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'Elderly hour' in Australian stores as panic-buying continues

30 Comments
By PETER PARKS

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30 Comments
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27 years living down under in Australia, 2020 will be a year I will never forget.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Hats off to store clerks working yet another front line in the battles against the virus. Like so many other workers they're at risk because too many of the world's 'leaders' put off making decisions for fear they and their fellow 'elite' might lose some money. Australia's been triple whammied this year: virus plus fires and floods.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

They should just limit the distribution and then allow sales based on postal code. That would fix people to certain locations for supplies and not have people from out of their own area.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Nothing like this in my part of Tokyo. Yesterday the supermarket had everything including toilet paper and Italian spaghetti. Still no masks though.

11 ( +12 / -1 )

Just came back from Costco, very normal shopping trip, plenty of paper for the crapper there.

No mania, hysteria or panic, most things plentiful, but tissues for sneezing running noses was out of stock was all i could see.

Aeon Mall had pallet loads of toilet paper too the other day.

I cant for the life of me see why the aussies have gone over board on panic buying when they are mostly a very grounded bunch of people.

Buy Italian pasta and jars of sauce , it keeps for ages and great for emergencies.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

I was chatting to a mate of mine who is an executive at a factory producing TP in Aus! Apparently, there is no shortages as far as production is concerned. They have loads and loads of TP in factories and warehouses! The problem lies with the supermarket chains who are still sticking to their normal deliveries in order to avoid extra costs for extra deliveries! So people panic buy and the normal stock disappears within minutes! If supermarket chains increase their orders with factories and make more than normal deliveries from factories to shops then this whole problem will be solved efficiently. At the moment factories are prohibited from selling to individual customers directly and can only sell in wholesale to retailers. Hopefully, the regulators step in soon!

Similar problem in Japan as I talked to one shop staff and found out that they are still having usual deliveries of TP and haven’t increased much from the normal stock being delivered daily. Therefore, despite factories and warehouses having bulks of TP there is a shortage in certain supermarkets due to panic buying!

10 ( +10 / -0 )

Great for Australia, but one has to ask who controls their food supply. The US looks towards Monsanto who controls 80 percent of the U.S. corn market and 93 percent of the U.S. soy market. Hmmm. to much control where is the government oversite and monopoly laws? hmmm..

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

The US looks towards Monsanto who controls 80 percent of the U.S. corn market and 93 percent of the U.S. soy market. 

Google 'Open Secrets Monsanto' and you'll see historically it's contributed primarily to Republicans. I didn't look to see whether Monsanto is one of the mega-corporations getting farm subsidies from the feds, but wouldn't be surprised, especially with its lobbying prowess.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Just read a complaint from an elderly person in the UK who is willing to obey and stay home but found that no supermarket can deliver within four weeks they are so busy. This good idea in Australia will surely catch on elsewhere.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Nothing like this in my part of Tokyo. Yesterday the supermarket had everything including toilet paper and Italian spaghetti. Still no masks though.

Ideal situation. Don't need the masks. If you're coughing / sneezing in public, cover your mouth and nose with a small towel.

I'm going to find out who's been snapping up all the toilet paper at my local supermarket and wring their necks.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

“I cant for the life of me see why the aussies have gone over board on panic buying when they are mostly a very grounded bunch of people.”

As the Australian ethnic mix increasingly mirrors the wider world, the quintessential laid back, help a mate ethos that once characterized her is steadily receding. Survival ethics honed in more Hobbesian parts of the world and which served the newcomers well in making it to the land of milk and honey are increasingly the default.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Australia's elderly were let in early to supermarkets on Tuesday

Only problem with that is that families will be sending their oldest members out to do the shopping.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

@serrano--if your local supermarket is in Tennessee, you can find your TP stacked in a storage unit behind 17,700 bottles of hand sanitizer. Rather than neck wringing, a public shaming in the mass media has been proven to do the trick.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Tennessee, you can find your TP stacked in a storage unit behind 17,700 bottles of hand sanitizer. Rather than neck wringing, a public shaming in the mass media has been proven to do the trick.

Public shaming and the attorney general getting involved did the trick.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

It's at times like this we could benefit from facial recognition cameras spotting the people who go in and out of supermarkets several times in order to circumvent the rationing at the checkouts.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

“It's at times like this we could benefit from facial recognition cameras spotting the people who go in and out of supermarkets several times in order to circumvent the rationing at the checkouts.”

Society needs to anticipate and stymie the ingenuity of free riders. Supermarket visits per person should be capped at a maximum of two per day. Another measure, car registration should be cross-referenced with ID as facial recognition alone won’t prevent locust-like extended families or bands of brothers/sisters employing bulk purchasing tactics to outwit facial recognition alone.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@zichi. I don't know about anywhere else, but in the UK it impossible to get delivery slots for online deliveries. Those who rely on them are finding that they are stuck with no food or essentials due to idiots who could go out taking all the slots.

Iceland supermarket in the UK has started elderly only shopping hours, other shops and banks are looking to follow suit.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

In WW2, they had ration books. But that still didn't stop the black marketeers.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

The Media has alot to answer for hasnt it, spreading fear and panic amongst the feeble minded idiots who believe everything on the internet and what their govt spews to them.

Dumber than a bag of rocks.

Use logic, think about it, consider what the reality is then make a rational decision, dont believe the hype n B. S. being spreading and churned out by the fear mongering media machine.

This is the 2019 version of the flu, spreading like the flu does, yes it kills old people like flu does. All older or sick humans have been in danger of dying from flu since the beginning of man kind, so use precautions, use sanitation think like an intelligent person and do not behave like a headless chook.

This unbelievable panic and hysteria is just ludicrous.

Some one needs to be held accountable, either the media or the idiots for spreading their stupidity and fear. Which is the question?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

@zichi Amazon staff in the UK are on enforced overtime, contradicting government guidelines. They are putting money over their staff. Other retailers are allowing staff extra time off at the moment.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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