The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #167504 Message #4135734
Posted By: Stilly River Sage
07-Feb-22 - 12:47 PM
Thread Name: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
We'll let Kevin have the last word on the selection and treatment of popular science journals, shall we, and move on?
Meanwhile, according to the Wall Street Journal Two Years Into Pandemic, Shoppers Are Still Hoarding
Bulk-buying habit is expected to stick as people eat more at home, supply remains uncertain and inflation rears up. Retailers and producers are shifting operations as a result.
People are still practicing hoarding behavior that started with the pandemic.
Alexis Abell recently walked out of a BJ’s Wholesale Club outside Buffalo, N.Y., with 24 boxes of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, a box of 50 frozen mozzarella sticks, a 40-pound bag of basmati rice and a 12-can pack of garbanzo beans.
“I don’t want to be in a position again where I can’t get something,” says Ms. Abell, a 41-year-old mother of five, who was laid off from her retail job at a quilt shop in 2020 and decided not to return to work.
She estimates her family is now spending about 25% more a week on food and staples than before the pandemic, and she is buying more than twice as much of some staples and household supplies. . . .
After more than 20 years of steady but slow sales growth, sales at bulk retailers Costco Wholesale Corp., Walmart Inc.’s Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings Inc. rose 26.6% in dollars and 18% in volume during the fourth quarter of 2021 compared with the same quarter of 2019, according to IRI, far greater than any other type of retail including dollar stores, grocery, drugstores and mass merchants.
I've quoted a bit since the WSJ has a fairly robust paywall.
I realized I had more stuff in the freezer here than usual, and have tried to change my routine. My shopping entails replacing things I've run out of and fresh produce as I draw down frozen and canned foods. There is an extra package of toilet paper in my hall cupboard; usually I buy multi-packs that go under the sink in each bathroom. That spare one does go back to early COVID.