From the article: It sounds like panic-buying is making things worse.
From the article:
As of Wednesday morning, McCauley said, tank farms in Baltimore, Springfield and Fairfax had enough fuel supplied by Colonial, but there weren’t enough drivers to get it from the storage facilities to gas stations. Many truck drivers who were laid off when people drove less earlier in the pandemic have found other jobs, he said, and it takes time for new workers to obtain the special licenses needed to transport hazardous materials.
“They’re seeing a crush of customers,” said McCauley, director of government affairs for the Washington, Maryland, Delaware Service Station and Automotive Repair Association. “People are filling up when they normally wouldn’t. The buying pattern has completely changed.”
It sounds like panic-buying is making things worse.
R/idiotsincars is full of pictures of people putting gasoline into plastic bins and even in bags because of this. Completely unaware that they are just making the situation even worse.
R/idiotsincars is full of pictures of people putting gasoline into plastic bins and even in bags because of this. Completely unaware that they are just making the situation even worse.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission on Wednesday warned Americans to not fill plastic bags with gasoline as fuel shortages worsened for a sixth day and consumers raced to secure supplies....
This was a real thing that was actually tweeted by a US government agency. I struggle to get over how stupid this is. Did people not learn their lesson from the toilet paper fiasco last year? Do...
I struggle to get over how stupid this is. Did people not learn their lesson from the toilet paper fiasco last year? Do we need to just preemptively start rationing every product that hits the news because vast numbers of Americans reliably react as irrationally as possible? I want to think that paternalism is wrong and inappropriate, but the past year has me really struggling with that principle.
As my boss likes to say, “Price gouging is good. It stops panic buying.” I don’t entirely agree with him, but prices rising would at least discourage people from gassing up their lawn mowers,...
As my boss likes to say, “Price gouging is good. It stops panic buying.” I don’t entirely agree with him, but prices rising would at least discourage people from gassing up their lawn mowers, boats, and other non-road items.
It would be difficult to enforce, especially for gasoline, but I like what Denmark did with hand sanitizer: the first unit or two was the normal price, anything beyond that had a significant markup.
I’m in Florida and the city I’m in is completely out of gas because of people panic buying. Guess I’m lucky I bought a plug in hybrid a few months ago!
I’m in Florida and the city I’m in is completely out of gas because of people panic buying.
Guess I’m lucky I bought a plug in hybrid a few months ago!
Ample provisions for the obligatory newsreels montage in the introduction of any post-apocalypse movie. Gasoline shortages due to a cyberattack in the midst of a pandemic would have made for a...
Ample provisions for the obligatory newsreels montage in the introduction of any post-apocalypse movie.
Gasoline shortages due to a cyberattack in the midst of a pandemic would have made for a lousy pitch only 18 months ago.
From the article:
It sounds like panic-buying is making things worse.
R/idiotsincars is full of pictures of people putting gasoline into plastic bins and even in bags because of this. Completely unaware that they are just making the situation even worse.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission on Wednesday warned Americans to not fill plastic bags with gasoline as fuel shortages worsened for a sixth day and consumers raced to secure supplies. 🤦
Especially since:
Colonial Pipeline resumes operations after ransomware prompted closure
This was a real thing that was actually tweeted by a US government agency.
I struggle to get over how stupid this is. Did people not learn their lesson from the toilet paper fiasco last year? Do we need to just preemptively start rationing every product that hits the news because vast numbers of Americans reliably react as irrationally as possible? I want to think that paternalism is wrong and inappropriate, but the past year has me really struggling with that principle.
As my boss likes to say, “Price gouging is good. It stops panic buying.” I don’t entirely agree with him, but prices rising would at least discourage people from gassing up their lawn mowers, boats, and other non-road items.
It would be difficult to enforce, especially for gasoline, but I like what Denmark did with hand sanitizer: the first unit or two was the normal price, anything beyond that had a significant markup.
Thread reader link, because this was 10 or so tweets.
Panic make thing worse, whatever the thing.
I’m in Florida and the city I’m in is completely out of gas because of people panic buying.
Guess I’m lucky I bought a plug in hybrid a few months ago!
Ample provisions for the obligatory newsreels montage in the introduction of any post-apocalypse movie.
Gasoline shortages due to a cyberattack in the midst of a pandemic would have made for a lousy pitch only 18 months ago.