What Is Hoarding?

In discussing the COVID-induced shortages in grocery stores, where people reported getting excited about finding a case of tomato soup or hand sanitizer or distilled water, the topic turned to hoarding.  Should those individuals have purchased less of their items to spare some for others?  Is it selfish to take the last four cans or case of a product?  Why is it ok to stock up during a case-lot sale, but not at other times?

A couple of years ago, my son and daughter-in-law were parked at a very small chain grocery store and saw two full pallets of various foods being loaded onto the pickup truck of a very old cowboy. Was he hoarding? Now consider that we live next to the Middle of Nowhere. The Middle of Nowhere is 2-3 hours from a grocery store in good weather. In winter, roads may be impassable for months. Is the old cowboy still hoarding, or being responsible and self-reliant?

What about people with medical needs or special dietary restrictions? Maybe they really do need several gallons of distilled water each week. Maybe they can't do dairy, so they drink a lot of almond milk. Maybe they must avoid fresh vegetables (I have a brother-in-law like this), so they have to have canned and thus buy more than the rest of us. Yes, it would probably be a good idea to learn how to DIY, but that's not the issue here. Maybe there is a whole family of them, and so they need a lot more than just for an individual.

What about people ordering online, whether directly from the distributor or through the grocery store?  They have no idea whether they are buying the last can or case.

I've got six children. If I shop weekly, that's about $175 of groceries in the cart. If the weather is bad, I might go only every two weeks and need two carts. Is it hoarding? Should people with large families be required to shop more often so it doesn't look like they are hoarding to the Gods of What Is Acceptable Protocol in Grocery Shopping?

Who gets to decide what is hoarding? Why concern ourselves with the actions of others, as long as they don't harm anyone? All have eyes to see and have had time to prepare.  Those who didn't are just getting upset with someone else instead of placing blame where it belongs--on themselves for not preparing as they should have. There is already enough nanny state from the government. We don't need any more.

And no, I don't think it was a good idea to buy up all the hand sanitizer in the state, on several levels. But the overwhelming majority of the time, people are just buying what they need for their families, whether it's for a day, a week, a month, or a year. It's not our business to judge or monitor the decisions of others. Heaven knows we have more than enough Democrats, socialists, and communists to do it for us.

Those who decide to become a God of What Is Acceptable Protocol in Grocery Shopping tend to be pretty liberal in the judgments they make of others, based upon nothing more than appearance.  How can one take it upon himself to judge another's grocery cart?  How can one determine whether a person is shopping for himself or a family of ten?  Or whether this is a daily, weekly, or monthly trip to the store? 

And what about the grocery stores?  Aren't they in the business of selling?  Don't they reap more profit based on greater sales?  Smith's/Kroger often run specials for "Buy 5, Get $5 Off" or 10/$10.  Don't these two examples suggest that stores like to sell 5-10 or more of any given item?  What kind of merchant that wants to stay in business or grow the business actually limits sales?  Yes, the stores may limit sales of loss leaders, but in general, they want to move as much product as possible.

(The guys buying up all the hand sanitizer--or whatever the daily panic product is--within three counties, with the aim of profiting off their less-prepared neighbors, are also within their right.  It's called capitalism.  Of course, those put off by such avarice are also free to avoid buying from their greedy neighbors.  Someone else will come along and sell a better product for less.  This is also capitalism.) 

Unfortunately, the time may come when we are the recipients of such judgments, and in a society spiraling downward, the likelihood is ever increasing as food supplies diminish.  How do we respond when accused of hoarding the food and other supplies we have carefully and thoughtfully gathered over time to sustain our families?

• Remind them of the fable of the grasshopper and the ant.  We chose less expensive vacations, drove cheaper cars, and shopped at garage sales.  We made beans and rice a way of life to save money and afford the items we have prepared.
• We chose to "panic early and beat the rush."  Because preppers have already prepared, we don't have to go shopping with everyone else.  We actually relieve the pressure because we aren't in stores buying what others need.  And they will have fresher supplies that they are more comfortable with, instead of the older stock that we consume in order to rotate.
• As prepared individuals and families, we are better able to meet challenges and thus better equipped to contribute to a resilient, resourceful, strong community. Look at the differences in responses to natural disasters in megacities, where people lean Democrat and rely on the government to save them, and those that occur in rural areas, which are more conservative and self-reliant. 

The bottom line is that the definition of hoarding is ever-shifting.  What seems like a reasonable supply today becomes hoarding tomorrow when the other guy's food runs out and his family is hungry.  Hoarding will be defined as such by those who have less than somebody else.  The best approach is to keep on prepping and keep quiet about it.  It's the approach I took for a long time, and the one I personally prefer.  But I feel, and have felt for a long time, that I am supposed to teach others, and the only way to do that is to open my mouth.  Or laptop.  Hope it works out for us. ;) 

10.10.20