A thread about panic buying and stockpiling outrage. Availability (or lack thereof) of products in supermarkets is a complex and multi-layered issue.

Basically, it's not just people being cunts. 1/

CHANGING BEHAVIOUR. Many people acquire food from non-supermarket sources. Cafes, work canteens, restaurants, delis, service stations etc. 2/
When this decreases significantly, it takes a relatively small proportion of people in an area to buy one extra meal at the supermarket, to affect supply. 3/
BIGGER BASKETS. There are a LOT of people who shop 'little and often', buying only what they need for that day/possibly the next. The govt is now asking people to limit their trips, meaning products which would take a week to leave shelves will now be bought on a single trip. 4/
Again, it only takes a small proportion of people making this change to affect supply.

SPACE ON SHELF. It sounds obvious, but some products take up more space on shelf. Compare a tin of soup with an 18 pack of toilet roll. 5/
If there are 10 purchases of the soup, the shelf still looks full. If there are 10 purchases of the toilet roll, the shelf is empty.

RANGE. Using the same example, how many different brands and varieties of tinned soup are available in your average large supermarket? 6/
More than 50? And how many different brands of 18 pack toilet rolls are available - maybe 5 or 6?

Again, a category like tinned soup can survive an uptick in purchase fairly easily, in a way that a category like large toilet rolls packs cannot. 7/
So why can't the supermarket just order more stock? Well, supermarkets are run with a fairly iron grip, usually from the retailer head office (I should know, I worked in retail marketing/tech for 10 years). Supply is generally nailed down WELL in advance. 8/
Sales are usually forecast at a product level using two scenarios.

1. How many units the product sells in each store, per day, when it’s at full price. (called Rate Of Sale)

And 2. How many units a product sells when it’s on promotion (generally significantly more). 9/
Suppliers eg Heinz work with their factories to produce those numbers. And they ensure they have enough raw ingredients to produce the products, based on those numbers.

These are decided weeks or months in advance. 10/
For a lot of product suppliers, it’s very tricky, and expensive, to find additional ingredients and produce stock, at the drop of a hat. In some instances, it’s not possible. 11/
Many suppliers and retailers do not have internal processes which are agile enough to allow for rapidly ramping up production and distribution.

However, I'm sure many of them have learned valuable lessons from the first lockdown (even if our government hasn't). 12/
So ... like I said, I want people to know that availability is a complex and multi-layered issue.

P.s. some people are still cunts, obviously. /END

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So, as the #MegaMillions jackpot reaches a record $1.6B and #Powerball reaches $620M, here's my advice about how to spend the money in a way that will truly set you, your children and their kids up for life.

Ready?

Create a private foundation and give it all away. 1/

Let's stipulate first that lottery winners often have a hard time. Being publicly identified makes you a target for "friends" and "family" who want your money, as well as for non-family grifters and con men. 2/

The stress can be damaging, even deadly, and Uncle Sam takes his huge cut. Plus, having a big pool of disposable income can be irresistible to people not accustomed to managing wealth.
https://t.co/fiHsuJyZwz 3/

Meanwhile, the private foundation is as close as we come to Downton Abbey and the landed aristocracy in this country. It's a largely untaxed pot of money that grows significantly over time, and those who control them tend to entrench their own privileges and those of their kin. 4

Here's how it works for a big lotto winner:

1. Win the prize.
2. Announce that you are donating it to the YOUR NAME HERE Family Foundation.
3. Receive massive plaudits in the press. You will be a folk hero for this decision.
4. Appoint only trusted friends/family to board. 5/
I've seen many news articles cite that "the UK variant could be the dominant strain by March". This is emphasized by @CDCDirector.

While this will likely to be the case, this should not be an automatic cause for concern. Cases could still remain contained.

Here's how: 🧵

One of @CDCgov's own models has tracked the true decline in cases quite accurately thus far.

Their projection shows that the B.1.1.7 variant will become the dominant variant in March. But interestingly... there's no fourth wave. Cases simply level out:

https://t.co/tDce0MwO61


Just because a variant becomes the dominant strain does not automatically mean we will see a repeat of Fall 2020.

Let's look at UK and South Africa, where cases have been falling for the past month, in unison with the US (albeit with tougher restrictions):


Furthermore, the claim that the "variant is doubling every 10 days" is false. It's the *proportion of the variant* that is doubling every 10 days.

If overall prevalence drops during the studied time period, the true doubling time of the variant is actually much longer 10 days.

Simple example:

Day 0: 10 variant / 100 cases -> 10% variant
Day 10: 15 variant / 75 cases -> 20% variant
Day 20: 20 variant / 50 cases -> 40% variant

1) Proportion of variant doubles every 10 days
2) Doubling time of variant is actually 20 days
3) Total cases still drop by 50%

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