Fears around the coronavirus have prompted people all over the country to stock up on one very essential item: toilet paper. The purchasing push has seen supermarket titan Woolworths limit sales to four packs of toilet paper per customer, they said, to "ensure more customers have access to the products".
"It will help shore up stock levels as suppliers ramp up local production and deliveries in response to higher than usual demand," the company said in a statement.
With access to toilet paper seemingly limited, some sought to capitalise on what’s been dubbed “#TolietPaperGate” by selling rolls through online stores Gumtree and eBay.
Source: Ebay
The poster of a 16-roll toilet paper pack asking over a thousand dollars said in their description, “Selling toilet paper, VERY hard to find. I was asking $150 per roll, but have brought it down to $100 per roll, come on that's cheap. It's silky white, won't be after use.”
Who Gives A Crap, an Australian recycled toilet paper company, has also run out of toilet paper. In a quippy pop-up statement on their website they said with all the “panic buying” and “madness” they have sold out but are “working hard to restock”.
Source: Gumtree
“We also want to acknowledge that these are crazy times,” the company said in a statement which also encouraged its customers to remain calm.
“We feel it too. We’re thinking a lot about how we can do our bit to encourage kindness, empathy and calm. If you have spare rolls, see if your neighbours need some. Go and support your favourite Chinese restaurant. Watch some puppy videos.”
Adam Kamradt-Scott, an expert in health security at the University of Sydney, in an called the Toliet Paper Gate rush “unhelpful and unproductive”. Instead, he offered a few simple steps for coronavirus preventative steps: washing hands regularly, directing coughs or sneezes into elbows and covering your mouth rather than your hand and avoiding people who are visibly ill.
Some have tried to offer up alternatives to the current toilet paper frenzied moment.
