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A comment on The state of the restaurant industry. Parent comment

Re:The state of the restaurant industry by Godel_unicode on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @10:46PM (#22613103)
It's not prudent, or cautious, it's exactly panic. People are irrationally afraid, and as a consequence are buying crazy amounts of things with little reason. Even in Wuhan the lockdown wasn't severe enough to make that type of hoarding necessary. The only common thread in discussing quarantine in the US is that Wuhan is far more drastic than would ever happen here.

Consider for instance the absolute run on bottled water; what possible explanation other than mindless panic could explain that?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The state of the restaurant industry by Chris2048 on Wednesday March 18, 2020 @08:08AM (#22615680)
> are buying crazy amounts of things with little reason

Seems like there is a good reason to buy more than usual - what constitutes "crazy amounts"?

> Consider for instance the absolute run on bottled water

Water being one of the most essential requirements for human life beyond breathable air?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The state of the restaurant industry by Godel_unicode on Wednesday March 18, 2020 @02:59PM (#22620065)
There's no reasonable scenario in which the water supply is interrupted by this current flap. All this panic buying means is there will be a huge amount of unnecessary plastic waste this year.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The state of the restaurant industry by senordevnyc on Wednesday March 18, 2020 @09:12AM (#22616225)
Grocery stores don’t need to close for me to not want to visit them. I’m safe and sound at home with supplies so I don’t need to go to the store for awhile. I feel calm and prepared. The only person spinning out of control here is you.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The state of the restaurant industry by Godel_unicode on Wednesday March 18, 2020 @02:50PM (#22619973)
Your panic buying to build up a supply lead to others not being able to buy what they need. Actions have externalities.

The problem with panic buying is it breeds panic.

[ Parent | on HN ]