Panic buying...

[vickster]

Most people in the UK don’t cycle, let alone on cycle paths however.
Nor are most people 2m tall or know anyone who is

 

[Mike_P]

Re council employees could be social services staff and staff redeployed on CV19 duties shopping for people isolating.

Just been to Sainsbury's, still a complete lack of social distancing by most staff and the trolley cleaning stuff was behind the person controlling access who was not making any attempt to clean trolley handles. I dragged one with my bag acting as a barrier inside and then wiped it with the disinfectant cloth I had took to wipe a hand scanner with. Parts of the store well stocked other parts devestated and annoyingly the self serve checkout would not work using the keyring. Dual purpose trip as I also picked up a new laptop from Argos, straight replacement for my 5 year old i3 other than being an i5 and a full half a kilo lighter and hopefully will not heat the house by itself as the i3 I think is in serious danger of burning itself out.

 

[classic33]

Come Christmas and if the forecast is for heavy snow, will those moaning about shortages on the shelves in store and unable to get what they want then, who will they be blaming.

Earlier this year, even last year, it wasn't uncommon to not be able to get something I wanted in the one place. Solved either by accepting there was nothing could be done, or going elsewhere

 

[Notafettler]

As an aside is it just the co-op that don't limit numbers in the store? The one I use Now (despite the high prices) never has anyone on the door. There is paper and cleaner for the trolleys and there is markings on the supermarket floor but other than that no attempt to control access. Largish co-op not convenience store co-op. Maybe it's just this shop. Maybe they are getting extra customers!!

 

[Notafettler]

Come Christmas and if the forecast is for heavy snow, will those moaning about shortages on the shelves in store and unable to get what they want then, who will they be blaming.

The Lefties will blame Boris obviously.
And the lefties will see it as Boris Trump conspiracy again obviously.
Despite the fact everyone knows China controls the weather.

 

[Notafettler]

Really? Don't we risk literal "metric martyrs" that way? Anyway, the odious Piers copped some flak for sharing this, but it's close enough:

View: https://twitter.com/BonelloRoderick/status/1242056847688970241

Then again, those of us who cycle well are quite practised at estimating 2m: it's the minimum clearance you should give a walker and, because gov.uk is crap, also the typical width of many crap cycle paths.

The spread of distance instructions is odd. Over in BeNeLux and Germany, it's 1m50. In France, 1m. I've not checked everywhere.

Checked Italy it's cheek to jowl and no tounges.

 

[mjr]

Earlier this year, even last year, it wasn't uncommon to not be able to get something I wanted in the one place. Solved either by accepting there was nothing could be done, or going elsewhere

Yes, something. Thing. Singular. Not half the basic foodstuffs. This has been a bit of a different scale of supermarket screwup.

As an aside is it just the co-op that don't limit numbers in the store? [...]

Nope. There's at least one other chain near me not limiting, as I mentioned earlier. They're trusting customers to follow the floor markings and not be dicks who try to enter an already-full store. There's absolutely no need to shout at customers like at least three of the big four are.

 

[mjr]

I can't find the case I remember of a councillor being barred from office for trying the "don't you know who I am?" stunt trying to get served in a pub, but another famous case in https://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/yatton-parish-councillor-porn-shame-1-325587 mentions (as an aside) "abused his position as councillor in a personal complaint about school transport" which I think is code for the same thing.

Trade Minister Colin Burns just resigned as a minister (before he's probably fired), after being found guilty of a similar abuse of office: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-52531078

 

[Mike_P]

After my encounter with Sainsbury's last week Waitrose on Saturday was a complete contrast, not only were the staff cleaning trolley handles but they were completely spraying the entire trolley with disinfectant.

 

[classic33]

Yes, something. Thing. Singular. Not half the basic foodstuffs. This has been a bit of a different scale of supermarket screwup.


Nope. There's at least one other chain near me not limiting, as I mentioned earlier. They're trusting customers to follow the floor markings and not be dicks who try to enter an already-full store. There's absolutely no need to shout at customers like at least three of the big four are.

Nay lad

I mean like sugar, milk, bread, eggs. I've never counted toilet roll as a "foodstuff". Unable to get what was wanted in one place, I either went without or tried elsewhere. As I said earlier.

With bad weather forecasts and the wet weather earlier this year it wasn't uncommon. If you've a beef with the supermarkets, go elsewhere. They'll not miss you any more than one of the smaller shops would miss you. You're only the one person.

 

[mjr]

If you've a beef with the supermarkets, go elsewhere. They'll not miss you any more than one of the smaller shops would miss you. You're only the one person.

This is becoming a rather tiresome refrain. The fact is that incompetent regulation has allowed the supermarkets to gain monopolies over several foodstuffs and a few over-the-counter medicines in many boroughs, and even more foods during the early days of lockdown before pubs and so on grew shops. So they should be regulated as monopolies, managed in the short term and broken up in the long term, so the chaos of late March and early April never recurs.

 

[classic33]

They never caused the chaos though. Wild assumptions on the part of the "customers" caused the problem.

The small shops had similar supply problems, have a go at them for having the nerve to close their doors to you. When and if they re-open.

Two items in short supply, one following a recent remark by someone who should have known better, disinfectant, and single use barbeques. The use of the latter having been banned locally in parts following the moor fires of 2018. It's not stopped people asking for either though.

 

[mjr]

They never caused the chaos though. Wild assumptions on the part of the "customers" caused the problem.

They caused the chaos, along with customers, by not restricting the very profitable bulk-buying panics.

 

[classic33]

They caused the chaos, along with customers, by not restricting the very profitable bulk-buying panics.

And the smaller shops, who did exactly the same, did nothing to contribute to this?

You want to split Aldi, Asda, B&M's, Booths, Booker Group, the Co-op, and
Co-op Food or The Co-operative Food, Farmfoods, Fulton's Foods, Heron Foods, Iceland, Jack's, Lidl, Marks &
Spencer, Morrisons, Ocado(Who are doing a load of the deliveries), Sainsbury's, Tesco, and Waitrose purely and simply because they do not meet your expectations.

 

[Notafettler]

This is becoming a rather tiresome refrain. The fact is that incompetent regulation has allowed the supermarkets to gain monopolies over several foodstuffs and a few over-the-counter medicines in many boroughs, and even more foods during the early days of lockdown before pubs and so on grew shops. So they should be regulated as monopolies, managed in the short term and broken up in the long term, so the chaos of late March and early April never recurs.

I don't want to be pedantic but oligopoly.
"a state of limited competition, in which a market is shared by a small number of producers or sellers"
Is it really an oligopoly though? As my mate! @classic33 has shown there appears to be to many sellers of foodstuffs for it to be an actual oligopoly. Unless you think they are all conspiring together to be shite??