wiredfalcon2 said:Can some saint please explain the actual logic behind this massive food hoarding? Are stores gonna shut down because of the virus? Or is it just "don't leave the house since you have enough supplies"? Like, what even is that?
Look at Italy—imagine a whole city under lockdown with no way in or out... which means no deliveries.
The issue isn't that food doesn't exist—it's that grocery stores don't keep massive stockpiles sitting on shelves. If you don't buy your essentials and your neighbors do instead, you’re going to be starving in a week and stuck knocking on their doors. It’s not really about the virus itself; it's about potential supply chain disruptions.
We get most of our produce from Spain, pork from Poland, and so on. Even our local manufacturers rely heavily on imports.
Take masks as an example—supply can't keep up, but everyone wants them to feel "safe." Most major mask producers are in China and Japan; right now, China can barely meet its own demand, so they've started buying back masks already sold to other countries, then reselling them to us at a premium.
It's simple supply and demand... when things get scarce, prices skyrocket. People born around 1995 haven't dealt with shortages, so they aren't prepared—but our grandparents lived through it and understand the value of a stockpile. Back when the American Civil War era hit, everyone had flour, sugar, oil, salt, and coffee tucked away. Everyone had reserves. If you look further back—say, during the 1940s—it was crystal clear: whoever holds the food holds the power. Back then, you could practically trade gold for basic goods.
