5 reasons not to mob Costco or panic

Let the Germans Hamsterkauf — you don’t have to

Photo by Bonnie Kittle on Unsplash

According to this article, Germans are doing a bit of hamsterkaufing. This is one of the more adorable words in the German language. It means they are buying to hoard, the way hamsters hoard food in their cheeks.

Now isn’t that cute?

The reason they are doing this is thanks to the Coronavirus. While CoVid-19 has not killed many people, it’s sure killed stock markets and shelves at Aldi in Germany and Costco in Seattle. Yes, Costco is being mobbed. Here’s an article that describes food fights over bags of rice. Seriously? If I thought the end of the world was nigh, I wouldn’t be fighting over rice…

Maybe the guy in this article who is stocking up on condoms and coconut oil has the right idea…

All of this is a bit nuts.

As someone who lived through the crazy during Y2K… let me assure you, you don’t need to fill your bunker with hand sanitizer and face masks. Or top ramen. Or whatever you think will survive the pandemic.

Here are some reasons not to panic or to hoard:

1. You should already be prepared

When I lived in Denver, we didn’t go nuts about Y2K because we were already…