Hi all….as a person with a disability who lined up on Tuesday at Woolworths and wasn't able to get the essentials, I'm wondering if you have had any better luck with Coles? I might try again on Thursday but I find it difficult standing too long with the crowds even at 7 am. So if I can get a bit of advice from people so I can figure where to best use my time. I'm in Sydney around the Hills district. Thanks for your help.
Coles Online statement: To enable us to assist the most vulnerable and those in need as a priority, please contact us for urgent enquiries only.
Ring 1800 455 400 explain that you . Expect a long wait they should be able to do something .
https://shop.coles.com.au/a/alexandria/content/customer-noti…
Someone told me yesterday people were getting through to it .
I'm also in the Hills. FWIW I usually shop Woolies but last Sun couldn't get a few things (like fresh chicken). Went to Coles and they seemed better stocked but still were out/low on the usual stuff like TP, paper towels, rice, pasta etc.
I was pretty surprised how few people were in the fresh fruit section. No limits means people haven't been hoarding fruit. Toilet paper had a queue of 30+ and was sold out by 8:30am. I think you should find some fellow people and pool your resources. As said above, the situation is also improvng every day.
Situation is also improving, now we need another natural disaster and everyone got toilet paper to donate :)
How do you hoard fruits?
I got the same questions for toilet paper, 20kg flour, 10kg rice going out like hot cakes. What are we doing with them ? Most of us used to eat Uber eat, KFC and Maccas, are these people even know what to do with them?
Yeah even in Wuhan they can still get fresh supplies, just less choice and less convenient. Surely Wuhan is the worst case scenario?
Well with the 100 x 20kg flour bags I have I've made a make shift "flour beach" at the front of my house for the kids to play in. Sometime we use the 100 x 10kg rice bags to play pretend weddings and throw rice, sometimes it just descends into a "rice fight" where we are just emptying the contents of a bag like a sprinkler. Gotta keep the kids entertained somehow in these self isolating times….
Freezing toilet paper caries a risk of disintegration on thawing. Be careful out there people.
Preserving in a heat sealed jar is very common.
Does it work for cherries? I only got 3 weeks of cherries this year, was shocked when they suddenly disappeared.
Wouldn't recommend this for TP.
In the old days, you would preserve them in mason jars, long before hipsters put cocktails in them.
Aldi, now opening at 9:30AM, so store can be cleaned.
Some serious price jacking going on out there too. :-(
In stores? Haven't seen any of that
I have heard weird stories off of people saying that supermarkets are jacking the price of TP by like 5 times the price. It is just nonsense. When queried these people can give no details.
Foodland Clovercrest in SA is selling 1ply toilet paper for $2.30 for 2 rolls, that is some serious price jacking!
And jacking in general due to the whole "working from home" situation.
Hopefully Pornhub gives Aussies free premium if we get locked down..
Now that's a stimulus package I can get behind.
The true reason behind the TP shortage.
I am in SA and I saw yesterday Foodland selling 2 rolls of 1ply toilet paper for $2.30! I didn't even know 1ply existed!!
OP: Remember that Woolies (and I think Coles soon) will have "care packages" for the elderly and vulnerable people behind their service desk counters. I think they just have a few items in them but are the hard to get stuff like Toilet paper, pasta, pasta sauce etc. Not sure if it is free or if you have to pay for it. But at least you should be able to get into the store and out pretty quickly with a few hard to get items.
$30
Scotty said to stop panic buying today I bet when I go to the supermarket tomorrow there still will nothing there beer and pizza is the only answer!!
Got the below email from Coles yesterday. To be in effect from today. Hope this helps…
"Our supermarkets will temporarily change their trading hours to open 7am to 8pm every day*, with the first hour of trade on weekdays exclusively for customers who hold a government-issued Pensioner Concession Card, Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, Companion Card and Health Care Card^. Once this hour is complete, all other customers will be invited through the doors to complete their grocery shop."
Strange they have Companion card but not Carer card.
The intention is good but I am not sure this is the right. This morning I saw a line of the elders in front of aldi. And they are not standing far apart. Just one person with the virus and the whole place will be a breeding groud.
I was in a major mall today and it was cool to see everyone obeying the social isolation . To the point that it was like everyone assumed others had the virus .
my local woollies is so toxic they regularly reduce the elderly and disabled to tears, with forced search's, threats of security , and general rudeness and abuse.
usual to see at least 1 old person once a week outside sobbing there - woolys couldn't give a shit…
and to be fair coles is so bad they regularly follow people to their cars, take pictures of them, and keep them indefinitely…. they have no working privacy policy of any kind, and their managers also do what they like…
makes me laugh the way everyone thinks all the panic buying is done by customers, and some shortages aren't manufactured by companies who have been ignoring federal pay awards for years, and deliberately underpaying some of their own staff.
and yes both have jacked their prices
Looks like there’s still no shortage of tin foil…
Name calling and demeaning comments are so routine round here its boring. Ignoring the truth generated this pandemic, and also ensured the general inability of most nations to reasonably counter a man- made cold virus. So enjoy what you sow…
everything above is factually correct…
List one product that they've raised prices on.
@ssquid: well since they removed a lot of prices that's an odd question, but they also removed all rainchecks weeks ago so that was a price increase because you couldn't buy things at the advertised price despite zero stocks for the week.
some years ago when a wheat crisis was claimed bread went up by double - its never come down. Unlikely rainchecks will return either so that's a permanent price increase.
Both Coles and woollies are now as crooked as big companies come…
and their employees negging here because they are paid to well…. carry on.
Based in Melbourne and the panic buying is insane.
Since the elderly and people with health conditions or disabilities are more vulnerable, and to be out in packed places like the supermarket could be stressful and potentially dangerous - was wondering if there was any ways / organisations we could volunteer for to help them purchase groceries and essentials if they provided us with a shopping list?
Easy to enter just show pension card, but I had no luck at Coles North Sydney except for milk and a packet of brown rice. They had a dozen packs of toilet paper but blink and they are gone.
The same at WF Coles at Chatswood yesterday, though at one checkout the operator had a trolley with four packs and boxes of tissues and was offering them to elderly and disabled customers which seemed a far more sensible solution.
WW Metro stores Chatswood and Kirribilli aren't participating in the seniors/pensioners hour.
You might have better luck at a smaller local store like I did at my local IGA and QE Foodstore.
Kind of weird shopping at coles/woolworths with no prices on the shelves though, is it weird for other ozbargainers?
Easy to enter, no queues, just show pension card, but I had no luck at Coles North Sydney except for milk and a packet of brown rice. They had a dozen packs of toilet paper but blink and they are gone.
The same at WF Coles at Chatswood yesterday, though at one checkout the operator had a trolley with four packs and boxes of tissues and was offering them to elderly and disabled customers which seemed a far more sensible solution.
WW Metro stores Chatswood and Kirribilli aren't participating in the seniors/pensioners hour. If you have a companion card then you can supposedly send someone in your place so you wouldn't have to stand waiting.
You might have better luck at a smaller local store like I did at my local IGA and QE Foodstore.
Kind of weird shopping at coles/woolworths with no prices on the shelves though, is it weird for other ozbargainers?
Do you have a supporter with a companion card? I checked this morning and they were one of the cards accepted for the early community hour trading at the local Coles.
One hour is woefully inadequate.
Whole days should be set aside, say two per week, for less mobile shoppers.
I agree. Some of the elders I saw were very anxious that they would get what they needed in the time allocated as many had difficulty walking even with their walkers and some walked so slowly! It was sad to see.
Do you need to be there? Are you just one of the "herd"?
Just shop normally…. stop worrying…. let the panic buyers get their stuff… then you will have all the time in the world.
Just shop normally
Pretty hard when the shelves are completely empty mate. You can't feed your kids happy thoughts.
How to shop normally when basics aren’t even available?
I received this email yesterday from Woolworths re/ Home delivery services for people with disabilities or age problems etc. You can register online and then fill out a form and be eligible for home deivery. Hope this can help.
http://view.onlineemails.woolworths.com.au/?qs=9bd5b515fb89e…
To be honest, the elderly have got all day to shop. I’m a time poor worker that needs to go to Woolies during seniors hour…couldn’t get in ffs
Airtasker has many ads for list of items required and home delivery of; site states prices range $30-90/median $50 for delivery, plus cost of items. I do see a lot of ads (some fulfilled) offering $20 for delivery due to coles/Woolworths' recent stoppage of home delivery and shop online and pick up in store (?) Options.
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Sorry a bit long pointless comment, but i don't want you to spend your time unnecessarily.
In hills district, my completely hearsay experience
has been that bigger shopping centre coles/Woolworths/aldi restocked some of the items that catalogue advertised, but not all items, and not many of the necessaries that people seem to be buying out. Missing items included bread pasta to cleaning products etc.
Carlingford and Hornsby Coles/Woolworths/aldi at times had some of the items that were hard to find, but no one store it seems.
Local-ish stores like Thornleigh aldi appear to not get restocked (with anything at all), eg. At start of day Zero bread, tp, cleaning products, sale items; Cherrybrook Woolworths has very interesting Easter festive breads and etc, but lack other times.
Can call store to ask if item in stock prior to visit store? Though only sometimes that the items were still in stock when arrive.
I read that lines were long for the 7-8am elders shopping slot, and items weren't in stock at start of business.
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An email from door dash (food delivery app) stated they would be assisting with delivery of groceries during this period for those that have difficulties (?), but I'm not sure if that is in all areas.
Certain persons can still get deliveries if register here.
https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/discover/priorityassistan…
people are buying out the lactose free milk. Its like twice the price, please leave it for those that can only drink lactose free
'me first you second' - always been the American way - now its the Australian way, the English bought into it 40 years ago, and look at that shithole now.
no community here anymore just 'me first'.
Yesterday at our coles and woolies (and aldi actually) there were no delivery trucks overnight.
I read in the news it was the same at some other stores. Today however, there was quite a lot of stock for the oldies. Lots of people going out with 36 packs of quilton and other things. The toilet paper was gone by 7.30 I was told.
I think as people start to get their things, it will slowly get better and better.