Dutch supermarkets are struggling with empty shelves because their customers are hoarding.
Although supermarkets have stressed that they have enough stocks and hoarding is really not necessary, many customers are still loading the trolley to the brim, especially in Noord-Brabant and the Randstad area. This is the impression one gets on social media.
“By loading trollies, people want to gain control of the situation at home. The thinking is, ‘Let that virus run its course, with my pantry full of rice and pasta we can bear it’. But this behaviour pattern adds fuel to the fire. People see the shelves, emptied by other shoppers, and think, ‘hoarding must be smart, let me also take some extra packs of toilet paper’. All the while, while we also know that it is precisely because of this, that shelves become empty”.
This kind of stocking up causes problems for supermarkets and the distribution chain. Things are getting out of balance and the parties in this sector can not maintain their familiar daily routines.
In a crisis such as this, it is important to specifically think of the community as a whole. People can do this by abiding by the government’s regulations and looking out for others, for example, who may become isolated and many lack basic needs.
The Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte also stresses, “Please do not hoard goods, it is not necessary.”
Source: Trouw.nl and NOS.nl
