2022 marks the third year of the coronavirus pandemic. Each year, there have been some people who panicked and hoarded groceries and household goods. You might remember photos and videos from 2020 of people pushing overflowing carts of toilet paper. While hoarding might make some people less anxious – it causes problems for everyone else.

Here are some of the reasons why you shouldn’t hoard groceries:

Supply Chain issues are a big reason why you can no longer easily find the groceries you expected to buy. Supply chain issues have caused major slowdowns in the trucking industry. There is a backup at ports with full containers that cannot be loaded onto a truck.

The result is that your local grocery store has fewer products than it would have had before the pandemic. Seeing empty shelves could cause some people to feel the need to hoard groceries. When the next person goes to that grocery store, they will discover that the hoarders took it all.

There is plenty of food out there. But, it can’t reach the stores as quickly as it used to due to supply chain issues.

Grocery stores are running with a limited work force. Grocery store workers are getting sick with Covid and staying home, or are quarantined after being exposed to someone who had Covid. This puts a strain on the workers who have to work short handed.

Fewer workers means that grocery stores may be unable to restock the shelves with whatever food is in the back. People who hoard groceries might buy more than they need of milk, eggs, and toilet paper. Again, this means there will be less for the next shoppers.

Hoarding groceries is expensive. It means your family has to spend more than typical on food and household items. Continuing to hoard groceries during a pandemic could break your budget. It also puts you at risk of having the foods rot away before you could eat them.

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