Forget the blue chip shares. Forgo the usual moneymakers. Looks like toilet tissue is set to be Next Big Thing and those who have emptied supermarket shelves in their headlong determination to stockpile sufficient bulk packs of it, enough to see them well into the next decade, may be warming to the idea that they could be sitting on a fortune! But let’s hope they aren’t, because they don’t deserve to profit from their greed.
It would have to be something like that because why else would people be loading shopping trolleys with far more toilet tissue than they will ever need for a long, long time? Because a global crisis inevitably brings out the worst in people and it becomes an every-man-for-himself situation. Hence the feral coming to the fore down in the toilet roll aisle in supermarkets all over Australia as some members of communities decide they are more entitled to household staples than others, and are prepared to come to blows over a packet of toilet rolls. That they have already overbought is beside the point. They want more.
Which inevitably has gone viral and I am pretty sure Australia has become the laughing stock of the planet as a result. Like, I am almost embarrassed to admit I live here at the moment!
I think the “It’s all mine! Mine!” mindset initially surfaced during the bushfire crisis. Emergency Service organisations repeatedly advised people to forgo their coastal vacations over the 2019/2020 Christmas/New Year period because of the fire threat, and because the small towns and villages along the coast would be trying to see to the safety and wellbeing of their own. They did not need to have to deal with an influx of tourists as well. So those in the big cities ignored the advice, headed to the NSW South Coast and were trapped by the inferno. Then they systematically cleaned out supermarkets, petrol and water supplies and left the locals floundering. Then they stayed on, despite repeated requests from emergency services to please leave, as they were placing to much strain on the local infrastructure and services.
I had never seen a supermarket made so devoid of stock, and in so short a time, as I did in my local supermarket on New Year’s Eve. People just raced in and cleared shelves of everything, whether they needed it or not, and the rest of us were left to try and manage. I’m guessing that mindset is still alive and well if what I’m seeing now is any indication.
But toilet rolls? And now facial tissues? Yes, those who have missed out on toilet rolls have resorted to boxes of tissues. Or maybe it’s the same people? Who would know, but laughably, the next thing after toilet tissue and facial tissues has been paper towel and that’s so not a good thing. Those resorting to repurposing paper towel as toilet paper are going to have a big plumbing problem because paper towel is not designed to be flushed down a toilet. It will clog. The toilet paper crisis will probably end up being a boom time for plumbers as a result, so at least there’s something positive. Sort of.
Meanwhile, non-perishable food items with a long shelf life remain stubbornly on supermarket shelves! Sure, I know some people have been stockpiling food in the event that lines may become scarce for a while, at least until after the Corona Virus has done its World sweep and gone away, but wouldn’t you have thought that food would have been the first thing to get the Big Rush? Before toilet tissue? Seriously, that was the first thing to cross my mind and that’s what I expected to see. People need to eat and yes, if they eat they will sooner or later need to take a trip to the bathroom, but if you ran out of toilet tissue you can find away around it. But you can’t easily find a way around running out of food.
Thing is, none of this stockpiling is even necessary. Supermarkets are not threatening to close. Toilet tissue manufacturers have not stopped production or shut down. Supermarket trucks are still doing their usual rounds with their usual deliveries, which include toilet tissue. There is no shortage, except for the one in supermarkets created by people who think they are entitled to clean out the supplies in one foul swoop. Supermarkets mostly have invoked a limit per customer but they should have done that sooner, and have someone there to suss out if family members were posing as individual shoppers because some people will do that too.
Where’s the point of having a room full of toilet rolls and facial tissues if the pantry is nigh on empty? Even if you were to sell some of your toilet roll stockpile at an exorbitant price , if the food has all been bought up while you were brawling in the toilet roll aisle, what are you going to spend the money on? More savvy types stocked up on canned, bottled and dry goods with Use By dates of late 2020 or into 2021. Those guys will get around the lack of toilet tissue but, unfortunately for the toilet tissue hoarders, may well be unwilling to trade food for it with the likes of you!
Especially if you were the one who punched them out over a six pack of Sorbent when all this nonsense started.
And it is nonsense.