Living in a pandemic time, the supply and demand have greatly increased for certain essential needs. These needs pre-pandemic we seemed to have taken for granted, and you feel that more when they are scarce during a terrifying time. Given these circumstances, my family has felt the pull of supply and demand with many household items. The main household items affected by the pandemic supply and demand were: toilet paper, paper towels, and antibacterial soap. Out of all of these items, toilet paper was the one that required the highest amount of demand across the country. Stores were selling out the moment they got more in, people were frantically going from store to store in search, and it even came down to people physically fighting others for the last packages and selling them on sites for four times the cost.

The variables that most affected my decision to buy or not to buy those essential products were the following:

1) Can we afford to pay four times the cost of toilet paper on Marketplace or eBay?

2) Do we really need toilet paper? Is there a similar product we could use instead (i.e., paper napkins)?

3) Do we have the time to run from store to store looking for a said product?

4) Is it safe to go from store to store given a pandemic?

Now that the pandemic has calmed slightly enough for us to walk in any store and buy these items, my behavior has changed where we now have a small stocked up supply of essentials. If anything should happen like this again, or another shutdown occurs, we will be ready.

What your take on this discussion? Do you agree or disagree with the discussion?