With snow forecast across the UK this week, shoppers could rush to supermarkets to stock up on essentials, however, this could potentially lead to shortages. Although households across the country are being advised to prepare for wintry conditions, experts warn people against panic buying essentials such as milk, toilet rolls, bread, or eggs.
Hersh Shefrin, professor of behavioural finance at Santa Clara University, spoke about the psychology behind panic-buying before storms: “The thing about fear is that it induces us to become excessively pessimistic. So when that emotion becomes dominant, we act as if we are excessively pessimistic, and so we tend to think in terms of extremes.
“The second issue is that we want to ask what people are afraid of. I think there are two things that scare them. The first thing that scares them is that they’re going to be deprived of the essentials of life in terms of food, clothing, and shelter. So their response is to try and satisfy or address that fear by stocking up.
“When you think about what scares people, what are the pictures they have in their mind? What are they visualising internally? It’s starving, it’s running out of milk, it’s running out of bread. So they think about what might change because they are holed up, surrounded by snow, and they can’t get out,” he told USA TODAY.
Author and anthropologist Sharon Wolfgang added: “Now, why do people buy milk and bread when they expect snow? (And they actually do; I’ve often seen supermarket bread sections completely empty the day before a predicted storm.)
“Two reasons, I think. First, those are two basic foods that most people want to have on hand all the time, especially if they have children. Heavy snow makes it hard to go to the store, so people make sure they get a supply of the basics while they can.”
Currently, there are no reported shortages of bread, milk or toilet paper in major UK supermarkets. However, panic buying due to the snowy and icy weather could potentially lead to shortages, so it’s advisable to buy only what you need and avoid stockpiling.
