was mooted it was claimed it would be the end of lorry ferries across the channel as everything would naturally be going by train.

Didn't quite happen did it?

[woodenhead]

1 minute ago, melmerby said:

When the Channel Tunnel was mooted it was claimed it would be the end of lorry ferries across the channel as everything would naturally be going by train.

Didn't quite happen did it?

No, but then the world wasn't awash with Covid and the French and UK were in the same free trade area.

 

Perhaps if we truly want to rid lorry queues from the roads of Kent we need to encourage our supply chain managers to have less lorries coming through a bottleneck - it works with shipping, why not with land transfers.  Of course if we'd got a half decent loading gauge sorted (or have we and I've missed it) then the trailers could simply be plonked in a train US style and moved through the Chunnel.  

 

Even without Covid the ports and customs are going to be challenged on both the French and UK side, taking some lorry drivers out of the equation at that point through containerisation would help ease the flow of goods as the checks can be managed inland.

[hayfield]

1 hour ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

We are in Suffolk, a Tier 2 area (at the moment!) and went out yesterday morning to get the "late" items for Christmas. Long queue at M&S Foodhall, but reasonable inside despite an  apparent "one couple, two trolleys" rule. Saw quite a few couples coming out with one trolley loaded with one or two bags and another empty one. My wife opted to go back and sit in the car, leaving me with the short list!

No queue at the nearby Tesco's and nothing obviously out of stock (11.00 Monday). However, when we got to the checkout were amazed by the number of absolutely stacked large trolleys in the line up. Oddly, large bottles of water were in demand , while several people were clearly getting ready for a large gathering/party.

 

Family members in Hatfield and Stevenage - both Tier 4  - were shopping at the same time and later said that is was very busy and crowded.

 

Panic buying or just a normal pre Christmas Monday? I don't know.

 

Jol

 

The supermarkets are like this every year the week before Christmas, they plan for it. What they call the dry goods the stocks have been built up over the past few months with this week fresh food and bulk things like toilet & kitchen rolls being the major items being transported. Also many have now had to change their plans and buy food which they now need as not going away. Sadly there will be a lot of food waste. The wife has been making room in the freezer, both for the food we will eat and the left overs which will be frozen (two weeks ago the Sunday beef joint gave us 4 substantial meals each, it was on offer and excellent value)

 

Must admit we were going to stop off at the farm shop yesterday as we passed for some veg, gave it a miss owing to the queues. 

[Nick C]

We've got a Sainsbury's order coming tonight, the only thing they've reported as out of stock is Orange Juice, which isn't too bad - I was fully expecting to be missing most of the fresh veg.