Toilet paper crisis in Australia amid coronavirus panic-buying

[prophetvx]

Not directly anyway.

Click to shrink...

Not at all, period.

You could live in a densely populated city or the middle of nowhere for all I know, it really doesn't matter, nor do I care. One rule doesn't apply for every store in the country. The supermarkets around where I am would go into meltdown if they had to shut down self-checkouts and it wouldn't even solve the problem anyway.

 

[MontTrain]

I just bought a 4 roll pack
#partoftheproblem

To be fair our family only had 3 rolls left.

 

[Reformed Individual]

I'm in the UK and my mate is an assistant-manager at an Aldi and yesterday he said that they ended selling like 16 units or something of toilet roll when they usually sell like 3 or 4 or something.

 

[Dennis8K]

Australia pre-Corona
>> laughs at preppers

Australia post-Corona
>> prepper nation number one

 

[MrBS]

Walked into my local Coles today to see security guards on the doors. That's new.

 

[tsampikos]

Australia pre-Corona
>> laughs at preppers

Australia post-Corona
>> prepper nation number one

Click to shrink...

Pre fire

Post fire

 

[Dennis8K]

Pre fire

Post fire

Click to shrink...

Serious question, was there a similar toilet paper run on stores for the wildfires?

 

[farmland]

Old people are going nuts over hear with buying stuff.

 

[VirtuaModel]

I've installed bidets in every home I visit. I'm good to go!

 

[AusGeno]

Serious question, was there a similar toilet paper run on stores for the wildfires?

Click to shrink...

Not in the city. They're very different situations anyway - in terms of stockpiling reasons that is.

 

[Mavis]

Serious question, was there a similar toilet paper run on stores for the wildfires?

Click to shrink...

Nah, I'm in a rural fire effected area and even the local mini store had TP, milk, bread etc. A month later during the flood when the bridges to civilisation got cut off was a different matter, no power, supermarket shelves empty etc. Even then it wasn't a panic like now, guess because we know the bridges always open again.

 

[Bishop89]

Serious question, was there a similar toilet paper run on stores for the wildfires?

Click to shrink...

Not really, no.

 

[DrKelpo]

A few weeks ago I was leaving a shopping mall and waited at the machine to pay my parking ticket.
The machine suddenly displayed that it was broken, then one by one every other machine broke too.

After a few minutes there were a few dozen people who didn't know what to do.
You could feel the panic starting to spread because this simple aspect of normal life was suddenly not working as intended.

Seeing this made me realize once more that the vast majority of people would be completely lost in a case of an actual emergency... it doesn't surprise me one bit that people act this way and stack up on toilet paper as if there won't be any for the rest of the year.

 

[Psittacus]

We need toilet paper police during times of panic. They go around knocking on doors and force entry to collect excess toilet paper. You have too much? Prepare for your execution.

Click to shrink...

Hey I've been sitting on this toilet paper for months I'm innocent

 

[HeavenlyOne]

Australia pre-Corona
>> laughs at preppers

Australia post-Corona
>> prepper nation number one

Click to shrink...

Doomsday poopers.

 

[hidys]

I went to the shops today and this is very much real.
People in this country are lunatics. Why toilet paper? Canned foods are still available everywhere but toilet paper is completely gone. It's really strange that everyone is panic buying this one thing.
If the Prime Minister wasn't a total prick he should be telling people not panic buy fucking toilet paper.

 

[AusGeno]

People in this country are lunatics. Why toilet paper?

Click to shrink...

Here's my perspective:

I went and bought some extra toilet paper and high use consumables a couple of weeks ago for the sole reason of minimising the number of trips I need to take to the shops over the next few weeks.

I wasn't concerned it's going to run out, I'm not buying it to send overseas, I bought a few extra rolls in case me or someone in my family needs to self-quarantine for a few weeks and to limit our exposure to crowds. Seems pretty harmless to me.

Somewhere in between the people losing their shit and buying 100 rolls and the people losing their shit over the people buying 100 rolls is a good strategy for risk mitigation.

I don't think the power is going to go off, I don't think the taps will stop running. I'm not buying batteries or water.

TLDR - I'm just trying to stock up on essentials to limit me and my family's exposure to crowds over the next few weeks in the event that things get worse before they get better.

Edit: AMA I guess...

 

[Zushin]

Serious question, was there a similar toilet paper run on stores for the wildfires?

Click to shrink...

bushfire* :P

and nope.

 

[Last_colossi]

Woolworths (biggest grocery shop here in Aus) just announced limits on certain items as well as ramped up production on toilet paper:

Dear Customers,

I'd like to update you on the shortages we're seeing in toilet paper and other essential items.

As you may have read, or seen for yourself, these are unusual and challenging times. We know it can be frustrating when we don't have the products you need, or when delivery or pick-up windows are filled more than usual.

We're working very closely with our suppliers to get products onto shelves as quickly as we can. The makers of Kleenex, Sorbent, Quilton and Woolworths own range of toilet paper have all increased their production to meet this very unusual demand.

For example, the makers of Kleenex are now manufacturing 24 hours, 7 days a week at their Millicent, SA factory, as are Sorbent in their NSW and Victorian facilities. And the makers of Quilton have tripled their normal production across their factories in Queensland, NSW and WA.

It's worth noting that the vast majority of products aren't affected and most stores aren't seeing significant shortages. But to make sure everyone has access to essential items, we've introduced some common-sense limits to a few products. We've limited toilet paper to 4 packs per transaction and large packs of rice (2kg and over) to 1 per transaction. Where available, hand sanitiser is now at the Customer Service Desk and limited to 2 per transaction.

We're constantly monitoring the situation and will do our best to keep all products freely available to everyone. However, if we see new shortages, we may introduce other limits. We'll only do this if we think it's absolutely necessary and to help make sure all customers can access the products they need. We'll keep you updated in our stores and on our website as things change.

Our team members are doing the very best they can, so please support them, and each other.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work through this together.

Brad Banducci
CEO Woolworths Group

Click to shrink...

Source

 

[Adventureracing]

I went to the shops today and this is very much real.
People in this country are lunatics. Why toilet paper? Canned foods are still available everywhere but toilet paper is completely gone. It's really strange that everyone is panic buying this one thing.
If the Prime Minister wasn't a total prick he should be telling people not panic buy fucking toilet paper.

Click to shrink...

I'm not sure how it started but once people knew about it they then had to rush out to get some before it run out.

 

[hidys]

Woolworths (biggest grocery shop here in Aus) just announced limits on certain items as well as ramped up production on toilet paper:



Source

Click to shrink...

Sensible move. I assume Coles will follow.

 

[Daphne]

It was funny to see the pasta aisle: all the cheap pasta was cleared out, but the more expensive San Remo and Bertolli pasta was untouched. Like a locust plague of bogans had swept through.

I also got an email from the Woolworths' CEO (one of the two in the supermarket duopoly). The silly bit:

We're working very closely with our suppliers to get products onto shelves as quickly as we can. The makers of Kleenex, Sorbent, Quilton and Woolworths own range of toilet paper have all increased their production to meet this very unusual demand.

For example, the makers of Kleenex are now manufacturing 24 hours, 7 days a week at their Millicent, SA factory, as are Sorbent in their NSW and Victorian facilities. And the makers of Quilton have tripled their normal production across their factories in Queensland, NSW and WA.

Click to shrink...

There's no shortage or hint of such, and no need for panic. Is this medicine, basic food, formula for your infant? No, it's bloody toilet paper, and they're keeping the factories open 24/7 because Aussies are so full of shit.

Stuff like this makes you realize that when we actually DO have a worldwide emergency worse than the coronavirus, people will literally kill one another for 1 can of tuna while they have over 500 cans at home.

It's funny/sad seeing how "civilized" 1st world people are until a hardship arrives and then they regress to their primal state.

Click to shrink...

This is what scares me about this. It shows the mentality that's out there: a very large group of totally self-interested, selfish idiots for which nothing is ever enough. You can see how we've ended up with such an obscene wealth disparity; killing you for a can of tuna when they have 500 at home, indeed. But they really need it, what if they ever ran out?? They need so much that there's never the remotest possibility they would.

 

[Deleted member 2802]

If you run out of toilet paper just do what Kevin Rudd is doing.

Click to shrink...

Australian paper prints blank pages to help tackle toilet paper shortage | CNN

An Australian newspaper has printed an extra eight pages to be used as toilet paper after coronavirus fears prompted customers to bulk buy supplies, leaving some supermarket shelves bare.

www.cnn.com

 

[AusGeno]

You can see how we've ended up with such an obscene wealth disparity; killing you for a can of tuna when they have 500 at home, indeed. But they really need it, what if they ever ran out?? They need so much that there's never the remotest possibility they would.

Click to shrink...

Did I miss a news story, who killed someone for a can of tuna when they already had 500 at home?

 

[Deleted member 25600]

 

[Walter White Walker]

Went grocery shopping today. Fred Meyer's toilet paper aisle was completely empty. I went to Costco and on the way in the women checking for membership cards was repeating, "We're out of toilet paper, water..." and something else I can't remember.

 

[Bishop89]

Click to shrink...

That's hilarious 😂

 

[TheZynster]

Fuck people are stupid. I went to buy hand sanitizer yesterday and every shelf was empty.

Apparently they are selling for crazy inflated prices too.

I was at the pizza shop lastnight and they had ch9 on. Unsurprisingly ACA was just feeding they fear. I fucking hate that show. It should be taken off the air for drumming up fear and all the other bullshit it does. It's an embarrassment to real journalism.

Click to shrink...

Hand sanitizer?

shit all disinfect was gone in Walmart, bleach was gone, water nearly gone AND the sanitizer was gone but a ton of hand soap left over.

I've never seen empty shelves like that ever in my life

 

[Deleted member 25600]

I just had an email from a sefety aquipment vendor that we use at work. They're having a sale on toilet paper, hand sanitizer and respirator breathing masks.

Everyone is cashing in on the panic.

 

[eZipsis]

My wife just sent me a photo of completely empty baby wipe shelves.

Makes me sick, you know these morons would be flushing them down the toilet too.

I was at Coles at 7am when it opened this morning before work to get some nappies and stuff for work. There was about 20 people waiting while they opened the doors. The lady came out and said don't bother if you're here for toilet paper, the delivery hasn't come yet.

All of them, with their trolleys rushed to the isle anyway. I saw them all leave, ditching their trolleys on the way out pissed off.

I got the last pack of nappies that was left.

I can't believe people are this stupid.

 

[fieldafar]

This is how bad it's gotten at my local.

 

[just_myles]

Maybe this is the thread I should be posting in. Water I can understand. But toilet paper? Really?

 

[mugurumakensei]

Maybe this is the thread I should be posting in. Water I can understand. But toilet paper? Really?

Click to shrink...

With the coronavirus, it's more important than ever that the ass is clean when you eat the booty.

 

[Mahonay]

Click to shrink...

I approve of this

 

[Ryan.]

Time to wipe your ass with the rough paper towels

 

[Kapryov]

This is some real stupid shit.
I'm pretty sure I have enough to last just over the next week, hopefully I can actually buy some by then.
You can't even find boxed tissues anywhere, the shelves are bare.

I hope once this all blows over that hoarders will be left with their ridiculous amounts of TP taking up space, a constant reminder of their reactionary idiocy.

 

[Hark]

Fuck it's embarrassing to be Australian sometimes. Absolutely insane. Can't imagine the depths we'll sink to if/when things get worse.

I need another pack and I'm dreading heading to the shops later.

 

[Axe]

This shit has spread to the UK now. Everywhere is sold out of TP and hand sanitizer.

 

[Lastbroadcast]

Serious question, was there a similar toilet paper run on stores for the wildfires?

Click to shrink...

No, but I read somewhere today that a similar thing happened in Brisbane during the 2010-11 floods.

 

[Prax]

Ha. I bought like 200+ rolls more than a year ago so I won't be inconvenienced by this (love to stsock up on things when they're cheap). I think I still have close to 70 rolls right now. But also I am in Canada and work in a grocery store that still has toilet paper lol.

Also, toilet paper is extremely flexible as it makes for cheap, portion-controlled facial tissue, and if you have a vagina or menstruate, you tend to use a lot more than someone with a penis for hygenic reasons.

 

[EatChildren]

My mate works at Coles in a large country town. Today's morning shipment was cleared out by about 7:30am. He spent the next five and a half hours being berated by customers as to why there was no toilet paper, when there would be toilet paper, how they have kids and it's important they have toilet paper, etc. They got a second shipment in at 1pm, two enormous pallets, and the entire stock was cleared out by 1:20pm.

He's absolutely hit his threshold with the general public.

 

[psynergyadept]

What are these people eating? We but a pack of 20(family of 3) and it last us like two months.

 

[EatChildren]

People are fucking stupid and in large groups respond extremely poorly to fear driven hysteria. Their critical reasoning skills completely evaporate and a domino effect occurs, as more people buy into hyperbole and misinformation.

Here's what's happened.
- Coronavirus calls into concern manufacturing and export of goods, due to quarantine of workers from factors, and extreme restrictions on travel and shipping
- Australian government puts aggressive travel restrictions on certain regions, including China
- A Current Affair, as expected, run a fear-mongering shitpiece on the concern of certain goods being limited in Australia due to the aforementioned restrictions, citing toilet paper as one of them
- Collectives of Australians panic and buy into the bullshit wholesale, running to their nearest supermarkets and buying toilet paper in EXTREME bulk
- I'm talking literally 100+ rolls bulk, at least, as if the country as a whole will not have toilet paper for years
- Stores are cleared out by virtue of just this, further seeding the concept of limited immediate supplies, which has transformed from a ludicrous concept into an actual reality as stores are emptied
- Now everyone is buying bulk toilet paper, not just for themselves but family and friends too, because people who need toilet paper just generally literally cannot find any anywhere, and neither can the people they know
- This, again, feeds back into the problem of short supplies, as people who don't buy into the hysteria are still having trouble getting toilet paper, and thus naturally buy more than normal when they finally can
- Australians collectively end up purchasing two years worth of fucking toilet paper based on fear driven hysteria and hitpiece garbage from A Current Affair, almost everyone failing to recognise that a large volume of Australia's toilet paper is made in our own fucking country and thus not even impacted by shipping/travel bans, yet create a supply problem out of fear that should never have happened in the first place

All of this is a very, very good indicator that if, if there was some actual, nightmarish collapse of society or legitimately serious limitation on resources for whatever reason (war, for example), Australian society would just implode in on itself through idiocy and selfishness and fear.

 

[Bishop89]

ditching their trolleys on the way out pissed off.

Click to shrink...

Imagine being pissed off you couldn't stock up on TP lmao. Bunch of Neanderthals

 

[Secret Squirrel]

Hand sanitizer?

shit all disinfect was gone in Walmart, bleach was gone, water nearly gone AND the sanitizer was gone but a ton of hand soap left over.

I've never seen empty shelves like that ever in my life

Click to shrink...

Clearly you've never been in England when it has snowed for five minutes

 

[Rassilon]

the uk will never run out of toilet paper as long as the Sun is in print

 

[SuperBanana]

Woolworths in my area has halted nearly all dispatching from their warehouse to catch up and stabilise the loads. Meaning no toilet paper, rice, pasta, etc tomorrow. The amount of abuse I'm going to cop...

Boomer: Why are all the shelves empty?? I need rice and toilet paper!
Me: Yeah, unfortunately because of all the panic buying people are stripping the shelves and no one can handle the massive influx. Not stores or the suppliers but they're working on.
Boomers: Then you should stop them!! People need to buy things!! Fix it!!
Me: I can't stop people buying items. We have a limit on them, that's all we can do until supply can be sent out.
Boomer: Bad management!!

I haven't copped one bit of abuse from younger people. 100% from boomers. Fuck that entitled arse generation.

 

[StallionDan]

I haven't copped one bit of abuse from younger people. 100% from boomers. Fuck that entitled arse generation.

Click to shrink...

Don't call a generation that lived through rationing entitled because they want some bog roll and younger generations ran out and bought a year's worth they don't need right now. It's extremely ignorant.

 

[EatChildren]

Woolworths in my area has halted nearly all dispatching from their warehouse to catch up and stabilise the loads. Meaning no toilet paper, rice, pasta, etc tomorrow. The amount of abuse I'm going to cop...

Boomer: Why are all the shelves empty?? I need rice and toilet paper!
Me: Yeah, unfortunately because of all the panic buying people are stripping the shelves and no one can handle the massive influx. Not stores or the suppliers but they're working on.
Boomers: Then you should stop them!! People need to buy things!! Fix it!!
Me: I can't stop people buying items. We have a limit on them, that's all we can do until supply can be sent out.
Boomer: Bad management!!

I haven't copped one bit of abuse from younger people. 100% from boomers. Fuck that entitled arse generation.

Click to shrink...

This is, word for word, the conversations my mate has had to had with customers over the last few days. The rudeness is unbelievable. He'll be in the middle of anything, literally like...restocking peanut butter or organising the fucking cheese, and people will stand between him and whatever he's doing and start berating him as to why there's no toilet paper. If there's none, or it's not there immediately, it's his fault and/or bad management and he needs to have his day stalled to be told.

He went to McDonalds on his lunch break and people were bailing him up in the line to ask him about toilet paper.

 

[eZipsis]

My wife doesn't work at a supermarket but she does work in a shopping centre. She told me he was talking with co-workers about it today and even customers and found out that some of these people think the Coronavirus gives you diarrhea, that's why they are buying it.

I'm not sure who is more dense. The people who are buying thinking the world is ending, or people buying it to sell on local groups for $20 a pack. Obviously all the $500+ listing are a joke, but there does seem to be legitimate ads online selling them.