Toilet paper panic? One USA professor says its not necessary to stock up during dockworkers strike [Video]

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – The port strike gridlock has some shoppers stocking up across the Gulf Coast.

Dock workers at ports including Mobile go on strike

One popular item that always seems to go first…toilet paper!

Several major retailers across Mobile have almost empty shelves of the household item and others.

One Mobile shopper, Matthew Miller, posted a photo on social media Tuesday of an almost empty Costco aisle.

The caption, “No paper towels. No toilet paper. No bottled water.”

University of South Alabama Professor Peter Simonson says panic shopping creates more of a problem.

“You said it more succinctly than I did. A lot of it’s kind of we’re making the problem ourselves,” Simonson says.

Professor Simonson has a PH.D. in supply chain management.

He says this isn’t the first time this type of panic shopping has happened.

Longshoremen strike could seriously impact local trucking industry

During the 2020 pandemic, shoppers flocked to stores stocking up on items in fear …