‘Panic buying’ isn’t just creating a temporary shortage of products, it’s fueling people’s fears.
So says Campbell River RCMP, as they take aim at hoarders following this week’s extreme weather. “If people just shop in their normal way, things will be fine,” explains Cst. Maury Tyre.
On Wednesday, My Campbell River Now reported that people were taking to social media, posting photos of bare grocery shelves and delays at gas stations not just locally, but across Vancouver Island.
It actually prompted grocers around town to put a cap on the number of meat products each shopper can take home, with gas stations forced to lower premium gas prices due to regular running dry at the pumps.
“The recent ‘atmospheric river’ that decimated much of the transportation infrastructure in southern British Columbia seemed to have left Campbell River relatively unscathed,” Tyre says.
“However, now it seems we have become the makers of our own problems.”
According to Tyre, fears of supply shortages have created an “unnecessary buying fury” at many grocery stores and gas stations in the area, leading to immediate shortages.
But he finds it’s not a supply issue, it’s how businesses order their products.
“Businesses have an expectation for how often they will require fuel trucks to arrive, produce to arrive and other necessities of life to arrive,” says Tyre. “They base that on regular business patterns and order and schedule deliveries accordingly.”
When people panic buy, Tyre says it throws off those schedules and stocks “very quickly” and can take the businesses a little bit of time to reschedule their deliveries.
“So please, put down the three to 24 packs of toilet paper (you’ve probably got some stashed away from COVID panic buys anyway), reshelve the 15 packs of ground beef in your cart, and put away the extra jerry cans you are bringing to the gas station,” he adds.
“Please take heed of the present government restrictions on non-essential travel and rationing and we will all be able to get through this together.”
