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MedCon - Surgical Mask - 3PLY - 99% BFE Australian Made - Ties - 50pc $59.99 @ Bulkbuys + Shipping

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This is another choice if you prefer to buy surgical masks which are Australian Made. They are not cheap dust masks. They are made for use in heath care.
https://www.medcon.com.au/products/apparel/facemasks/surgica…

Free shipping applies to Metro Melbourne areas when the total cart on checkout exceeds the amount of $500 and under 100kg of weight.

Army called in to help Australia's only face-mask producer during coronavirus (News back to a few months ago from 9News)

https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/coronavirus-army-a…

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closed Comments

  • -6

    Seems like spam. Where is the deal?

    • +18

      “made in Australia”

      • -7

        does the "made in Australia" guarantee you not to get covid, doesnt it ?

        • +1

          Not cool

      • +1

        Which bit is made in Australia? All too often just assembled or packaged here.

        • +7

          OP posted a news article that tells you this operation does more than assemble imported parts; not sure what else they can do to make it clearer.

        • @rifter Congrats you came first on commenting..!!!

  • +9

    404: no deal found

    • +19

      Hey back up a minute - did you miss the part about free shipping when you spend FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS!

  • -4

    Overpriced

    • +3

      Ozvictor, you name sounds patriotic

  • +36

    People saying this is overpriced is the reason we had a shortage to begin with, there is no demand for manufacturing in Australia.

    • +1

      Plenty of "demand", just no "desire".

      • +9

        No the demand is only for "the chepaest price possible".

        • +1

          Surveys show restaurant customers tend to choose the second cheapest wine on the wine list rather than the cheapest.

          Reasonably sure same misguided principle applies to face masks.

          • +2

            @rifter: No, they do that so they don't "look" too cheap, themselves…

  • -8

    Wow $500 for free shipping - how generous of you!

    No deal at all in this post.

  • +52

    This is actually made in Shepparton, they are the only Australian manufacturer of Masks and actually meet the required specifications unlike most being sold on the market - at this price it is a bargain as these are not generally available for sale as the Australian Government has bought all there current and future stock for the next 5 years

    • THIS is what confuses me. Apparently a whole bunch of companies converted to making masks once it became apparent the only mask manufacturer here couldnt do it all.
      Question is what happened to all the other companies making similar here?

      • Source?

        A lot of companies did this for hand sanitiser ,haven't heard of anyone doing it for masks, especially P2 masks.

        • +1

          I read a news article: another local factory making 500pcs face mask monthly, should be enough for everyone.

          • @davidl2: They aren't disposable surgical masks being made in smaller factories. They are more fabric masks.

            I don't know how many producers of melt blown fabric are in Australia as most of the world's supply of such fabric are still coming from China.

            So even though masks might be made in Australia the raw material might not be from Australia.

            • @azukay: the one I read is about medical mask, not reusable fabric mask, they use 1 machine + hand made

              • @davidl2: If they have a machine it would be way more than 500 mask a month… usually these machines can churn out about 120 a minute

                https://m.alibaba.com/amp/product/62480203735.html

                • @azukay: hey they might not be the same machine, try looking at other countries that gets in after this pandemic, they can't even afford the new/fast machine(or not wise to invest $ into this industry which you can't make money), instead just use the old available machine, hence 500/month.

                  • @davidl2: 500 a month at 1 dollar a piece, what kind of profit you are making? I doubt that number tho, even an old machine can churn out at least 1 a minute.

                    I still think at 500 it's the hand sewn fabric ones since you can actually make a profit from it.

      • Detmold in SA converted and sell still but the prices will make you weep if $60 for 50 does already

    • If the masks are TGA approved they would meet the "required specifications". You can look up the registration on the TGA website for proof.

      • +2

        That's not necessarily true. There were reports where overseas mask obtained TGA approval through the new fast track process that were later found to fail specification testing.

        Whether this is still the case, I don't know. But definitely having some trust issues with masks that are fast tracked for tga approval.

        You'll also notice that masks sold in general retailers are not surgical/medical grade and are non-sterile. They are branded "face masks" not "surgical masks". So yes, there is a difference.

        • exactly, you've done your research well!

    • -5

      Doesn't seem to be the most efficient use of taxpayers money if the government keeps buying overpriced masks just because they're made in Australia

      • The thing is the raw materials and the tooling/machinery to manufacture would all be imported ;-)

      • +1

        Subservience to whim of overseas suppliers and their government would be even worse.

        • Oh u mean American companies who own the mask manufacturing plants in low cost labor countries, pretty sure our status as lap dog is already pretty low.

          • @spixder:

            pretty sure our status as lap dog is already pretty low.

            context of this OzB post is Australian-made masks, so, perhaps, a little less "low" now that third machine is operational.

      • -2

        Seems like 2 people from government negged you.

        • Really, who cares who negs who? Vanity?

      • Most likely every dollar given to this company will stay in Australia and spent again in the australian economy… it s not only the mask in the equation

    • +3

      More information about this on https://foodmach.com/project-med-con
      The inventor Joe Carmody is a unsung Australia mechanical engineering genius who in 1983 invented the first mask machine in the world to use ultrasonic welding instead of glue and also could be operated with just a single operator. The quality of the product is why the company has managed to continue despite much cheaper imports

    • Yes, robbed whole island

  • +36

    MedCon are dearer but in a world of fake masks, these are guaranteed to be made in Australia and genuinely meet Australian Standards. They are a proper supplier to the medical industry.
    When they say BFE 99% - it really is.
    When they say TGA approved - it really is.
    Cheapest is not always best. Especially for face masks during a pandemic.
    If you want peace of mind, for example with older relatives, these are the ones to buy.

    • +1

      for that price why not just get certified N95 masks that actually does a proper seal for 95% PFE protection which protects YOU and OTHERS rather than just BFE which protects OTHERS. you can decontaminate N95 easily at home.

      • N95 is the American designation.
        We use Level numbers for medical masks (level 1,2,3) and P-rating for respirators (P1, P2 etc)
        MedCon make masks for medical procedures including surgery (Level 3).
        These are medical Level 1 They filter at 0.1 microns.

        • +3

          N95 = P2 = KN95 you get my point. again for the price, respirators are better protection which forms a proper seal.

          • +6

            @Creamsoda: Yes technically P2 and N95 are virtually identical and filter @ 95% down to 0.3 microns. These MedCon masks are tested to 99% BFE @ 0.1 microns but yes, the seal is very important.
            The problem is if it says 'N95' or 'KN95', it is imported and could be a copy or fake.
            I have seen completely faked 3M N95 masks with the branding and logo.

            • @King Tightarse: I think P2 are BFE (B=bacteria) 95% 0.3 micron but the PFE (P= non living particles) is ~0.1 micron.
              For surgical mask, the BFE is for 3 micron bacteria.

          • @Creamsoda:

            N95 = P2 = KN95

            More info.

            https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/1598934O/3m-anz-disposab…

            https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/1791500O/comparison-ffp2…

            Based on this comparison, it is reasonable to consider China KN95, AS/NZ P2, Korea 1st Class, and Japan DS2 FFRs as “similar” to US NIOSH N95 and European FFP2 respirators, for filtering non-oil-based particles such as those resulting from wildfires, PM 2.5 air pollution, volcanic eruptions, or bioaerosols (e.g. viruses).

      • +6

        I doubt you can find a genuine certified N95/P2 mask for anywhere near that price. You'd be looking at least double that (i.e. $4-5/mask).

        And I'm not talking about the masks that are KN95 "certified", because regulations for these are loose and potentially not comparable in terms of auditability of certification. (before the argument starts, I'm not talking about the KN95 standard. Standard is fine on paper. Im talking about how these stardards are applied and audited and manufacturers held accountable to ensure they are meeting standard)

        • +2

          a lot of people frequently conflate standards and implementation.

          having a high standard, doesn't mean it's being implemented properly (purposefully or not). that's why we have masks, sanitisers that fails when it's being re-tested by someone else.

      • +5

        show me N95/P2 mask 50pcs at this price

      • +2

        For those looking to tell Fake from Real P2/N95/KN95/FFP2 masks, here are some professional guides

        https://www.aioh.org.au/static/uploads/files/guide-p2-respir…

        http://www.bohs.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Spotting-a-Fa…

        https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/usernotices/counterfeitResp.…

        it is safe to say, if you are buying off Ebay or gumtree, you are almost guaranteed to be buying fake or non-genuine masks

        • https://www.aioh.org.au/static/uploads/files/guide-p2-respir…

          Perfect example of what I was saying above

          "As reported by the Health and Safety Executive in the UK, a substantial number of face masks,
          claiming to be of KN95 standards provide inadequate respiratory protection and have been shown to
          potentially be inferior quality products. Further, KN95 labelled devices have in some cases been
          accompanied by fake or fraudulent paperwork.

          KN95 is a performance rating under the Chinese standard GB2626, the requirements of which are
          broadly the same as the European standard EN149:2001+A1:2009 for FFP2 respiratory protection.
          However, there is no independent certification or assurance of their quality, and products
          manufactured to KN95 rating are declared as compliant by the manufacturer. Compliance with
          GB2626:2006 is achieved by passing the required performance and marking tests on supplied
          product samples. There is no assessment of the existing or ongoing quality management system of
          the manufacturer as part of this process. There can, therefore, be discrepancies in quality between
          batches if the manufacturer does not have an established quality system. China does not maintain a
          list of products that are certified to KN95"

    • yeah got some, hopefully they are legit!

  • +31

    You don't down vote an RM Williams boots deal when you can get the same Chinese knock off for half as much. Same applies here.

    • +1

      Well, didn’t RMW move their manufacturing to China, like 15 years ago?

      • Still on Foster Rd Salisbury SA.

      • Maybe their clothing, boots are still made in South Aus.

  • +6

    Thanks, Australian made, I'm buying it.

  • +30

    Turns out things are more expensive when you have to pay a fair wage and actually meet Australian standards

    • Better get used to it now.

    • +9

      This is the reason manufacturing left Australia , not price competitive because of labor costs !
      Only triple the cost of the cheapest sourced .

      • -1

        Bloody labour. Vote him out!

      • Cheapest source doesn’t employ your neighbour.

      • am sure German labour costs are similar to australian

    • +1

      Things are significantly more expensive (like these masks) cause of supply/demand.
      A pack of 100 in Taiwan is $20 Aud. Assuming labor is 3 times more, we shall unrealistically boost the price by 3x, thus Aust manufactured masks should be $60 per hundred…oh wait 50 pcs for 60?

    • +2

      Before the pandemic, european surgical mask used to cost ~$0.16 with "fair wages" in pharmacies so it's even cheaper to make mask. People just want to make profit…
      In Australia, i'm sure the raw materials (polypropylene rolls) come from China

  • So.
    Where do you actually buy these?

    Edit: Oh right.. Link in image..

  • +28

    I’m glad to see Australian made supplies. For those criticising the price of them. This is the exact reason why nothing is made in this country. I don’t want to promote racial propaganda, however we need to start moving away from the made in China products. We need to promote Australian made as much as possible. One day if you guys will need jobs buying locally can help potentially generate workforce for us.

    • +7

      You will find it was decisions of a lot of Australian citizens and business people to offshore manufacturing to make a bigger profit. It just so happens the labour is Chinese. Not racial at all. Usually problems start from home. Chinese can't wrestle money from your pocket unless you willingly hand it over.

      • +3

        That is absolutely the truth. Which is also why I am worried that people are downvoting and criticising the pricing with these masks.
        I know these masks are pricier. And if people are financially burdened I can understand them buying the overseas products however it’s unfair to downvote it because you don’t see value in supporting local businesses.
        If anyone found a cheaper locally produced masks then it seems fair.

      • offshore manufacturing to make a bigger profit

        You might also find, that this was done to be able to sell at a lower cost and still make a profit, since everyone wants everything for cheap…

    • +1

      replace "china" with any other country. it's still the same. car industry died the same way too.

      hell, even vegemite was not Australian for a period of time.

      it so happen labour in some Asian countries are much cheaper and they have the manufacturing scale.
      global economics is not easily explained by just dividing between 'us' and 'them' and it is really dumb when people conflate race with a country, it is as though a country can't have more than 1 race and everyone from the same race are responsible for the dumb decisions that their government makes.

      People everywhere trying to make ends meet, even if they don't agree with their governments.

      • +1

        That is true. Any country can be substituted with China. It’s just that we are most heavily reliant with them. If you go to Bunnings. Almost everything is manufactured there.
        It’s just sad to see. I also get that they are trying to make their ends meet. However the way our country is going we won’t be able to make our own ends meet.
        We need to start promoting an internal economy and promote production with in here. Become self reliant with our own resources and manufacturing.
        This move to go off shore to maximise profit margins is hurting local employment as well. It’s already worrying enough with robotics taking over, let alone human powered tasks being allocated overseas.

        • I agree with what you said, Australia (as a whole) need to be more self reliant than before. However, the challenge is that our population is small (relative comparison to the places we are competing with), we can't scale. That's just what it is. You need manufacturing to scale up, so that we can profit from the things we produce. Otherwise, the government would just be funding a black hole with taxes… no for-profit private organisation is going to touch it for sure.

          however i don't agree with the robotics point, because I feel that is the only way to scale up labour and compete, otherwise you need to import in more people , and the everyone of us to be willing to accept lower quality of life and lower wages.

          look at our F&B and supermarket fiascos, before covid, how many were caught underpaying their workers? how many suppliers got stuffed?
          Everyone want cheap things/food, but the money is going to come out from somewhere.

    • +1

      Pretty sure that after all calculations including equipment payback the profit margins are quite significant. As an example, assuming its a machine that can pump out 50/min, that's 72000 pieces in a 24hr window, labour for 3 employees to man the machine $1500. Made in Australia = business owners wanting to drive Ferraris in a five year window.

    • Australia got population of 25 million, and that's not even population of Shanghai city. Almost no chance to scale manufacturing to reasonable cost factor. Instead I think we should scale up agriculture export and produce. Meaning focus on what we're good at.

  • +1

    Does ties mean you have to tie it around the back of your head vs loops over the ears?

  • +3

    I would not buy these Medcon masks so that our health care professionals / hospitals are able to buy the instead.

    The federal government has also purchased 30 million masks (this is separate to what hospitals need to buy), and Medcon has the capacity to manufacture 200,000 masks a day (1.4 million a week). Based on this, Medcon needs 21.4 weeks of manufacturing just to fulfill the federal government order and further additional weeks or manufacturing to fulfill orders from hospitals.

    • these stocks are usually for medical personnel, or related workers.

    • +1

      There are several manufacturers now. Your purchase from Bulk Buys will not hinder PPE from the national stockpile

    • You are right. Without a doubt there is people here who might need surgical quality masks. But for most people who only use it to go to the supermarket, it is over kill.

    • according to foodmach the engineering company involved in creating new mask machines - Medcon capacity is over 160 million masks a year
      https://foodmach.com/resources/project-med-con/ - they did a good job!

  • +3

    These are tie-on style - they require another person (usually) to tie them on for you.
    They have ear-loop ones too but they are out of stock at the moment

    • +3

      It's actually pretty easy to tie them on yourself with a bit of practice.

    • +2

      Tie-on style are the ones mostly used by OT personnel. Far more comfortable in the long run since they don't irritate the ears, and it's actually not that difficult to tie yourself. If you can tie an apron on yourself, then you can tie one of these

  • +11

    If this crisis has taught us anything it's that sending our manufacturering off shore has been a disaster. Agreed this is not a deal from a dollars perspective but it's deal if we value spending a little more to help Australia regain it's independance. Personally, when it comes to masks I would far prefer to be wearing one made in Australia, it's likely makes no difference but I feel better so I guess based on that for me it's a deal.

    • +1

      i would say, essential things like PPE , sanitisers, medicine (if possible) should be always made onshore.

      oil reserves is another thing we should store onshore instead of parking it somewhere else.

    • +1

      Exactly. And this thing is important. When the whole situation is being seen by the world, these deals (made in Aus) aren’t just the deals; but to me personally, potentially a path to follow.
      It’s like seeding manufacturing in Aus. We don’t know yet whether we can see fruit or not.
      Sometimes u got to stand up to support the cause.

  • -3

    Ordered 9 boxes to get the free shipping ! What a bargain

    • dude, too soon.

    • New user id, broden?

  • +1

    I have purchased from the earloop version from this website. The material is good quality. However, there are dirts and black marks on some of the masks. There are 2 different logos in the same box of masks including BSN and MedCon. One of the mask is missing the earloop. I contacted the customer service and they agreed to offer me a refund. After one week, I still haven’t got a confirmation email regarding the refund. Be aware of this website!!!!!

    • that's why I bought only sterilised surgical mask, which are made in clean, medical requirement environment.

  • I would love to purchase these masks however they are prohibitively expensive for me as most people these days I have a mortgage, constant hospital trips for chemotherapy, medical bills, utilities etc.
    50 masks would not last me that long and the $60 price would cover the cost of one of my non PBS weekly medication.
    You would think in these uncertain and confusing times that the therapeutic goods administration, medical authorities or government authority would issue a list of approved masks and suppliers that meet the legislative level of protection…just look up masks on Amazon to be confused.
    I am certain there are many people in my situation and we need help to decipher the mine field that is masks has anyone on OzBargain compiled a comparative list….?

    • +1

      Medical mask are to be combat with a contagious & deadly virus out there (also believe to be airborne but yet not proven), whether you get the safest or the cheapest mask, it's entirely your choice, all depends on how you value you and your family lives.

      maybe….we should all use the saved money to get more Eneloop batteries or another mobile phone? :P

    • Sorry to hear you need to visit hospital so frequently. Previous week I had to take senior mother in through Emergency so masks and anti-bac hand sanitiser available at door for everyone. We already had our masks on. No visitors to wards although those admitted did not have to wear masks, just the staff. Hope this has been stepped up now.

    • As someone in a similar situation, I do know in SA that SA Health will supply masks to vulnerable persons for free. If you're not in SA, I recommend contacting your health department for a similar service.

  • 👍 for Aus made. I bought other country made on ebay for $28 though. Hospital grade 3 ply also. If the Aus made price came down a little more I don't mind paying a bit more for Aus made.

    • +1

      yep 50 for 50 or 55 i would pull the trigger

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