In the past few weeks, the southwestern United States has been devastated by a series of hurricanes.
After Hurricane Helene made landfall in late September, it was quickly followed up by Hurricane Milton—two storms that caused dozens of deaths and widespread damage across the region.
These storms have had a significant impact on the internet. For example, some conspiracy theorists declared that the government was intentionally underfunding relief efforts, while others made the outlandish claim that the government may have the capability and desire to create a hurricane itself.
Now, the worst of the hurricane has passed through the country, leaving residents to pick up the pieces of what remains of their towns. As TikTok user Cherelle Palmer (@cherellepalmer) recently shared in a video with over 229,000 views, that also means heading to the store to make some returns.
Why are people returning their hurricane preparations?
In the days leading up to the hurricane, massive crowds flocked to grocery stores in order to pick up essentials like water, canned food, toilet paper, and other goods that might be necessary in the event of a major blackout or another supply chain disruption.
However, now that things are slowly returning to normal, people like Palmer are heading back to the store to return things they didn’t actually need.
In her video, Palmer shows a grocery cart filled with cases of water, AAA batteries, frozen dinners, and more.
“When they announce ‘customers coming in to return their entire house after the hurricane’ on the loudspeaker as you are walking to customer service,” she writes in the text overlaying the video before showing herself looking disapproving and unsatisfied.
“Welp, at least we were prepared,” she writes in the caption.
In the comments, Palmer explains the reason for some of her returns: “I actually don’t drink this brand of water. Only bought it bc it was all we could get. Same for the other food.”
@cherellepalmer Welp, at least we were prepared #milton #hurricane #hurricanemilton #jokes ♬ Monkeyshine-JP – Lt FitzGibbons Men
Commenters aren’t sure this is a good idea
In the comments section, users chastised the TikToker for returning items that she might need again in another storm.
“If you panic buy for an emergency, why not just keep it so u have a stock for when there’s another emergency? Just so u could panic buy again?” asked a user.
“The point of buying things before a disaster is to be prepared. if you can’t use immediately or save for next emergency what exactly was the point,” stated another. “Returning batteries and water is nuts.”
“Generally: If you still live where storms are imminent, start a hurricane prep box and just keep the supplies that make sense to store handy so you’re not panic buying things you don’t necessarily need,” echoed a third.
That said, commenters claim that returns like these are fairly common.
“My local costco and sams club said no returns no exceptions. and I’m standing behind them at this point,” declared a commenter.
“I’m so glad the stores around me won’t allow returns after the hurricane,” added a second.
“Most places had signs no returning water,” noted a third.
The Daily Dot reached out to Palmer via email.
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