What is Panic Buying and Why Do We Do It?
In March 2020, Cassandra, the main character in The Rock Star’s Wife series, has the worst grocery shopping experience of her life. Fellow shoppers are purchasing large quantities, shelves are picked over and, worse, there’s no toilet paper. Chances are you experienced something similar during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Let’s look at what qualifies as panic buying and the psychology behind it.
Panic buying is defined as “the action of buying large quantities of a particular product or commodity due to sudden fears of a forthcoming shortage or price increase” and it happens with some regularity. We see it in the U.S. South before a hurricane is forecasted to make landfall, and it’s happened during times of crisis such as the world wars and the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918.
It is very similar to hoarding insomuch as both are characterized by extreme saving, but there is one key difference. Hoarding stems from general uncertainty while panic buying is a greater perceived scarcity.
The term, however, may not be completely accurate. Researchers say true panic only happens in situations where death is imminent and that is it the timing of calculated purchases that makes them seem like panic.
“Those who delay purchasing cite conflicting information from forecasters and a lack of resources (they fear buying supplies that will be wasted if a storm does not occur) as reasons for waiting until the last minute,” a researcher from University of Illinois wrote in a 2010 study.
Why Stockpile Supplies?
“Searching for food and other essential resources and storing them for the future is a behavior that is common across the animal kingdom,” Forbes says. “Even human beings have spent most of their evolutionary history in foraging economies.”
So panic buying may be genetic. What are some other reasons why people stockpile supplies?
Rumors and misinformation can cause people to believe a situation is worse than it is. People also might buy things “just in case” even if they know logically they do not need those things. It’s a type of herd mentality where an individual interprets how dangerous a situation is based on how others react.
People often experience fear before an event, and shopping makes them feel as if they can do something that will change the outcome of the event.
A pandemic causes a large amount of uncertainty. People have difficulty accepting there could be a negative outcome. People with anxiety disorders tend to worry about minor things. They are easily frightened by uncertainty.
Yes, But Why Toilet Paper?
In Japan, misinformation about a paper shortage in China caused people to purchase large quantities toilet paper. This occurred despite the fact that most of the toilet paper sold in Japan is produced there, and the government was forced to confirm there was sufficient inventory.
Peter Noel Murray, an American Psychological Association and the Society for Consumer Psychology member, told CNBC that the reason could be self-affirmation, the recognition and assertion of the existence and value of one’s individual self, as well as a mental connection between the COVID-19 pandemic and the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918.
People know they will one day be dead, Murray said, and the mind deals with it by seeking something it can control.
“There’s an over-representation of fear and people’s minds need to respond to those kinds of feelings,” Murray said. “The need for self-affirmation is triggered, and that drives us to do unreasonable things like buying a year’s worth of toilet paper. It overwhelms the knowledge that we don’t need to be doing that.”
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Did you experience panic buying during the pandemic? Leave a comment below. Comments close after 90 days.
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Here’s the 4-1-1
This blog is a companion piece to The Rock Star’s Wife, a series about sex, family, and rock & roll. The series has elements of chick lit, romance and erotica and is best compared to The Vagina Monologues for its frank talk of sex and its consequences. The series follows Cassandra from her teenage years into her 40s as she navigates relationships (both romantic and platonic) — all with music playing a prominent roll.
Book seven, The Pandemic Diaries, debuts February 2026: Cassandra finally has Nat home full time like a normal spouse. Unfortunately, it’s because the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the cancellations of concerts and put the music industry on hold. Meanwhile, she discovers that when people are hoarding toilet paper, they aren’t buying erotica books. How will the family survive the shutdown? And more importantly, how will they survive each other?
Cassandra needs your help getting her story out. Join the street team to help.
Melina Druga
Melina Druga is a multi-genre author with a lifelong love of music, books and writing. She is the author of the Rock Star's Wife series, six historical fiction novels and nine nonfiction books. Based in the Midwest, Druga lives with her husband, daughter, black cat and CD collection.
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