So, I went to Costco this morning for a couple of things,

We went to Costco last Tuesday, every cart was stacked with toilet paper and bottled water. DH and I started counting arts that didn’t have any TP.

My guess is many people are confusing prep for quarantine and prep for a hurricane, when the necessities are no longer available. With Amazon we should want for nothing if we were quarantined for 2 weeks.

Now, hoarding chocolate should be priority 1!

Samples don't bother me. I'm more disgusted by the hands touching a cone just above the wrapper on an ice cream cone.

So I lived in my home country for about 2 years right after the Sandinistas took over. We had to use a “ coupon book” and they rationed supplies for everything, including TP. I remember each person got two rolls per week and it was super cheap, newsprint type toilet paper. Fast forward to many years later and my entire family still talks about it. We were all traumatized by this toilet paper shortage.  So we all became TP hoarders and we all use the softest paper we can find. My GM traveled to Nicaragua with one suitcase full of TP. We each have our own TP. 

So, the thought of running out of TP brings back very bad memories.  My dining room looks like a TP warehouse.  🤨🤨🤨

DH went to our Costco this morning and there were signs saying "Due to the unfortunate circumstances there is currently a two quantity limit on all merchandise in the warehouse."

He took it kind of literally and bought two of everything on our list. Good news is I probably now have enough tampons to last until menopause. 🤣

(Also - no hand sanitizer to be found in Costco, Walmart, or our grocery store.)

These are the people that drive me nuts. No one needs that much. They are talking 2-4 weeks but I just don’t see that actually happening. Where does one even store 15 cases of everything. That’s just what they know if from today but I would bet she had more from previous days. Local news showed the lines to get in the buildings of several semi local Costco’s it was crazy they wrapped around the store. I would love to get some water but I don’t want to deal with the crowds.

I have to get a huge amount of paper towel. We normally don't use paper towel or napkins. I prefer linen napkins and hand towels, but DH'S oncologist said it would be a good idea to wash hands and use a paper towel, and then throw it out. Makes sense since his tolerance is below 0 now. (I thought I was doing well using thicker white washcloths in the bathrooms and throwing them in the wash after a day. Not good enough now for us all so we have new rules.

Our Publix store had limits on bottled water, soap items, etc! And the shelves were bare. One of the cashiers I know told me that they might cut back on their hours (the workers). Most people are getting items delivered and not going out.

Speak to the store manager, explain your need for paper towels, maybe they will allow you extra or at least let you know when they get delivery or maybe even deliver to you.
Or Amazon.  Do you have an Aldi?  I like theri select-a -size towels.... 12 rolls I think for $10.

I had a friend that went to Walmart in Amherst and said that they were put of all rice, lentils, beans, Clorox wipes... and were low on tp and kleenex. I was in Walmart in Manchester on Friday and while they weren't out of anything except hand sanitizer, they were low on paper towels and Kleenex.

I never do either. It's part that it's prepared in the aisle of the store and part that blocking the aisle annoys me. 

Unfortunately amazon sellers and people on Facebook marketplace are reselling TP and the like for ridiculous prices.
That could be why a few people have bought so much.

While I can understand it, we miss out on a lot of really good deals that way because he never shops the whole store the way I do when I’m there on my own. When I’m shopping there by myself and take a little more time, I’m able to find all of the “last ones” bargains that they have knocked down the prices to nothing on, and I snap that stuff up. Once it gets really cheap like that, the stuff goes fast and they may never have it in stock again.

Case in point, we wanted some hook rails for our lake cabin. I saw them initially when they were $24.99 for a two pack. Didn’t buy them. Was shopping by myself a few weeks later on a Friday and saw they were down to $12.49 and there was a whole pallet of them. I bought three packs (6 rails) and brought them to the cabin, where DH decided we could use 2-3 more packs of them for the basement bath, the guest bedroom and a closet. By the time I got back there on Monday they were marked down to $9 a pack and there were just two packs left out of that whole pallet. I hate missing out on deals for stuff we need to buy anyway.

I don't only because I want to get in and out and am usually there before they set up.

The neighboring town the stock up joke is bananas    Bananas are now their town symbol, not sure if mascot would be the correct word! But they are pretty funny with the banana jokes, meme and pictures!