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.

 

[dajop]

And on the down side from Twitter.
Nope, not Venezuela, but the rural Victorian city of Traralgon, population 25,000. Yesterday, totally cleaned out of veggies, meat, bread, toilet paper and even dog and cat food. Panic stricken, selfish #Melbourne people, driving up and raiding, depriving the locals. #COVID19au
.

Just astonishing. Time for lockdowns is almost here, if not to save the community from COVID19, to save the community from greed and stupidity.

 

[I love to travel]

The girls are the local IGA told me tonight that they are thinking about moving to a home delivery service only model.

 

[blackcat20]

And on the down side from Twitter.
Nope, not Venezuela, but the rural Victorian city of Traralgon, population 25,000. Yesterday, totally cleaned out of veggies, meat, bread, toilet paper and even dog and cat food. Panic stricken, selfish #Melbourne people, driving up and raiding, depriving the locals. #COVID19au
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View attachment 210073.

Some of it is probably average people like myself who can't even do a standard shop, let alone a panic shop. People are getting desperate.

 

[Denali]

My Coles fruit and veggie was full. Hubbys friend said he went to 4 stores the night before and couldnt find anything so he was wrapped at our shops plus doubled up on mince, chicken and sausages (for the toddler) at the butcher. Friend said hes "carefully rationing to make it last". WTF?

 

[JessicaTam]

The fruit and veggies at Coles was pretty depleted but at Woolies looked normal. And these supermarkets are both in the same shopping centre. Go figure!

 

[Denali]

I did get cut off by a right turning car today. Real old guy with a P plate turned right in front of me and his pax gave me the finger for no reason other than I was there and had to brake for them.... I guess there was a rush for the disability car space right in front because thats where they parked.

I wonder why someone so old was on their Ps though

 

[I love to travel]

Wooles in my area have done much better at keeping supplies up.

 

[DC3]

I did get cut off by a right turning car today. Real old guy with a P plate turned right in front of me and his pax gave me the finger for no reason other than I was there and had to brake for them.... I guess there was a rush for the disability car space right in front because thats where they parked.

I wonder why someone so old was on their Ps though

I’ve also noticed plenty of drivers aged in their 30s-40s on red P plates. And they are obviously not new to driving due to the way that they plant accelerator to the floor and disregard basic road rules. Semi-permanently on red P’s?

 

[opusman]

The only thing that will stop this is a proper rationing system for a few weeks.

 

[I love to travel]

As a blunt instrument

Tax Office or ABS alphabetically portion out in equal ratios the population . People with surnames starting with a to d can shop on a Monday etc. Supermarkets impose limits as they are now. Mostly foolproof if supported by sensible legislative amendments to allow restocking deliveries etc.

 

[luxury-lizard]

How about supermarkets hiring more casuals to act as security guards to ensure limits are adhered to - also crowd control etc Offenders would be forced to leave the supermarket without any of their purchases.

Unfortunately my favoured solution would probably take too long to implement from an IT perspective - all shoppers would be required to swipe their loyalty card (e.g. Flybuys, etc) and the system would track purchases and impose limits. Of course this only works for major chains and some people would figure out various loopholes (e.g. sign up fictitious people,...). But hey it might come to this.

 

[VPS]

I went to my local fruit and veg today that also has a smallgoods area and lots of great food. No gaps on the shelves at all. It's time to start looking for your small local shops - butchers, fruit and veg, bakers etc

 

[OZDUCK]

In my local suburban Perth shopping centre around midday. Woolies had a fairly limited range of meats. Plenty of chicken and pork. No mince and few sausages. Fruit & veg full. Coles had a bit more meat and fruit & veg also full. Plenty of bread. Cereals very low. Toilet paper, tissues & flour empty. I wonder how many of these buyers have ever actually baked anything before?

The fruit & veg shop was stocked as per normal. The butchers shop had full shelves with plenty of sausages and mince - dear-ish but just their normal high prices. VPS has a good point.

 

[luxury-lizard]

Wow - I am even more angry than ever - being self-isolated I was looking to do some online shopping - (Coles and Woolies - not possible at present but you can still browse items and fill your virtual basket - so I looked at HarrisFarms which are still delivering (1 week delivery time) and found to my extreme surprise that their prices for everyday/ordinary fruit and veggies is in many cases DOUBLE the price of the same thing as Coles online.

Now under normal circumstances I shop at both Coles and HarrisFarmes (in person) every week and generally the prices for fruit and veg are very similar - often HarrisFarms has more specials than Coles - so it seems to me that HarrisFarms are profiteering from this current situation - will investigate further tomorrow (when I'm not totally jet lagged) and call them out on social media and every other forum i can work out.

After this crisis is over - people will remember the "good guys" and the "bad guys" will loose out in the medium to long term.

 

[Denali]

I'm baffled why Coles and Woolies cancelled home deliveries. Even if I don't get everything I ordered, it's still better than going to the shops.

I would prefer being short supplied than go to the shops.

 

[Cossie]

Was in my local woolies this morning, a shortage of a few things, eggs, mince, but most things were ok.
Had to go back at 3:30 to get some things for the boss, wow, could not believe the difference, no meat, except seafood, no pasta, no tinned tomatoes nor other tinned vegies, very little milk and next to no frozen vegies. Also no potatoes, loose or packaged. Lot's of kale though,
Very little bread left, maybe 1/2 dozen loaves, I joked to a couple of people that it was like being in a supermarket in a communist country in the early eighties.

 

[serfty]

I'm baffled why Coles and Woolies cancelled home deliveries. Even if I don't get everything I ordered, it's still better than going to the shops.

I would prefer being short supplied than go to the shops.

Most Woolies and Coles home delivery orders are 'picked' from an actual designated regional store relative to the customer.

No good taking orders when the expected availability of product does not exist afew hours later.

 

[Himeno]

I'm baffled why Coles and Woolies cancelled home deliveries. Even if I don't get everything I ordered, it's still better than going to the shops.

I would prefer being short supplied than go to the shops.

home delivery is still happening from the online only stores where there are no in store customers and everyone working at the store is either a filler or a picker.
It has been suspended from the normal stores so that the staff who normally do the online picking can instead be on check outs or refilling shelves.
Once the panic buying stops and in store stock levels improve, delivery from normal stores will resume.

What you see online as in stock is based on the stock levels at the selected store which updates every few hours. Stock levels can change between the time the order is placed and the time it is picked.
In addtion to redirecting staff to filling the larger then normal loads, there is not much point doing the picking when 50+% of the order has gone between the order being placed and it being picked.

 

[Isochronous]

Wow - I am even more angry than ever - being self-isolated I was looking to do some online shopping - (Coles and Woolies - not possible at present but you can still browse items and fill your virtual basket - so I looked at HarrisFarms which are still delivering (1 week delivery time) and found to my extreme surprise that their prices for everyday/ordinary fruit and veggies is in many cases DOUBLE the price of the same thing as Coles online.

Now under normal circumstances I shop at both Coles and HarrisFarmes (in person) every week and generally the prices for fruit and veg are very similar - often HarrisFarms has more specials than Coles - so it seems to me that HarrisFarms are profiteering from this current situation - will investigate further tomorrow (when I'm not totally jet lagged) and call them out on social media and every other forum i can work out.

After this crisis is over - people will remember the "good guys" and the "bad guys" will loose out in the medium to long term.

The best way to end the silly hoarding is allow the market to naturally send a price signal.

 

[Pushka]

The best way to end the silly hoarding is allow the market to naturally send a price signal.

But then those who now have the opportunity to actually buy needed goods have to pay a significant price. That method doesn't work for me.