I know we in the UK don’t get to hear everything that’s going on and it’s just the news that makes it over but has panic buying started in parts of the US due to possible problems with supply?
I know we in the UK don’t get to hear everything that’s going on and it’s just the news that makes it over but has panic buying started in parts of the US due to possible problems with supply?
Comments
I haven’t done any personally.
No we’re already up to our ears in Chinese garbage.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-officials-hoarding-supplies-trade-war-tariffs-1235329235/
No, but there has been a lot of volatility in the stock market. A lot of people selling out of their shares and getting into cash.
Nope. I’ve generally been rolling my eyes anytime I hear someone say ’empty shelves’ in X number of weeks.
I fully expect things will continue as normal and in X weeks those same people will be living in fear of whatever the news is discussing next.
Not that I have seen.
Panic buying in regards to what? There is no panic.
No.
I have stocked up on some imported things I wanted to keep on hand. Other than that have not seen much.
I haven’t seen it in my area yet.
No. Haven’t seen any.
A lot of that talk going on in reddit is misinformation. You got to realize that Reddit is the internet. Most information on the internet is lies, misinformation, or political positioning. And reddit is one of the primary sources for internet misinformation.
Believe nothing you read on this site by default. If you care about the issue triple check and make sure one is a non-internet source.
No.panic buying is always super irrational, though.
I haven’t noticed. I do know several people who where going to make major purchases within the year moved their timeline up. Things like vehicles, large appliances and furniture. I will be going to the grocery store tonight. I’ll pay attention to see how well stocked the store is. But so far I have not noticed panic buying like we had with covid in 2020.
None yet. The prices haven’t spiked quite yet, at least where I am. Everything is business as usual.
Not that I’ve particularly seen, but I’ve personally been buying new clothes and shoes early so I won’t have to pay tariff prices when my current stuff wears out.
Yeah, my parents bought a new car just days before the tariffs hit because my sister is learning to drive and she’ll need a car soon for college. I bought a remarkable paper pro and a creality k1c… trust me, we would never have bought these up if it weren’t for Trump.
Oh also… we bought 40+ bags of rice to live it out.
No, but I don’t really have plans this weekend. I guess I could go do some for fun.
No but spending was up this past month as many people bought things before the Trump tariffs went into effect and jacked up the prices. Now that spending spree is over we will enter into a Trump slump.
To be honest, nothing has changed for me or the average person since Trump took over.
Not this week.
I stock up on non perishable foods, toilet paper, etc., when I can, which is not often.
Yes, the issue is many dont know what will be tariffed and what won’t be. Wouldn’t be surprised to see another toilet paper run again.
Not that I have noticed!
No
Nope most of us our living out our lives like normal. I personally don’t think I’ve felt any of the effects of the tarrifs and in fact my gas is well below 3 dollars a gallon so I could really care less.
I bought a couple of small items that would be inconvenient if they were out of stock like cleaning supplies and HVAC filters. But not crazy quantities. I’ll use this all in the next few months.
That’s on the schedule for next month
Not yet. Though yesterday my brother in law just told me that we might run low on toilet paper soon. So speculation is there, but I have not seen tangible signs though.
Nope
From the consumer perspective? No not really
From the manufacturing side? You bet your ass there have been. From the retailers themselves? Ohhh lord yes.
They pre bought so much import stuff that it propped out forced our GDP down significantly last quarter
My husband bought some baby gear that we won’t need for a couple of months because he read that it’s going to get more expensive. That’s all we personally have done.
Yeah I’m not seeing any panic buying or general panic outside of Reddit.
No I still haven’t noticed any real changes in prices or availability.
Sales of big ticket items likely to be impacted by tariffs were very high in March, but right now we are seeing a collapse in consumer spending especially among lower income people.
No. I ordered an extra lap top as a precaution, but what exactly am I supposed to be panicked about?
There is no panic buying. It’s not necessary to panic buy anything.
No only panic selling
I went ahead and got a computer, but don’t consider panic buying.
there is no panic or panic buying that ive saw or heard
Noup. Not a bad time to buy electronics tbh
no
A lot of people I know ran out and bought cars.
Post tariff goods are now just arriving. Gonna hit Costco this weekend for 3 cases of Prosecco and some TP
Yes
I might buy an extra 20 lbs of rice, flour, beans, etc before prices spike because those are daily foods for me and I generally like to have a bit extra. But I haven’t seen or heard of anyone doing anything beyond that.
Yes
Many people I know are doing the opposite. In fear of a potential recession, folks are actually avoiding unnecessary purchases.
Costco was looking a little light on toilet paper and paper towels last week but they weren’t out of either. We’ll see how that holds.
It seems there are more and more political bots on Reddit.
Nope
Should I be panic buying? What’d I miss?
Panic? No. Pre-emptive? Yep.
I bought a car that has a Japanese engine and transmission a month ago. I bought some consumer electronics that are manufactured in Asia. They were all things I was going to do in the near future. I locked in the pre-tariff price. US corporations did the same. There was a huge surge in imports to get inventory before the tariffs hit. The US had a record trade deficit in March.
Not like it was during Covid, but I did buy some tools I needed and started a stockpile of shelf stable goods all documented on an excel spreadsheet in preparation for everything getting expensive. I don’t think we’ll not be able to buy stuff, but I do think stuff will go up in price significantly, and if it doesn’t, oh well, I have stuff I need and use in bulk now.
The first container ships containing reciprocal tariffs are just landing in ports across the US. Panic buying will not be triggered until some staple shelves are empty, but CPG companies front loaded their buys ahead of the tariffs to get as much into the states as possible prior to the tariffs kicking in. We are probably 4-6 weeks to some store shelves emptying, that will be the test of how panicky the average American is.
As far as us, we pulled all out major purchases for the year into the first month (a couple pieces of furniture, new dish washer, new cell phone etc…) We know our food bill and consumable bills are going up, we just wanted to avoid on the big ticket items.
No.
I did, however, buy some stocks on the dip about six weeks ago. Got some for a bargain because other people were panic selling.
Nope.
I haven’t seen it. But I live in a rural red area where everyone watches Fox News. So they haven’t any warning of what is coming. They are expecting prices to fall because Trump said they are falling
I actually feel really bad for them. It’s a very poor area and most of my neighbors will suffer greatly for this
Shelves were still full when I was panic buying.
No Panic buying from what I have seen, and since you have a Food and Drink tag on the post, anyone hoarding food right now for fear of empty shelves has no idea where their food comes from. The biggest struggle will be coffee for an item that a lot of Americans consume every day, but when it comes to meat, produce, dairy, snack foods and even wine/beer, the US is one of the largest producers in all of these categories and is one of the most efficient producers of food in the world. No one should be worried about food or drink unless there is some sort of imported specialty item that you really like.
“Panic buying,” no. I did make a couple of electronics purchases sooner than I otherwise might have, in expectation of tariffs driving their costs up.
Nope
I work in a grocery store and haven’t noticed anything. We have had some shortages in produce though. It could be from tariffs but I think its mostly from growing troubles which is a result of climate change.
By companies, there absolutely has been. Not as much by consumers yet.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-trade-deficit-hits-record-high-businesses-consumers-121525965
>The recent surge in imports reflects efforts by companies across the country to bring in foreign goods before more duties kicked in. New orders for manufactured durable goods, for example, jumped 9.2% to $315.7 billion in March, Census Bureau data released last month shows.
>March’s trade deficit surpasses the last monthly record of $130.7 billion reported in January — also amid tariff uncertainty after Trump took office, marking a more than $32 billion jump from December.
Not that I’ve seen so far. Our approach is to buy slightly more than usual each trip so that we’re not clearing the shelves. For example, we might buy a pack of toilet paper on each store trip rather than wait until our supply is low, or buy three cans of beans instead of two.
No. What about where you are?
No
I have done some purchasing, but am being strategic, not panicked. I bought a big bag of rice, some canned meats (tuna and chicken), and I’m going to make sure I’m stocked up on paper goods and an assortment of dry beans/lentils. I live alone, so I don’t need a TON of anything.
The general population has no idea that we are heading towards shortages of imported commodities.
When it happens the blame finger will be pointing elsewhere and the masses will be upset that Biden did it to them again.
I think people are perplexed as to what’s really going on, because the orange Menace says something different everyday. There has been no significant jump in prices that I’ve seen. I’m sure some people are stocking up, quietly, but it’s not obvious in the stores. People are pushing forward on big ticket items, like cars.
No.
Wife was shopping for new cars. Subaru was on her list to buy. Subaru announced they were going to stop building/ordering new cars for 2 months. Inventory dried up over the course of a weekend, no new cars on the local dealer’s lot.
Some people went out and bought cars before the tarrifs but it’s not widespread tbh. Other than that, no I haven’t seen any panic buying
A few less choices in the grocery stores but nothing much
The only thing I’ve panic bought is maple syrup.
It’s definitely the opposite, atm.
Panic saving/non-buying from terrible consumer sentiment. Businesses still putting on sales like there’s no supply shortage.
The diminished demand is partly mitigating the impending supply shock. Have no idea when/if panic buying will set in.
ETA: Retailers just slashed the new iPad price (released in Mar 2025) from $350 to $300. Some colors were even $288. That illustrates how much we are non-buying.
Not really. Lots of places are running out of backstock and several walmarts bought shipping containers of merchandise and put them in their lots. Shelves aren’t too bare yet, so the panic hasn’t set in.
Not in my area. The “It can’t happen here.” belief shield is holding pretty strong. I got into with my wife a bit on they way for our last grocery run. She and a lot of people around think that if you prepare for something bad to happen you are somehow willing it into existence. A sort of “speak of the devil” mentality.
You should take a moment to consider your sources of news and the validity of the information you get on Reddit; things are relatively fine over here for most people. The sky is, in fact, not falling.
I don’t know if it’s panic buying per se, but once Trump was elected, I decided to make several electronics upgrades, since I knew he was going to bring tariffs back.
No, I bought long shelf life/emergency ration food just to have should something go totally crazy as far as empty shelves go but so far nothing has been panic inducing.
Nope, prices are spiking slightly, but not massively enough to get people to panic buy things.
Not essentials or every day things (as far as buying stuff up), but I’m sure there’s some luxury and specialist items that people are buying earlier just in case.
Another thing to keep in mind as well, is that prices were up on some things even before this tariffs business, so… who knows where pricing will stick by the next couple of quarters…
Not panic buying, but liberal voters have been predicting this for months, so they’ve been buying perhaps an extra bag of rice or an extra package of chicken to throw in the freezer on routine grocery trips. The panic buying will happen when MAGA realizes what a tariff actually means for the shelves. We are almost at that point, but not quite.
Not “panic” buying but we bought more than we normally do from Costco, and bought some interior decor and design things we planned for summer…with the 25% decrease in freight (45% from China) set to hit US markets next month we decided to plan ahead – not panic lol
Give it a few weeks. To the average American nothing has changed yet.
As someone who works in a consumer goods business it has been an absolute nightmare. I have insight on costing, production, and supply chain that the average consumer only hears about superficially in broad strokes. I do believe a storm is coming based on what I see happening behind the scenes.
It has been a miserable couple of months for us.
Ammo
Not at all.
I want to panic buy a Switch 2 but don’t have the funds.
The biggest reason why the entire US economy fell 3% is because people did panic buy and now are relying on their stockpile. Look at the electronic sales that occurred in February and March. That’s why prices are up.
It is happening.
I’ve seen barer shelves at my local Asian food store. The clerk said people have been buying rice and other staples like crazy.
I haven’t seen any. There’s a lot of stress among retailers and crafters, but it’s not clear what to panic-buy. So I’ve seen more anxiety than acting on the anxiety.
Not that I’m aware. I’ve been stocking up a little at a time and for the first time in my life, I’ve bought a weapon.
The only thing I‘ve personally seen so far is some accelerated buying of imported items in our local Asian supermarkets cleared out some items the weekend after the announcements. Mostly heavier items with no local production that tend to go completely out of stock whenever there’s even a minor supply disruption to ship traffic, as they’re not economical to fly. Outside of that very import sensitive (and import savvy) environment I haven’t seen any yet.
Wait til people realize they can’t afford Christmas presents.
Well, I live in a permanent state of existential fear and dread (ok this is a bit of an exaggeration) but I have not yet started panic buying.
Not yet. Check again in a few weeks.
Not any more than usual… although, I usually shop at Costco, so it’s fairly common to see adults having complete meltdowns because there is a posted limit of 12 baby grand pianos per household…
I bought a couple of big ticket items in the last month, a luxury watch being one of them. I was told by the dealer that tariff pricing would take effect this Friday. I’ve not seeing any “panic” buying yet.
I’ve noticed that more people are putting in gardens and raised beds. Chicken coops too.
No, I haven’t. Not even toilet paper. I’m not entirely convinced that there are going to be all these product shortages that are predicted. There is going to be inflation for sure, but not sold on the empty shelves.
Nobody will do anything until their choice of propaganda tells them to.
No, but I am buying some things I want or will need in the near future. Got a steam deck because I’d planned on purchasing on this year anyway. I replaced some clothes that were getting worn out, got a new purse.
Oh, and my car took a shit last year, one of those things where it was going to cost more to fix than the car was worth (fuck you Hyndai!), so I got a new car shortly after the election.
I live in a very small, remote town and as far as I’ve seen, the shelves are still plenty stocked. No one is freaking out and shipments are still coming on the regular for now.
To me the vibe is more “save as much money as possible” since the job market is absolute trash and layoffs are everywhere. (I am an academic scientist, so things are BLEAK.)
No, thank goodness.
I work retail, and in my location, we have seen a huge increase in buying compared to this time last year. I suspected panic buying (even though we don’t source much from overseas), but other locations in our company are not seeing a similar increase, so I’m not sure what exactly is driving that.
Speaking for myself, I have not been panic buying. However, I did move up a purchase of an e-bike last year after the election because I suspect batteries to get much more expensive.
In my opinion the panic buyers haven’t really become aware of the situation yet.
People on both sides of the political spectrum are buying a lot of guns and ammo.
I’d say it’s more people sort of delaying big purchases
I don’t know if these are panic purchases, but I recently bought a second PS5 Pro for my living room and my Mom bought a new Macbook to avoid the incoming tariffs. We were going to hold off but jumped earlier than we wanted.
Not in my area.
I have not seen any
No. I just moved from a southern to northern state and haven’t seen it in either area.
No, I haven’t seen any.
Why would people be panic buying?
I’ve been trying to buy less honestly
I haven’t seen the sort of thing we did during COVID though some people are starting to stock up on paper products and canned foods.
A lot of us can’t afford to panic buy, we can barely survival buy
No.
I’ve already been procuring supplies since Nov 6. I haven’t noticed anything different when I go shopping for fruits and vegetables, but we’ll see.
There was a BOGO sale on toilet paper last week, I got a couple of extra packs though
I bought an Xbox controller (on sale) earlier than I would have due to the Microsoft price hikes
Not. But everything is expensive now.
On consumer level that hasn’t been any and everything is stable. For businesses they rushed in orders prior to tariffs. Consumers that order from Temu/Ali which sometimes went ahead and bought stuff they were looking at
No, stop believing all the doom you read on Reddit.
Coffee (ground) that used to be $6, was $9.99, is now up to a whopping $20.00 where I live.
Prices are rising. I’m not sure if people are realizing it, but they are. In some cases it’s only a dollar here or there, but they’re climbing already. It’s only a matter of time.
I know some people who were already planning on larger purchases, purchasing earlier than planned (phones, cars, game systems, etc). But I haven’t seen any panic buying of regular items. I have been wondering if the same people who typically panic buy are the same people who think tariffs are a tax cut.