Panic Buying, Classic/Dud

or:

First Class Stamp prices are to be deregulated! May Well Double! Buy first class stamps at Superdrug while they are cheap!!

I've got 22 1st class stamps here that I bought who knows how long ago. Can't see myself ever actually using them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17522500

Now there's an exciting way to kick of a thread.

Historical notes of interest.

After Barack Obama won the election of 2008, there was panic buying of ammunition in most areas of the USA, as 'gun enthusiasts' indulged their penchant for baseless paranoia.

When it was announced that incandescent bulbs were due to be phased out in EU countries there was panic buying, especially of higher wattage incandescents.

Apparently no one in South Florida thinks far enough ahead to keep hurricane supplies on hand, so there is panic buying each time a major hurricane is predicted to make landfall there.

Dud, dud, and dud. But sometimes lolzy.

In the UK, on the last shopping day before Christmas, supermarkets are full of people panic buying bread. You know, in case they need two dozen loaves to keep them going until the 27th December.

Seriously, I often feel like getting a megaphone, going into a supermarket on Christmas Eve, and shouting "PUT DOWN THE BREAD! THERE IS NO WAY YOU WILL NEED ALL OF THAT! YOU KNOW YOU'RE NOT GOING TO EAT ANY OF IT ANYWAY, WITH ALL THAT OTHER FOOD YOU HAVE! ALL THAT'LL HAPPEN IS IT'LL GO MOULDY AND YOU'LL HAVE TO THROW IT ALL AWAY!"

snowstorm panic buying in non blizzard-prone cities is funny too. How long do you think 9 inches of snow is going to prevent you from going grocery shopping for, a day?

Try living in the south of England. A forecast of a single inch of snow is enough to have people running to the nearest supermarket to stock up on canned goods.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsive_hoarding

Almost always a dud. I remember buying a bunch of Throwback Pepsi and Mt. Dew when they came out and then they made it a permanent thing. And now I don't even care about soda!

I can think of a few health and beauty products that I would hoard if I learned they were going to be discontinued. I think that's more strategic than panicky, however.

Fuel strike threat: 'Panic buying' at petrol stations

in 2000 in Manchester when the last petrol crisis happened i saw a guy walk out of Tesco with *every* french stick they had on sale and as near as dammit every bottle of a certain brand of white wine. seemed like a really odd combo of emergency supplies.

lots of emergency romancin'

My dad, who is now dead, went nuts after 9/11. I mean, he's an engineer and normally a pretty rational guy but he bought an entire storeroom full of canned food and the bottled water and all of that. I'm still cleaning the food out.

Also lots of wood and hardware and computer stuff. It's going to take a year to clean it out.

I thought this thread was going to be about when you're panicking about life and decide to buy a new record or beer or something to get some distracting pleasure.

Anyway the advantage of having grown up Mormon is you have all the "last minute panic buy" stuff stocked up in you house already.

White wine is good to have around when the power is out or there is a bad storm! Just put the radio on and drink the wine.

That's what I do every afternoon and weekend anyway!