Streets are empty, no traffic on the motorways, looks like holiday season, but no option for any takeway coffee etc.
Here the traffic is pretty much normal and the stores have a lot of shoppers, although they also have many empty shelves. The Corona virus has people hoarding, reminding me of a shark feeding frenzy.
This morning my wife got to Costco at 0700 to get in line for their 1000 opening time, and there were 55 people in front of her at that hour (below you will se how she was able to determine that number). We don't hoard, but it was time for us to buy toilet paper, as we normally do, and by the time 1000 rolled around there were at least a couple of hundred, or more, people behind her in line. Costco has had a run on their Kirkland brand TP, as well as other brabds lately, and their daily delivery sells out minutes after the store opens, even with limiting each shopper to 1 package per visit. Actually, they have had a run on every brand, just like all of the other stores, who's TP shelves remain empty. Costco sends out an employee, about 2 hours prior to the store opening, to give numbers to those in line. When the store opens 30 minutes early for TP shoppers only, if you don't have a number to show they wont let you in.Those that lack a number have to wit for the normal opening time, when of course. the TP is already sold out. This number stuff became necessary due to people pushing and shoving to cut into the line once the doors were open. So at least Costco has established some degree or order. While it may seem extreme duty for my wife to go through all of that just to buy TP, it's that or no TP.
It's hard to tell who, among the shoppers might be hoarding.or like us, just replenishing their supply. As it turns out, Kirkland TP is the highest volume item sold at Costco by far, with over 1 billion packages sold annually. It's also one of the best bargains around, if one is up to the current challenges to buy any.
