Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: People panic buying fuel aren't being irrational

Okay, here’s a prediction for you, because there have been headlines today about petrol stations running out of fuel because of panic buying: people will panic buy petrol this weekend.

Yesterday was discount day at Gull so things went a bit crazy.

Gull Ōtāhuhu ran out of 95; Gull Greville Road, Gull Henderson, Gull Torbay, Gull Takanini and Gull Takapuna were also out of at least one type of fuel. Two pumps ran dry at supermarkets in Palmerston North as well.

Here’s my second prediction: there will be tellings-off.

Cheryl from the Bay of Plenty is going to see some punter filling multiple containers and she’s going to get angry about it. 

Actually, that’s not even a prediction — because it’s already happened.

Cheryl went to the Gull in Whakamarama and saw a van filling up multiple large containers causing a 20-minute wait for other customers. She spoke to the media and called it unfair.

Now, the thing is: panic buying is obviously not a good idea for the collective good. We’ve been here before with the toilet paper during COVID, haven’t we? It’s not a good idea for everyone as a whole — but it is a completely rational thing to do from a selfish perspective if you’re just looking after yourself and your family.

So you should expect people to do it.

And before you tell anyone off for doing it, remember: we don’t know their personal circumstances.

We don’t know what’s made them go down to the petrol station that day to fill up their car and multiple containers. We don’t know whether they’re running essential generators back on the farm, whether they need to be sure they have enough fuel for the next few days.

And more importantly, we don’t know how tight their budgets are.

You and I might be able to absorb a 30-cent rise in the price of fuel, but if someone only has a few dollars left at the end of the week, and they’re driving in from Pōkeno to the city centre every day, they might not have the ability to absorb that kind of increase.

They may in fact need to buy as much as they can while it’s cheap.

No one is to blame for what’s happening at the moment. This is normal human behaviour. The media is just doing its job by reporting on the fuel increases people want to read about.

The government is being as careful in its messaging as it can be. And even the punter filling up is only doing the rational thing.

So what I’d say is: expect this to continue for as long as we’re talking about possible shortages and price rises.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, here's a prediction for you. Because there have been
headlines today about gas stations running out of petrol because
people have been panic buying, people will panic buy petrol
this weekend. Yesterday was discount day at Gull, so it
went a little bit crazy. Aorninghunger's goal ran out of
ninety five Goldgreville Road, Gull, Henderson, Gold Torbet, Guald Takanini

(00:21):
and Gold Takapuna were also out of at least one
sort of fuel. Two pumps ran dry at supermarkets and
Palmeston North as well. Here's my second prediction, there will
be talings off. Cheryl from the Bay of Plenty's going
to see some punter filling up multiple containers and she's
going to get angry about it. Now, that's not actually
a prediction, because that has what that's already happened. Cheryl
went to the goal in Fakamatama and saw a van

(00:42):
filling up multiple large containers, causing a twenty minute wait
for other customers. She spoke to the media and called
it unfair. Now, the thing is panic buying is obviously
not a good idea for the collective good. We've been
here with the toilet paper during COVID, haven't we. It's
not a good idea for the collective good, but it
is also a completely rational thing to do from a
selfish perspective, if you're just looking after yourself and your family,

(01:04):
so you should expect people to do it. And before
you tell anyone off for doing it, remember we don't
know their personal circumstances. What's made them go down to
the petrol station that day, fill up their car and
multiple containers. We don't know whether they're running essential generators
back on the farm, whether they need to be sure
that they have enough fuel for the next few days.

(01:25):
We also don't know, more importantly, probably how tight their
budgets are. You and I might be able to absorb
a thirty cent rise in the price of fuel, but
if they only have a few dollars left at the
end of the week and the driving in from Pocono
all the way to the city center every single day,
they might not have that much money. They might not
have the ability to absorb that much of a price rise.
They may in fact need to buy as much as

(01:46):
they can while it's cheap. Now, no one is to
blame for what is happening at the moment, this is
a normal human behavior, right. The media is just doing
its job by reporting on the fuel increases that people
want to read about. The government is being as careful
in its messaging as a care and even the punter
of filling up is only doing the rational thing. So
what I would say is expect it to happen as
long as we are talking about possible shortages and price rises.

(02:10):
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