How's your toilet paper?

[RuthisianCodex]

One positive that is coming out of this that I've noticed among friends & coworkers, is that those of us who still have an income coming in & getting more serious than ever about saving up. I listen to a lot of personal finance podcasts & such & have been working on improving my financial well being for a while now. I drive an older car that is completely paid off, I eat at home the majority of the time, & I could care less about dressing a certain way or having certain things to impress strangers. I've been laughed at & teased on more occasions than I care to remember but I'm glad I ignored those jerks & kept saving anyway because NO ONE is immune to losing their funds in situations like this. 

There are businesses in my city that have closed down recently that have been here for years & in some cases, decades. Then you've got all the people who don't have jobs where they can work from home so they're just out of a job all together. I just feel awful for them.

Guys, just do the best you can to take care of yourselves, your loved ones, and your communities. 

Be well.

[RZ.]

What ticks me off the most about this so called "panic" buying is that none of it is really out of "panic". If you're panicking in anticipation of an apocalypse then surely you'll go for whatever you can get your hands on. People are still choosy though. My local supermarket is completely sold out of milk chocolate biscuits, but the less popular dark chocolate ones are plentiful. All the expensive, highly quality cheeses have gone, but the cheaper ones are still in stock.

It's nothing but pure greed. Hopefully they spend themselves into oblivion. 

[Nyxnine]

There was a news broadcast that mentioned tylenol was a better medication than ibuprofen for fevers (which is already known).....and now the stores are sold out of tylenol. 

My friend is having difficulty finding children's tylenol  

also, as someone who is allergic to NSAIDs (allergy to ibuprofen, aspirin...midol...)  I'm annoyed that people would go out of the way to clear shelves of it....why? =-=; 

I haven't needed to buy tylenol for like a year...You can't even take over a certain amount per day. 

Anyways...little vent haha

[efaardvark]

2 hours ago, RuthisianCodex said:

One positive that is coming out of this that I've noticed among friends & coworkers, is that those of us who still have an income coming in & getting more serious than ever about saving up. I listen to a lot of personal finance podcasts & such & have been working on improving my financial well being for a while now. I drive an older car that is completely paid off, I eat at home the majority of the time, & I could care less about dressing a certain way or having certain things to impress strangers. I've been laughed at & teased on more occasions than I care to remember but I'm glad I ignored those jerks & kept saving anyway because NO ONE is immune to losing their funds in situations like this.

This is totally me too.  I don't do debt either, including credit cards.   (Well, I do because you basically have to use cards these days but I pay it ALL off every month.)  I even managed to pay cash for my car this last time.  Yes, it takes discipline and the willingness to go against a lot of social norms, but in the end not playing by the banksters rules is worth it.

[Illusion of Terra]

Depending on where you live it is likely that the numbers will now be rising exponentially for quite some time until the growth rate decreases (unless the lock downs and quarantines take effect). I also suspect that generally, unless they find a vaccine, about two-thirds of the population will contract the virus over the next months or years. in many places, including where I live, people are not allowed to go outside except for necessary chores or work, with police and military keeping watch. It is not much different for me though since even before I mostly stayed at home working.
I have mostly stocked up (as I usually do) for a couple of weeks, and even if I contract the virus, which I might already have, I am not concerned for myself since I do not belong to any of the groups who are at a higher risk. I am quite concerned about people like my grandmother however, who have multiple risk factors, because the virus spreads more than the flu and it is more likely that they will contract it.

I am a bit surprised at how self focused people seem to be, although I did not really expect much else when I think about it. there are some people who help out elderly neighbors which I think is great, but toilet paper shelves are still empty, and other things which your average shmoe doesn't need, but people with compromised immune systems, skin diseases etc. are almost impossible to find. I do wish that people would stop buying things that are only useful to people with such conditions, if they themselves don't need them.

Edited March 20, 2020 by Illusion of Terra

[efaardvark]

The reported numbers of confirmed cases will certainly rise here in the US as testing reveals “new” cases that are really just newly discovered preexisting cases.  I hope people don’t freak out as the numbers rise but so far I’m not impressed with the response.  Even well-meaning people are doing stupid things because they don’t understand the consequences.  The virus is going to do what the virus is going to do.  Regardless of human intent, given the chance it will spread.

[Geano]

As of late I recently got plenty of tp so I am not running out.

[RuthisianCodex]

Just got an email that the online order I placed for the items for the homeless shelter has been cancelled due to overwhelming demand. Unbelievable. 

[The History Kid]

If it helps anyone else feel better, I can confirm this to be fact as ex-retail / supply management:

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/18/supply-chain-experts-foods-that-could-be-less-available-in-pandemic.html

[Illusion of Terra]

I've been wondering, do you guys think the current covid pandemic will lead to an increase in vaccinations in general?

[The History Kid]

40 minutes ago, Illusion of Terra said:

I've been wondering, do you guys think the current covid pandemic will lead to an increase in vaccinations in general?

Stupid people are stupid people.

There's plenty of people running around right now insisting it's still a hoax and demanding to breach quarantine because it's their right anyway.  Sometimes the only cure for stupidity is a dirt nap - wish more people recognized that.

[Illusion of Terra]

@The History Kid I think that's true for the staunch anti-vaccine people who are convinced that vaccines cause autism. some people like some flat earthers would probably not be convinced even if they would fly out to space and see earth themselves.

But maybe those who just didn't bother vaccinating and are not really anti vaccine might reconsider now. maybe not though, but I'd be interested if someone would make a study on this

[Mazino]

I'm really worried about what is to come...because I got only 4 rolls of toilet paper left. What to do when they are all used up? I really am worried... 

As we all know the corona virus was also just a topic people made fun of on the internet until things really took a turn to the worse and it amazes me how ignorant some people actually are to call it a hoax or pure nonsense and claim it was made up by the government so they could justify their doing. (for example travel restrictions, lockdowns etc..)

If I ever had to write on a topic such as the corona virus (Covid-19) outbreak in 2020 in the future and were asked to sum it up in one word then it would be: underestimation. Not just from the people on the internet but also from the politicians of the respective countries for taking measures way too late. Well, as the saying goes...we learn through mistakes.

I can't help but facepalm on the fact that people started to steal toilet paper from one another. I consider myself lucky to be able to wittness this all with my own eyes because I realize how dangerous it is if humans actually fall into panic. If this panic were to spread like the corona virus in a rapid speed...

 

[The History Kid]

16 minutes ago, Muco said:

I'm really worried about what is to come...because I got only 4 rolls of toilet paper left. What to do when they are all used up? I really am worried... 

You should really read the article I posted a few posts up.  People are just being silly about it.

Quote

Not just from the people on the internet but also from the politicians of the respective countries for taking measures way too late. 

Yes, and virtually every pandemic that came before it.  When you don't understand the threat (as is the case for most medical issues), it's hard to properly prepare for it and execute appropriately - I don't care what side of the political spectrum someone is on.  There's another saying too: "you can put yourself in someone else's shoes, but that doesn't mean you have the same information."

Quote

If this panic were to spread like the corona virus in a rapid speed...

Agreed.  The panic is more dangerous than the virus imo.

Still waiting on public health officials to start raising the alarm bells on that bubonic plague issue in the homeless too.

[Mazino]

1 minute ago, The History Kid said:

You should really read the article I posted a few posts up.  You have little to nothing to worry about.

I thought the emoji as well as the way I worded it would indicate that this was meant to be sarcastic. 

4 minutes ago, The History Kid said:

 There's another saying too: "you can put yourself in someone else's shoes, but that doesn't mean you have the same information."

You can take precautions regardless of whether you have enough information. For example, restricting travel to/from China until further notice.

[The History Kid]

3 minutes ago, Muco said:

I thought the emoji as well as the way I worded it would indicate that this was meant to be sarcastic. 

You can take precautions regardless of whether you have enough information. For example, restricting travel to/from China until further notice.

The emoji didn't load for me. My bad.

As for travel restrictions, I dunno about the rest of the world but, the U.S. did do that.

[Mazino]

1 minute ago, The History Kid said:

The emoji didn't load for me. My bad.

As for travel restrictions, I dunno about the rest of the world but, the U.S. did do that.

I do live in Europe so we most likely got a different point of view. 

 

[Nono]

Toilet paper shmoilet paper.

[The History Kid]

10 minutes ago, Nono said:

Toilet paper shmoilet paper.

 

The pucker factor is over 9,000!

[Q-Tip]

1 hour ago, Nono said:

Toilet paper shmoilet paper.

 

Lol! We have one of those, too. 

[gojirawr]

the hoarding of TP is unwarranted - COVID-19 is a respiratory illness, YOU WILL NOT SHIT YOUR BRAINS OUT!! LOL

my roommate and i have 12 rolls left and are using it sparingly but also aren't worried the shelves will eventually refill and people who bought more than they can stash away in their houses will feel very silly soon.

most ridiculous thing i saw was a lady with TWELVE gallons of milk in her cart at the checkout XD like, what!? how can you possibly use all of that even if all you eat is cereal??? panic does such strange things

[The History Kid]

1 hour ago, gojirawr said:

most ridiculous thing i saw was a lady with TWELVE gallons of milk in her cart at the checkout XD like, what!? how can you possibly use all of that even if all you eat is cereal??? panic does such strange things

Maybe she wants to make a lot of cottage cheese.  That's about all that much milk could be good for.  That being said, we may have to check ourselves a bit on the people buying larger quantities.  There are also a lot of people right now running around buying things in quantity for other people, such as the elderly and at-risk.  The chance is always there.

[OtakuKid]

This is really insane. Tp here is pretty good, they are rationing it but we (pre-virus) buy 20-ish rolls at a time so we only have to re-stock every three or four weeks anyway. When this hit we had just bought a new batch so we’re good. The weirdest thing I’ve seen? I dunno. Everything is pretty normal, and, as I mentioned in my blog, I’m not really anxious about this.