Australians wouldn't give a XXXX about anything else

[Vista]

Who remembers that tag line? Probably means nothing to you @Rally Pack 2000 but it was an advertising campaign here for Castlemaine XXXX (can you even still buy that here?) 

Well it seems Australians are more worried about something else now! G'day mate, got any dunny roll?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-51731422

 

[Rally Pack 2000]

To an outsider I guess the tenuous link between dunny paper and coronovirus would seem confusing. Took me a few days to figure it out, so im surprised a reasonably decent investigative reporter hasn't worked it out yet either. It is panic buying yes but not totally irrational as that article implies.

Be a man use bark.

PS Im not even sure that  XXXX Beer even exists anymore? I know the Japanese bought it years ago and I think that's when they stopped selling it in the UK. The slogan must have been a tall tale for you guys, I never met anyone who did drink it but then again I live in NSW and drinking Queensland beer was akin to importing watered down foreign Chinese beer.

[Vista]

I'm obviously being thick James as I don't get the connection either? It doesn't give you the squirts does it?

 

Just checked, XXXX was withdrawn from the market in the UK in 2009

[whooligan]

Ironically, anyone who has worked in a supermarket will tell you they are great places to catch viruses. 

I can't believe they still sell (and Brits still, drink) Fosters in the UK. The last time I saw that was next to Castlemaine XXXX and Tooheys Blue at a university campus in Victoria in the early 90's. Even uni students wouldn't drink the stuff!!!

[katana]

I'm struggling to see any link between bog roll and hand sanitiser - F**kin' moron sheep - 'look mum they've bought two packs of bog roll - we better buy four then just in case we can't get out for 14 days or use the internet for on-line shopping ! ! !' What is wrong with people that they'd rather starve through not having food, but have squeaky clean arses whilst they do it! They are all mental!

[Rally Pack 2000]

6 hours ago, Vista said:

I'm obviously being thick James as I don't get the connection either? It doesn't give you the squirts does it?

 

Just checked, XXXX was withdrawn from the market in the UK in 2009

Its Daigou shopping swams. Its probably something you haven't experienced (yet) so your not being thick whereas the journalists reporting should know better, but thousands of Chinese are employed to buy out certain luxury goods that are in short supply in China. Its become a particular issue here that often requires quantity restrictions and even police enforcement when it gets out of control. It originally came about when a Chinese baby formula manufacturer tried to make extra money by mixing their baby formula with with something toxic. (I think it was cadmium but I could be wrong there), anyways many babies were killed and the Chinese lost faith in many of their own consumables so they created this Daigou remote shopping regime. They hire Chinese nationals visiting Australia, (often students etc) to flood the supermarkets and fill their trolleys with one product that is in demand. They then take it back to a base and fill cargo containers and ship in back to China. In that case when they swarmed it cleared the shelves of the Baby Formula and literally locals couldnt get any and they beg for anyone with some spare so they can feed their own babies. In China it would sell for up to ten times the amount it sold for here. Of course the stocks are refilled in a week or so when the scramble begins all over again but if your a parent you cannot have gaps in supply so your only option is to bulk stock up yourself and as such escalating the problem. Now in the case of the Coronovirus thousands of factories are closed to prevent the spread, so many goods are not being produced in the quantities needed for over a billion people. With the Daigou network already in place when a certain product falls short and it becomes viable from a price point out they swam. First in this case, the trusted old bog roll. I go to a small out of the way supermarket 8kms from home where its rarely crowded and I find it just a more relaxing atmosphere to the big ones in the larger urban centres and was there the other day when it too was Daigou swarmed and they had trolleys full and even had these 48 packs of rolls with handles hanging round their necks. They emptied the shop in a matter of minutes. Now for a couple of days the shelves stay empty till they are restocked but the response is for locals then to buy bulk in case the Daigou shoppers swarm again. The photo above shows the response not the first wave that triggered the whole thing in the first place. It is quite unbelievable till you see it for yourself first hand. This is just the beginning though, as foods run short in China so too will they be cleared off the shelves by the Chinese. Its hard to anticipate what they will target next. But the bigger China gets as an economic power the larger and wealthier their middle classes get that demand for better quality imported goods and will pay through the nose for them.

The stockpiling thing for many other stuff also sort of hit a spike after an incident in Tasmania where Whooligan hit the nail on the head on viruses in supermarkets, a guy returned from Iran and was told to self isolate for 2 weeks so before he did that he went to the Supermarket to stock up for supplies. He tested positive and now there is a struggle to find everyone who went to that supermarket. So everyone is stocking up just to avoid going to the supermarket as often as they used too in case other idiots do the same. We have internet grocery shopping so Katana makes a valid point but here in Australia we dont embrace that as readily as other nations. It often stems from the poor fruit and veg that seems to turn up in your order, dried and old short dated crap you would never have selected yourselves. I think more will start to embrace it now however and that reluctance for online grocery shopping will be passed and more people will use it for convenience with all this current kerfuffle going on.

So yes its all an overreaction but its just people trying to cover themselves to ride out the storm just in case. When I went the other day I bough 4 boxes of Twinings teabags and someone at the register asked me was there going to be a shortage of tea and I said no it was just 60% off and normally quite expensive.

PS. I assume it does give you the squirts as well. The whole thing reminds me of that MASH episode where they had a T paper shortage and resorted to using carbon paper and Hawkeyes nudist magazines.

[Vista]

Ahhhhhh, that make sense now 

 

[Vista]

Well I'll be buggered! My local Waitrose 10 minutes ago. #NoShitRoll 😲

 

[Rally Pack 2000]

They have come for your bog rolls now! It should be mentioned that it vanishes from the shelves in order of softness. So if you dont mind that rough single ply stuff they had in the war your probably still good.

[Vista]

Just now, Rally Pack 2000 said:

They have come for your bog rolls now! It should be mentioned that it vanishes from the shelves in order of softness. So if you dont mind that rough single ply stuff they had in the war your probably still good.

I have plenty of copies of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour manifesto left over, that's what they get for pushing them through my letter box!

[Rally Pack 2000]

4 minutes ago, Vista said:

I have plenty of copies of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour manifesto left over, that's what they get for pushing them through my letter box!

That would have to have been recycled surely? You wouldn't want to use that you don't know where its been!

[Vista]

Do you have vegans in the land of red meat and barbies? 😉

 

[deltamal]

Re the bog roll shortage, back in the hard up 50's, it was my job being the youngest child to tear newspaper into usable squares, make a hole in one corner for the string and hang it in the bog, it would still work now but not sure about the modern bio degradable  bit though!

[Rally Pack 2000]

4 hours ago, deltamal said:

Re the bog roll shortage, back in the hard up 50's, it was my job being the youngest child to tear newspaper into usable squares, make a hole in one corner for the string and hang it in the bog, it would still work now but not sure about the modern bio degradable  bit though!

They say the newspaper inks arent as stead fast these days so you may get some political commentary or the latest of Megxit smeared on your backside.

[Rally Pack 2000]

International womens day, more power to you ladies, what happened to womens world harmony and all that? In the case of bog rolls all bets are off.

We really are only operating on our lizard brains now.

[notenoughtime]