[News] There's no need to panic buy petrol

[Guy Fawkes]

Perhaps I'm being thick but won't this all be diluted by Monday or so. A panic buy for fuel (for most) is simply filling up earlier than you would normally. Not over-purchasing.

So once all those panicking have filled up, won't it level out and return to a cyclical routine of people filling up?

It may still be people filling up earlier than normal but the volumes consumed would be lower (as they aren't filling from empty) and the amount of people filling at once should be spread out.

Wouldn't that be the same as saying no-one panic brought toilet rolls at the start of the pandemic because they will still get round to using them at some point and just brought them early?

If the petrol stations get a tanker delivery a day, and this is enough to go around and last until the next day when people follow their normal buying patterns, then supplies last and there is always fuel available to anyone needing it

Everyone rushing out to top up their car and with some also deciding to hoard by filling multiple petrol cans (like the picture doing the rounds of someone filling 6 up) it means petrol stations run out of stock and those who will still need it will be left unable to buy any

If the only reason they have decided to fill up early is because they fear supplies will run out, then it is panic buying

Got to love their logic, there's a shortage of tanker drivers, so to help the country out they all rush out and fill up, meaning even more fuel journeys are needed to replenish stocks at petrol stations and making the situation with a lack of drivers worse as there are only so many that can be replenished in a day. The stupid thing is, once the rush is over and everyone has a car full of fuel sitting outside their home hardly doing any miles (if any) each day, there will be plenty of fuel to buy as demand will drop to below what would normally be needed each day

 

[Springal]

Findon was carnage earlier. The Jet had queues north & south on the A24 causing traffic to cross into other lane to get round

BP was prob 10 cars in single queue Northbound. Was ok until their M&S delivery arrived. Also would help if everyone used all pumps not just the side their caps on and also used the pay at pump app [emoji849]

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

Wouldn't that be the same as saying no-one panic brought toilet rolls at the start of the pandemic because they will still get round to using them at some point and just brought them early?

I'm not sure to be honest. You can only fill up your car to.its maximum. Once you've done that you are relatively unlikely to return in a few days time.

Re toilet rolls people were buying MONTHS worth in one go.

The % of toilet roll being purchased above average % must be higher than the the situation with fuel at the moment.

In my opinion, of course

 

[Driver8]

So it's ok for them to fill up to go on a jolly to north wales but people filling up to enable them to carry on working and the like is selfish!

So the panic buyers are all workers getting essential fuel? I don’t think so.

 

[sparkie]

In about an hours time I would have bought the fuel I bought yesterday. Thank goodness my NSC judged "panic buyer" status gets revoked at that point as I return to being fuel neutral.

 

[bluenitsuj]

Looks like the brainless idiots are still panic buying this morning.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Looks like the brainless idiots are still panic buying this morning.

The same ones that bought yesterday ? I suppose that shows how much they needed yesterday’s petrol if they used it all in one day.

 

[Goldstone1976]

 

[Guy Fawkes]

I'm not sure to be honest. You can only fill up your car to.its maximum. Once you've done that you are relatively unlikely to return in a few days time.

Re toilet rolls people were buying MONTHS worth in one go.

The % of toilet roll being purchased above average % must be higher than the the situation with fuel at the moment.

In my opinion, of course

If they had say half a tank of fuel, and that would usually last them a week / fortnight, but because they saw the long queues where so many are topping up their fuel tanks, leading to them fearing that if they left it that week/fortnight until they actually needed to refill, that there wouldn't be any stock left so have decided to not take the chance and fill up that far ahead of their normal buying pattern just in case, then i'd say it's panic buying

Just like with the toilet rolls, like pasta, etc, if they all followed their normal buying patterns instead of all rushing out to buy at the same time, there would be the stock to go around. If they had found a petrol station was out of stock, there would be several others nearby with stock, now because of the rush to buy it by so many, far more have run out than would have otherwise happened creating the fuel shortage, which would easily have been avoided if they'd just continued to buy normally

 

[Scappa]

What is the situation out there now around the Lancing/Shoreham area. I went passed Tesco Shoreham yesterday and it was closed. I need petrol and I have only 1/4 tank left which will last until Monday night at best. Any information would be helpful.

When I walked past this morning after a night shift (about 7:00) the queue for the petrol station by the footbridge stretched back over the Norfolk bridge, stopping ambulances and busses getting through eastbound. According to my day-shift counterpart who managed to get in to work by motorbike, there were cars parked on the forecourt at least two hours before opening time.

It was nailed on that this would happen as soon as Johnson uttered the immortal words "there's no need to panic buy petrol". At this point he's told so many lies and mistruths that if he told me my hair was on fire, I'd be inclined to pour a bucket of unleaded over my head

 

[dazzer6666]

Nicked off a pal’s facebook post…..

 

[drew]

So the panic buyers are all workers getting essential fuel? I don’t think so.

Read my post again and perhaps you can then make an intelligent comment.

 

[drew]

If they had say half a tank of fuel, and that would usually last them a week / fortnight, but because they saw the long queues where so many are topping up their fuel tanks, leading to them fearing that if they left it that week/fortnight until they actually needed to refill, that there wouldn't be any stock left so have decided to not take the chance and fill up that far ahead of their normal buying pattern just in case, then i'd say it's panic buying

Just like with the toilet rolls, like pasta, etc, if they all followed their normal buying patterns instead of all rushing out to buy at the same time, there would be the stock to go around. If they had found a petrol station was out of stock, there would be several others nearby with stock, now because of the rush to buy it by so many, far more have run out than would have otherwise happened creating the fuel shortage, which would easily have been avoided if they'd just continued to buy normally

It's nothing like toilet rolls. You can't stock up with months worth of fuel. If there is no issue with deliveries then the forecourts will all be full again in a few days time.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

NHS worker friend pulled into a closed Sussex station last night on her way into work, cones at all pumps, when she mentioned her job the guy working there opened a pump, told her they had thousands of gallons, but only for essential workers.

 

[banjo]

Findon garage has petrol. £30 limit. Luckily my wife got some. NHS nurse btw. She would have had to get the train to work otherwise to add to her 13 hour shift.

 

[Originunknown]

View attachment 140714

Nicked off a pal’s facebook post…..

What is wrong with people honestly

 

[Bakero]

 

[portlock seagull]

What is wrong with people honestly

He can’t help it. He is stupid. A lemming. If you told him there’s a petrol station below the cliff he’d drive off it. Best thing he could do as a contribution to society is pour those cans over himself and light a match. Unfortunately he will probably have bred and has created another generation of dumbarses…and so it goes on. There is no hope for humanity!

 

[Guy Fawkes]

It's nothing like toilet rolls. You can't stock up with months worth of fuel. If there is no issue with deliveries then the forecourts will all be full again in a few days time.

Retailors work and decide on stock levels based on algorithms and projected sales to guide how much stock to hold, a sudden spike in sales causes that to fail and leads to the shortages we've seen

There would still have been enough toilet rolls for everyone without that panic buying at the start of the pandemic as they were being supplied to supermarkets at the same rate as non pandemic supplies.

The difference was that people panicked, brought up far more stock than they traditionally would have just so they could hoard it in case, and that led to the shortage. Without that change in buying pattern, everyone would have been able to buy as normal.

Compare that to the fuel situation, if everyone just kept on buying as normal, everyone needing fuel would still be able to get it as and when they need it. Instead we have a situation where people who genuinely need it for work, etc will find it very hard to get fuel (in the short term) as the stocks at supermarkets which would have lasted until their next delivery have instead been snapped up far quicker, meaning they run dry and have to close. Normal buying patterns wouldn't have led to those forecourt closures

By it being brought at far higher rate than normal, at that has caused the severe shortages many retailors now have rather than the lack of tanker drivers, the same as what happened with toilet rolls

Irrational behaviour is the cause of both

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

View attachment 140715

Perhaps this is the punchline for their early coverage of the story Inspired comedy really.