Kate Hawkesby: We've not learnt much from lockdowns - supermarkets still can't plan ahead

I see Aucklanders coming in for a lot of criticism for rushing out to supermarkets and filling their trolleys over the weekend before Cyclone Gabrielle’s arrival, but in defence of Aucklanders: why wouldn’t they? 

I mean that’s what Civil Defence, the Mayor, and all the media were telling them to do. Not only that, they were putting out those messages in a concentrated timeframe. We were being told to get enough supplies for 3 days, and to do that by the end of the weekend. 

So you had a mad flurried 48-hour period where people went berserk in supermarkets. 

You can’t tell everyone to stock up, all at the same time, and not expect that to get hectic. But here’s the thing – what to stock up on was detailed in advance; bottled water, batteries, torches, food. 

And the supermarkets —and here’s where I think the blame really lies— supermarkets were busy telling us they had plenty! That stock would not run out, there was plenty for everyone, just take what you need, and don’t worry we’ve got masses. But what maybe they didn’t properly compute, was how if you tell everyone in Auckland at the same time, within the same 48 hour period to go stock up on those specific things, that maybe you need to have a huge stash of crates in the aisles like they did with toilet paper during lockdown, as back up. Because the first thing that happened is that all the supermarkets appeared to sell out of bottled water, batteries, eggs, bread... it was a cluster. 

Why didn’t they bring bucket loads more of that stuff in, knowing that’s what people needed? I felt so sorry for all those so anxious already who then rushed off to supermarkets, as instructed by local authorities, only to find the shelves bare.

Yes there were probably people who bought more than they needed, but when you create a sense of panic —as I think has happened this time round because authorities were so determined not to repeat last time— then you have to expect human behavior will respond in kind.

Also, we have, as relatively recent experience, lockdowns and how crazy people went at supermarkets then. And again, at that time they were saying the same thing: just take what you need, don’t go nuts. But human nature tells us people do go nuts. 

Experience tells us people, for some reason, want to buy a lot of toilet paper. There’s also an egg shortage so of course eggs were first to go. 

Now I don’t doubt many supermarkets were frantically trying to restock on Sunday, but by then the rain was hitting and there’d be many people reticent, or unable, to go back out. 

The queues and craziness had kicked in Friday and Saturday, and that’s when the back stock needed to be getting restocked – in real time as it was being snapped up. 

So we’ve not learned much from lockdowns have we? We still go crazy, we still panic, and supermarkets still can’t seem to plan ahead for that.

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