I was in PX Mart last night and all loading their shopping trolleys with tissue and toilet roll, I thought must be on offer. NO panic buying I realise this morning reading news in Hong Kong where it started.
If you’re locked up in your house for a month for some good ol’ coronavirus quarantine, you’re gonna run out of toilet paper before long, I’d guess.
Some people know something we don’t?
Local TV news just said it’s fake news.
Or is it? 
It’s called a bidet, and it’s far better for the environment and cleans better than paper.
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panic buying of jacks roll triggered by a fake news report about panic buying of jacks roll.
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Was in an RT mart earlier, lots of stock however quite a few stumbling out with a 24 pack in each hand and another under each arm. How much toilet paper do these people get through if they require this type of stockpile!? Just bragging rights!?
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No problemo here. I only shit in the woods.
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Life imitates art it seems, so now we need to stock up before everyone else does. 
I just saw the same in 7-11 and PX mart.
Didnt partake in the madness though (maybe I should have)
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What else is under threat? My guy was out of ibuprofen the other day…
Let it go!
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Oh ffs. Again?! I’ve seen wet wipes, especially those with “antibacterial” properties, selling like hot cakes, but TP?!
Good thing I restocked from Costco last month…
Re: running out of Chinese products, my family here has been all doom and gloom since the election (or was it before then?), when higher duties were to be imposed on imported goods from China.
So, all Chinese products will be more expensive, apparently. “Because the government.” 
Is this scare just an extension of that?? Plus the factories aren’t operating?
2018 was the year my school told me I had NT$9,000 to spend on “living essentials” that had to be “disposable”. (No air purifiers/pots and pans/microwave, etc). As someone who has never been one to buy disposables, I found myself asking everyone for suggestions on things I could buy. I think I bought ten 24 packs of TP at once only to realize a) that was not even close to the allotted amount of $$ and b) there was nowhere to put it in my tiny living space.
On the flip side, I didn’t need to buy TP for well over a year, and I wasn’t too stingy when students asked for some.
Ironically, this past year I was told I could only use the money to buy things that I could return to the school when I left and TP was therefore not an option. Taiwanese policies make my head spin.
I did notice a surprisingly small amount of available TP when I walked by that section at Carrefour yesterday. It seemed odd but I figured it’s winter and people might just have runny noses.
The fact that I couldn’t even get N95 masks in FL last week and now TP is the new masks is an indication to me of just how fucked the world will be in the event of an apocalypse.
Yet people don’t even stock up on essentials when a taiphoon is headed straight towards us?
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What about those 3M masks with canisters? That would be counted as disposable…
You mean the ones that are almost gas masks but not? I bet I could have convinced them that was disposable ;). They might argue it’s not “生活用品”, but I could certainly get my point across.
I was told to buy non-disposables this year. So I bought a Taiku Dutch oven and skillet. Nothing like handing a fancy gift receipt to the school accountant and asking to be reimbursed for it.
I would’ve bought something no Taiwanese ever thinks about using it.
Disposables:
Food
Welding rods (that’s disposable and you can resell it to welders)
End mills (same)
various chemicals, food or otherwise…
A huge order from iherb.com
Those chicken essence thing (great for gifts)
I wish I got a blank check to buy 9000nt worth of disposables.
I wish it was a blank check. Food didn’t count. Had to be “things used for personal hygiene” one year and “something that could be given to the school when my contract ended” the next.
I applied for soooo many things and was denied. I swear someone was sitting around laughing at the laowai with this money dangling in front of her and not being able to use it.
No water filters (ie Brita, though those are shit against lead), no food, no toothbrushes or paste (???). I don’t remember what else there was. The teacher before me said the school just bought her 100 bars of soap, dehumidifier bags, and a bazillion sets of chopsticks. Her husband had asked if they could buy a dryer, but the policy was “nothing that can be turned around and sold for profit”. Huh. They had a newborn and diapers didn’t count. Wet wipes were ok. Laundry detergent not. Truly fascinating restrictions. Back to my hoard of TP…