Posted on: Tuesday, October 1, 2002

EDITORIAL
Panic hoarding can upset our economy

It's an understandable but troublesome reflex: West Coast docks shut down during a bitter contract dispute between shipping companies and dockworkers.

Consumer anxiety shoots up and Islanders start stockpiling staples such as rice, toilet paper, canned goods and more. After all, about 90 percent of goods come to Hawai'i via container ships.

If excessive, such hoarding results in consumer goods shortages and potential price gouging. To avoid such a catastrophe, our advice right now is, don't panic.

By all means, stock up sensibly. But don't overdo it. Hysterical hoarding, particularly in a fragile island economy such as ours, will tear our community apart rather than get us through a potential crisis.

Local stores say they've planned ahead and built up reserves. But those supplies won't last long if the goods are flying off the shelves faster than they're going up.

Of course, we understand that many have been through this before. West Coast strikes caused Hawai'i's docks to shut down for five months in 1949 and 100 days in 1971.

And hopefully, this latest dispute will be resolved swiftly because there's far too much at stake to allow it to drag on.

It would be foolish for Hawai'i not to prepare for a West Coast dock strike, but more foolish of consumers to embark on panic-induced buying sprees that create the very shortages we all fear.