I was up in the small country town 20 min from where I live and the shelves were nearly empty compared to Friday. No more bacon and a few other things that we just wanted in a normal small shop. I did see a quite a few caravans parked and a guy with an overflowing shopping cart filling a caravan up. So perhaps there are some extra Grey Ghosts bugging out.
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I took an elderly friend out to pick up a few essentials today. Took 3 supermarkets to find oats. Costco’s carpark was full so I didn’t even stop, people were mentioning 2 hour queues there.
Look no further than todays (tuesdays) headline in The Age newspaper. Honestly why are they like this?
Well some good news, well sort of…
Got this email from Qantas.
We understand that many of our customers’ travel plans have been impacted by the spread of Coronavirus and various government travel restrictions.
We also understand the importance of providing our customers with as much flexibility and assurance as possible.
And we understand that some people would prefer not to travel at the moment. So we are offering our customers the opportunity to cancel any new or existing international or domestic bookings for travel **between now and [31 May 2020] , and keep the value of their ticket as a flight credit.
Flight flexibility with a full flight credit
Customers with existing bookings on any domestic or international flight until [31 May 2020] , who no longer wish to travel, can cancel their flight and retain the value of the booking as a flight credit for travel within 12 months of the date that the original ticket was issued. This needs to be processed by [31 March 2020].
Flight credits can be used for travel on any domestic or international flights. Qantas will waive the change fee when customers are ready to rebook, however the customer will need to cover any fare increase in their new booking.
Qantas Frequent Flyers who have used Qantas Points to book a flight on Qantas, Jetstar and all partner airlines, and no longer wish to travel, will also have the change fees waived.
Cancel your booking for a full flight credit
To apply for a flight credit go to Manage booking on Qantas website. Next to your booking, click ‘Cancel’, then ‘Voucher’ and then ‘Accept’ the terms and conditions to have your booking converted to a flight credit. You will receive a confirmation email to the email address contained in your booking once the process is complete and the flight credit is ready to redeem. This may take up to 48 hours.
Customers may also be able to cancel their booking and request a refund, however they may be charged a cancellation fee, as per our fare rules.
If your flights were booked through a travel agency or third-party website (for example Webjet or Booking.com), you will need to contact these companies directly to make changes to your booking.
Thank you for your patience
Our Call Centres are under significant pressure responding to the rapidly evolving travel situation. We have increased the size of our call centre and social media teams, and they are working around the clock to proactively contact and reaccommodate thousands of customers. At this stage we are prioritising those with imminent travel, and we ask that you do not contact our Call Centres unless your travel is commencing within the next 72 hours.
The Coronavirus has had a significant impact on everyone. This situation is unprecedented, evolving and challenging for all involved. Whilst this is outside of our control, we are doing everything we can to support our customers and people. We thank you for your patience and ongoing support.
Group Chief Customer Officer
Well on a brighter note, a pest control bloke i occasionally buy nasty chemicals off just introduced me to a mate of his who owns a small supermarket near us who’s taking all the “panic buy” stuff like TP and offering it to people via word of mouth and gumtree from his house day or night for the same price as in the supermarket. He is getting two deliveries a day and is disgusted buy people hoarding and by some trying to profit from this event, so he’s controlling the sales until things get back to normal.
He and i had a good laugh about the situation and about the new “white gold”, but at the same time all i could think was that he’s doing a bloody good thing for all the oldies as he’s making sure all his regulars are sorted out and even doing a delivery round for a few of them.
It’s nice to see a person using the situation to do good and go out of his way to help people out.
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Meanwhile the stupid stock up on toilet paper, rice and pasta but in the US there’s been a massive run on ammo…
3 Supermarkets near me have empty freezers, meat, eggs and personal hygiene products on top of the usual TP and pasta. A mate that works for one of the big white goods wholesalers told me they sold every freezer they had in stock in the past few days. That’s over 50 freezers that are now full of what was once on the meat shelf. I’m doing a practise bug-out on Friday to move some food and what not to my rural property, in readiness.
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I heard the same thing in Geelong today about freezers
Wife informs me that supermarket is okay now with ‘no more than 2 of anything’ limit being enforced.
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I was impressed today when i went in the the local woolies, there was TP on the shelf (not much but it was there) and people were walking past it, i think everyone is too embarrassed to buy it unless they really need it now.
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The buyers have moved on.
At my local coles all the meat was gone. Along with every tomato…
The Greenie at work today started to tell me how I’d have to get used to Tofu…
My response was “There’s always meat if you have a rifle”.
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In a few months when all this hype slows down, the supermarkets will do a big starve… while everyone uses up the $1000’s of dollars they wasted / spent in a panic.
I think also that the social media groups are what has brought on the “panic buy”
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I think there can be little doubt that that 24 hr news cycle and social media has a hell of a lot to answer for…
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I go to work, and come home from work just like usual pretty normal over here in wait awhile
Pretty calm & business as usual up here in the backwards state too, a bit quieter right in the CBD but otherwise not much else.
Oh but Chinatown is a ghost town, i drove through it about an hour ago and all the shops were closed. Those buggers know how to fuck up a contagions plans lol.
So, out here in Western NSW yesterday, 2 bus loads of people from Sydney turned up and fleeced 2 local supermarkets. “You don’t need this, too much for you” was the reply when one of them was challenged.
Had an appointment in Dubbo this morning and afterwards went to Coles to see if I could do our weekly grocery shopping. Like has been said above, no paper products at all. Managed to get most of our groceries, plenty of fresh meat and veg, only thing I couldn’t get was bread making flour for the bread machine.