Lockdown? Make the Best of It

[Fred588]

"Please don't chew the Charmin'?" (showing my age with that one).

A few stores are finally limiting purchase quantities. Hopefully that will let suppliers catch up.

Meanwhile, stores are making a fortune in sales. That's one silver lining in saving the economy.

I am not an economist (but probably could play one on TV) but I suspect the panic buying will actually have no effect overall. While people might BUY an abundance of toilet paper or other things they will not actually consume more of it. Therefore the surge in buying will be followed by a drop-off at some point.

[Duncan Edwards]

"Please don't chew the Charmin'?" (showing my age with that one).

A few stores are finally limiting purchase quantities. Hopefully that will let suppliers catch up.

Meanwhile, stores are making a fortune in sales. That's one silver lining in saving the economy.

I am not an economist (but probably could play one on TV) but I suspect the panic buying will actually have no effect overall. While people might BUY an abundance of toilet paper or other things they will not actually consume more of it. Therefore the surge in buying will be followed by a drop-off at some point.

Six months from now I hope they find some asshole buried under the mountain of hoarded Charmin that fell on him at home. I like to think myself a pretty clever guy and I refuse to buy more anything than my needs require but I'm beginning to sweat a bit. Finally scored eight rolls this morning as Publix opened but it was all gone by the time I left the store. There's probably a couple of rolls in every one of the currently vacant hotel rooms in America right now. I just haven't figured out how to get to it yet. I also have a key to the Church building so if all else fails I know where the janitor's closet is.

[Fred588]

"Please don't chew the Charmin'?" (showing my age with that one).

A few stores are finally limiting purchase quantities. Hopefully that will let suppliers catch up.

Meanwhile, stores are making a fortune in sales. That's one silver lining in saving the economy.

I am not an economist (but probably could play one on TV) but I suspect the panic buying will actually have no effect overall. While people might BUY an abundance of toilet paper or other things they will not actually consume more of it. Therefore the surge in buying will be followed by a drop-off at some point.

Six months from now I hope they find some asshole buried under the mountain of hoarded Charmin that fell on him at home. I like to think myself a pretty clever guy and I refuse to buy more anything than my needs require but I'm beginning to sweat a bit. Finally scored eight rolls this morning as Publix opened but it was all gone by the time I left the store. There's probably a couple of rolls in every one of the currently vacant hotel rooms in America right now. I just haven't figured out how to get to it yet. I also have a key to the Church building so if all else fails I know where the janitor's closet is.

I have been wrong before and may be again but consider this: The rate at which things like toilet paper are consumed is not going to change much. If anything it might go down slightly. The rate at which it is produced is also unlikely to change unless this urns into the Black Death. Therefore, the time should come fairly quickly when people have no further place to store the stuff. Remember the gas crisis of 1973. People were waiting in line to top off a tank with four gallons for a few weeks. Then cooler heads prevailed. I do not mean to minimize the danger here, but we Americans do tend to panic rather easily sometimes.

[Duncan Edwards]

I have been wrong before and may be again but consider this: The rate at which things like toilet paper are consumed is not going to change much. If anything it might go down slightly. The rate at which it is produced is also unlikely to change unless this urns into the Black Death. Therefore, the time should come fairly quickly when people have no further place to store the stuff. Remember the gas crisis of 1973. People were waiting in line to top off a tank with four gallons for a few weeks. Then cooler heads prevailed. I do not mean to minimize the danger here, but we Americans do tend to panic rather easily sometimes.

Yes, it was less severe in my part of the country but I remember it well. I think that was different though because it ranked as an inconvenience. It was a problem that could be dealt with and we know now that President Nixon was getting ready to turn Kuwait into an American filling station had the Arabs persisted. It also lead to the creation of the Mother-of-all-Hoards, The Strategic Petroleum reserve. Which ironically is now being topped off to keep oil prices from falling too low even though we no longer need it. When people see their family getting hungry or sick it takes the crazy meter up an order of magnitude or two. In reality though this will end before things go anywhere near that. Another constant is the absolute failure of media predictions of doom in every crisis. I've never bought into the panic before and I'm not about to begin.

[Mynock]

TP is one of those things you should have stashed in case of an emergency. My normal supply is getting a little low but I got a 36 roll backup pack in my "survival bunker" (ok it's a closet under the stairs ) in the basement.
I hope if nothing else I hope this gets people to get off their asses and be prepared before disaster strikes. For less than 50 bucks pre outbreak you could've squirelled away enough bottled water and TP to last a month or more.

[reisen55]

Do REAL work around the home or condo. I put up a stairwell banister yesterday, something avoided doing for about a month. I next have to restore a 1:200 scale battleship, 52" long, for radio control sailing in a lake which is not in isolation. Propellers are all seized up after a long winter.

[Fred588]

Do REAL work around the home or condo. I put up a stairwell banister yesterday, something avoided doing for about a month. I next have to restore a 1:200 scale battleship, 52" long, for radio control sailing in a lake which is not in isolation. Propellers are all seized up after a long winter.

A good suggestion, I think. I suppose we can add such things as:

wash the exterior windows.
clear siding of mold
plant a victory garden
exterior painting
clean up brush (yard brush, not the paint brush)

[dlodoski]

TP is one of those things you should have stashed in case of an emergency. My normal supply is getting a little low but I got a 36 roll backup pack in my "survival bunker" (ok it's a closet under the stairs ) ....

Well, young Harry P is comfortable at least.

[BogDog]

Nice to hear Costco is refusing returns of toilet paper from panic buyers who took it too far.

Meanwhile, I took a trip to the grocery store, and I have never seen so many people out on bikes and on foot. The dog area of the local park had all kinds of people and dogs there. This is not going to go away any time soon with people acting casual like this.

We are suppose to be doing more, by law: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/phd/Diseas ... 31620.aspx

[Mynock]

Just my humble opinion, but I think quarantine is too little too late at this point.

Even under the best of circumstances trying to control the spread of a bug that is contagious for 2 weeks before presenting symptoms would be damn near impossible, and due to various reasons these were not the best of circumstances.

Living arrangements also conspire against me personally. My roomate works for a major national uniform/service company, travels to a dozen different towns and interacts with a hundred random people a day. If I'm gonna get it, I'm gonna get it, so fuck living in fear.