Yesterday I decided to stop at Fry’s for a few things for dinner, breakfast, etc for the weekend as I generally do. I thought, I’ll pick up some toilet paper, because I don’t actually know if I have any extra rolls. The price for 4 rolls was $8.00. By then I’d heard all the jokes about places running out. Earlier I’d even driven by Costco where the gas lines were 10 cars deep at each pump, the longest I’d ever seen. Balking at the price of toilet toilet paper, and ignoring the fact that only 3 actual packages were left, I moved on to Walmart where I knew I would not be price gouged for a simple pack of toilet paper.
I was right. I was right because there was no toilet paper. No paper towels either. Walmart was cleaned out. Two empty aisles and a back wall were picked clean of product. In its place was a small crowd of customers complaining and milling about in hopes that they would be the first people to get new rolls if and when a shipment arrived. That, dear readers, is the full crazy in effect.
I cannot fully explain why toilet paper is a major panic buy, but this article does a good job getting you there. People overreact to things. In many cases the mindset is ‘better safe than sorry’ though that mentality triggers a wealth of problems of its own, including empty shelves. The real problem is that we as people–especially Americans–are sheep. What happens when you panic the herd? I think we are seeing a great deal of that right now.
Schools are closing. Businesses, as a result, are being heavily impacted. The financial toll for individuals who don’t have job security will be astounding. We are being taught to hide in corners. Yet all we can think about is gathering in empty aisles waiting for toilet paper that will never come.
Some Thoughts:
- If you need any more evidence we are sheep, look no further than the dow futures. That predictor of tomorrows behavior is little more than a determinant of what we are supposed to do. How else would such a system be possible?