Coronavirus (COVID-19) Panic Buying?

[lovetravellingoz]

Indeed, I get the impression Aussies are too busy emptying supermarket shelves to go on holiday!
cheers skip

Not at the supermarkets I frequent. And at Costco, when don't shoppers here have full trollies?

I think it is more that hand sanitiser has a run on.

 

[Pushka]

https://www.facebook.com/119823111405768/posts/2914616465259738

 

[drron]

Guilford NSW.Aldi at opening.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1237241870469582851

 

[Pushka]

Guilford NSW.Aldi at opening.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1237241870469582851

Please keep these people out of Adelaide. And don't tell them we still have full shelves in some stores. Not the Coles and Woolies ones though. It's fricken toilet paper for god sakes.

 

[p--and--t]

Are there early signs the great famine of 2020 is almost over?

I just went to the local woollies and the shelves are almost full of toilet paper and a couple of extra pallets on the floor and the whole checkout area lined with display units full of anti-bacterial (and other) hand wash and hand sanitiser.

 

[drron]

No it will be over when Pharmacies and Bunnings have stocks of masks.

 

[blackcat20]

Went to a different woolies today. No loo paper, and they have a much larger section than the other woolies I went to. Also very little baby formula or pasta. But heaps of paper towel.

 

[AisleSeat]

Went to Coles yesterday and checked out the cleaning aisle. All the regular Dettol wipes were gone....but.....there were stacks of the biodegradable Dettol wipes....that were on sale at half price.

Weird.

 

[oz_mark]

Woolworths have started suspending change of mind refunds on toilet paper, hand sanitizer and a few other things..

 

[Himeno]

Woolworths have started suspending change of mind refunds on toilet paper, hand sanitizer and a few other things..

It is to stop the people who are buying excess to requirements now, then deciding later that they don't need that much and trying to return it. (ie, trying to make people think about what they are doing before they grab 20 packs of pasta)

----
Due to the unprecedented demand we have seen in the past week, we have decided to make a temporary change to our raincheck process and our change of mind refund and exchange process. These changes will take effect from today, Wednesday 11th March 2020 and will continue until further notice.

For this duration we will NOT be offering

• rainchecks on any advertised lines OR
• refunds/exchanges for change of mind for the below 12 categories (with or without a receipt) OR
• refunds/exchanges for change of mind for all transactions over $30 without a receipt

Refund Policy change key callouts:

• All change of mind refunds or exchanges over $30 require a receipt to be processed (previously over $100)
• Change of mind refunds/exchanges for products from the following categories are excluded:
  • Toilet Paper
  • Paper towel
  • Tissues and Serviettes
  • Medicinal (pain relief)
  • Cleaning (anti bacterial wipes, sprays and cleaners, disposable gloves)
  • Feminine Hygiene and Incontinence
  • Baby Wipes
  • Pasta and pasta sauce
  • Canned Food (canned fish, canned vegetables, canned soup, canned fruit, canned meals)
  • Flour and Bread Mixes
  • Cooking Oils
  • Rice

Woolworths reduced the limit on toilet paper again from 2 to 1 at lunch time.

 

[Denali]

For the policy to be created, they must have been getting bulk returns. Which is hilarious

 

[SydneySwan]

Just went to Coles at Crows Nest in Sydney - no paper towels, toilet paper, almost no flour or oats. Many cleaning products only had a few bottles, packs left as did many cereals. I thought the burghers of Crows Nest were a bit better than that.

 

[Denali]

All these people hoarding flour, like they were going to discover their inner Little House on the Prairie and start making their own bread and pastas

Then they realised it involves kneeding and cant do that on an app so too much hard work

 

[jakeseven7]

Just went to Coles at Crows Nest in Sydney - no paper towels, toilet paper, almost no flour or oats. Many cleaning products only had a few bottles, packs left as did many cereals. I thought the burghers of Crows Nest were a bit better than that.

Demographics of certain areas seem to be linked with hoarding thats for sure.

 

[Black Duck]

We live out of town and yesterday went to the nearest big town for our shop - usually only done every few weeks. I visited 3 supermarkets to stock up on specials (my usual practice - I am tight). Both Coles and Woolies had no toilet paper and very little other paper goods, very little pasta, rice, flour and long life milk. Woolies had about 6 packets of tissues. The Iga had most things but limited toilet paper and 2 people we about to remove most of what was left. They were saying that they had better take more now because it might be gone next time. Both said they had a stock at home already.

In Coles and Woolies people had trolleys packed with bottles pasta sauce and baked beans.

I happen to go into the Reject Shop for dishwasher tablets and noticed they had quite good stocks of toilet paper, tissues and soaps.

Given how I normally shop means I always try to keep quite good stocks at home so I didn't need any of those things except I might have added a bag of rice if it was there simply because it was half price. I guess we are fortunate to keep chooks, have a vege garden and fruit trees and preserve quite a lot.

Later this year I can see an awful lot of canned goods being chucked out - from what I saw, if people actually need to feed themselves from their hoard they are going to be incredibly sick of those meals. Most trolleys of that nature were full of all the same thing. Can't imaging eating pasta and the same bottled sauce every night for the duration although they could have baked beans sometimes I suppose.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Woolworths reduced the limit on toilet paper again from 2 to 1 at lunch time.

Not surprised. I have been away camping for the last week and missed action during the main recent Toilet Paper War battles and went shopping at about 10am this morning for the first time in over a week.

Almost without exception every shopper seemed to have a 30 roll pack of toilet, even those who just had a basket and only doing small shop. So no wonder the shelves keep getting stripped.

 

[blackcat20]

All these people hoarding flour, like they were going to discover their inner Little House on the Prairie and start making their own bread and pastas

Then they realised it involves kneeding and cant do that on an app so too much hard work

I make my own bread and pasta, and I don’t kneed either

 

[Denali]

I make my own bread and pasta, and I don’t kneed either

KitchenAid?

 

[blackcat20]

KitchenAid?

Nope. Philips pasta machine, and my Breville Bakery Boss

 

[Denali]

Can you use antiseptic cleaning wipes to wipe your bum?

Because if the toilet paper runs out here at home... we have about 14 packets of cleaning wipes now. Hubby just came home with 2 more.

Not that these will ever go to waste but geez, he only went to the store to get bacon. He also said no paper towels, no toilet paper and no tissues

 

[Pushka]

I experienced the opposite of panic buying. One of our staff has a young child of 5 who with kindy and childcare always has some grub miasma about him. She has two parents in their seventies who arent in great health with chronic stuff but still ok. Last night I was asked my MrP if I knew where to get some sanitising gel. She had none and only started looking this week. Even in our neck of the woods its been sold out for weeks. I bought four tiny bottles and two slightly larger natural products that were on the kitchen bench waiting to be used Thats all I had.. I gave him one of those, but in reality I would go through what we now have left, if used properly, in just a couple of days. I did say to tell her that she should not use it yet until we get human to human transmission in SA because there will be no replenishing once its gone.