Coles is now putting a limit of 2 on sugar, milk - both long life and fresh, canned tomatoes, pasta sauce and liquid soaps. there will also only be a digital catalogue for the week beginning 18 March
Will they accept my old WW2 era ration booklets. Unused, there are still plenty of stamps left for pounds of flour and butter.
P.S.
Weâll just need to wait until it all settles down and make do, hopefully without running out. Crazy.
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Fear of the unknown, a modern plague if you will, combined with mob behaviour is very powerful and unpredictable.
Survivors of the world wars and the great depression will tell you how it brought out the best in some people but the worst in others. Civilisation is a thin veneer maintained largely by group pressure and it doesnât take very much to destabilise. Mobs will do things the individuals would never consider doing. We can expect to see more public bad behaviour before this ends.
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The latest email from Coles CEO.
COLES COMMUNITY HOUR AND 5000+ NEW TEAM MEMBERS TO BOOST SERVICE
Dear XXXX,
Weâre announcing a range of new measures across our business during the COVID-19 outbreak to safeguard the wellbeing of our customers and team members, while also ensuring we can provide groceries for all Australians, particularly the elderly and most vulnerable members of the community.
New Community Hour and changes to trading hours
From tomorrow, we will launch a dedicated âCommunity Hourâ from Monday to Friday in all supermarkets to improve access to essential groceries for the elderly and disadvantaged, during this time of unprecedented demand.
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.
Supermarkets will also close no later than 8pm to give our team members the time and space to extensively clean our stores and replenish the shelves for customers the next day.
*where state laws allow ^ these arrangements will be reviewed as necessary.
Recruiting over 5,000 new team members
To help us continue to offer the best possible service to customers during this busy time, we are recruiting an additional 5,000 casual team members to join our supermarkets across Australia. This will allow us to serve more customers and replenish shelves faster, while offering employment opportunities for Australians in industries impacted by COVID-19. Weâll be fast-tracking inductions so we can boost the number of team members on the shop floor as quickly as possible.
Ensuring everyone has access to everyday essentials
To allow everyone the opportunity to purchase everyday essentials, we will be implementing a 2-product limit per customer on the following items from Wednesday 18 March:
- Sugar
- Dairy milk
- Grocery milk
- Canned tomatoes
- Pasta sauce
- Liquid soaps
These restrictions are in addition to current item limits already in place in-store and online. To view these please visit www.coles.com.au/customernotice
Changes to Coles Online
Our Coles Online home delivery service will temporarily be diverted to focus on elderly and vulnerable members of the community. Delivery vans in our network will focus on delivering groceries to those in genuine need, including retirement and nursing homes. We apologise to our regular online customers for any inconvenience this may cause.
To avoid inconvenience for our Coles Online customers who have been receiving incomplete Click&Collect orders due to lower product availability in stores, we will temporarily not be accepting Click&Collect orders. We will also be cancelling our UberEats delivery service during this time to enable team members to improve availability in stores.
Community personal hygiene focus
To minimise the spread of COVID-19 we are suggesting that all customers regularly consult the Government website www.health.gov.au, which recommends regularly sanitising hands. Customers who are unwell with COVID-19 symptoms or who have been required by the Government to self- isolate should not attend our stores, and instead shop online with us, or ask family or friends to help with their shopping needs.
Supporting the community
If elderly or vulnerable people are unable to get to a supermarket to buy essential items, they can also log on to Foodbankâs website www.foodbank.org.au to find a local charity or service nearby. Foodbank provides food relief for 2,500 agencies across Australia with deliveries of items such as toilet paper, tissues and pantry staples to people in need.
Temporarily moving to a digital catalogue next week
We know how important the Coles catalogue is for customers to help them get the best value products each week.
As a temporary measure, we have decided to not distribute the Coles paper catalogue to households from Wednesday 18 March. Look out for a digital version of the catalogue next week at www.coles.com.au that will include specials and recipes for the products on which we have availability.
We will still continue to have a wide range of products on special each week in store and encourage customers to keep an eye on the yellow tickets when they visit their local Coles.
Change to our rain check policy
To give our team members more time to replenish stock on shelves and help customers, we will be speeding up and simplifying our in-store processes. This includes suspending our ârain checkâ policy.
We will continue to take all possible steps to improve the level of stock for the community, and we ask that customers continue to respect and support our team members, particularly in these busier times.
Best wishes,
Steven Cain
Chief Executive Officer
Coles Group
They alos have a security guard at the entrance at local Coles supermarkets.
Surprise. Surprise.
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Our daughter who lives in the Sunshine Coast hinterland rang my wife this morning.
In addition to advising that her husband who flew to Denver last week to do nore consulting work arrived only to find that the entire company is shut down and is in the process of hopefully returning home, she also said that his parents who live in NW Victoria can not get anything at the supermarkets.
They told her that bus loads of Asians arrived in their town and stripped the supermarkets bare. No meat, no fresh produce, no groceries let alone toilet paper.
And it is not just their country town being stripped bare by city grubs.
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Texted my neighbor to see how heâs doing, he said he went to the supermarket after work all the shelves were empty: Itâs like war time, he said.
That got me thinking of what I saw in war time movies: ration cards.
I think that might be the answer if people continue to hoard supplies, some of us might go hungry.
The â one per customerâ is a good idea but doesnât stop going back again and again.
I have no idea how ration cards work, is it a too hard basket for governments? 
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The way things are going, it may very well be a reality in the very near future.
Qld is changing laws to allow supermarkets to restock 24/7.
Not too hard, in that if has been done before.
Yes it might be too hard, in that given recent failures to deliver and manage targeted social services, does the government have the ability to deliver?
IE It relies on reliable service delivery.
According to those who were around back then (WW2), the issuing was delivered personally over the counter, so to speak.
Perhaps we need more ways of extending priority access to products and services to the more vulnerable, those on pensions, and critically those required to self isolate.
It would seem a very simple process for those required to self isolate to have their details placed on a register in each state. Home delivery could be prioritised if any of these individuals placed an order with Coles etc, and the Govt (community) could pick up the tab for the home delivery. Not perfect if you live outside the major urban areas, but possibly another option might be found for those locations.
Start early and scale up.
P.S.
Government has said they will enforce isolation if necessary. Itâs reasonable to assume to do so they need to be keeping tabs on who this applies to.
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Whilst I was in the queue at Woollies yesterday morning, a person in front of me was wearing the Australian version of this T shirt.
There are undoubtedly a great many other veterans, especially the frail and the disabled, who are thinking that they did not serve their country for selfish grubs to leave them in the lurch.
It wasnât like that everywhere, oldies can be just as pushy in the rush to grab stuff from the shelves, as reported on the local news here.
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It would be a purpose built online app which would be delivered late, over budget and not work for the first 3 weeks due to âteething problemsâ. Pensioners would starve when the MyGov server crashed or when they couldnât bring in all their grandparents to identify them.
The black market would thrive, so the rich would eat well and the poor would not. The unemployment rate would hit 20% and whole industries of semi-skilled workers who face the public will grind to a halt. Nonetheless the unemployed would have their cards cancelled if they didnât look for work at least 60 hours a week.
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Certainly would be handy in these sort of situations.
âLast night my wife went to 17 different supermarkets to find just one tin of baby formula so we can feed our child,â he said.
âA manager of a supermarket told my wife, âWell Iâm sorry but you should have stocked up before.ââ
What fantastic advice and such a caring response from the manager.
An app could be a good idea but, given our governmentâs track record âŠ
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An open letter from a supermarket employee.
My wife received an email from Rockmans today offering cheap face masks and hand sanitizer for online orders.
She thought it might have been a scam but it seems to be legit so perhaps some forum member may wish to avail themselves of the offers.
Here are the items on their website.
https://www.rockmans.com.au/preparedness.
I was under the impression that Rockmans was a womens fashion store but they must have a mini Big W hidden out the back somewhere.
Perhaps the old timers up here in the Deep North are better mannered and nicer persons.
One of my wifeâs sisters lives outside Mareeba and she had only 2 toilet rolls left after giving 2 to her sonâs wife who has 2 little kids, and she had not been able to buy any in Mareeba for weeks, so we went down to our local shopping centre this morning to try to buy some for her.
My wife went to Woollies and I went to Coles for the old timers happy hour. I managed to get a large pack of Quiltron which my wifeâs sister only uses for their septic system but my wife did not get any rolls.
I overheard an older person talking on his mobile phone with his wife and he was delighted that he had managed to buy 2 packs of 12 burger patties and was saying to his wife it would substitute as mince.
Interestingly, at around 6:45 AM this morning, there were only around 20 people waiting outside Woollies and only around 6 persons ahead of me at Coles when we arrived so hopefully the elderly and the disabled will finally be in a more comfortable position.
Maybe we need an exchange program for TP. Use empty TP cardboard tube as a token to purchase a full roll. /Sarc
Just received this email from Woolies:
Dear XXXX,
With the ever-evolving and challenging COVID-19 situation, I wanted to share with you the latest update on the changes you can expect from Woolworths Online during this unprecedented event.
Woolworths serves all Australians, however, at this challenging time we are giving priority access to our most vulnerable customers including seniors, people with a disability and those in mandatory isolation. Once these vulnerable customers have been given first access, we are providing online deliveries to our valued customers where we can.
Significant item shortages in store along with unprecedented demand for home delivery and Pick up services have unfortunately resulted in some customer orders being cancelled. We took this decision at the earliest possible point given the high level of items out of stock. We know we have disappointed many of you, for that I am truly sorry.
Current changes to our online service
Priority Assist deliveries to our most vulnerable customers
We are making available and prioritising delivery windows to our most vulnerable customers, including seniors, people with a disability and those in mandatory isolation. You can apply to receive Priority Assistance by completing the form [attached link in email]
Delivery suspended in selected locations
We have temporarily suspended our usual delivery operations out of selected Australian supermarkets until further notice. Weâre ramping up delivery capacity out of our dedicated online customer fulfilment centres in order to service as many vulnerable customers as possible. Weâll look to resume our usual delivery operations out of our supermarkets as soon as possible.
Pick up orders temporarily unavailable
Pick up service from our stores is not available until further notice due to significant item shortages in our stores. It is a difficult but necessary decision that will allow our store team members to prioritise the restocking of our shelves in the face of unprecedented demand.
All Deliveries will be Contactless
We have moved to a contactless delivery service with all orders delivered to your front door. Our drivers will do their best to assist senior or disabled customers. Instead of obtaining your signature for proof of delivery, we will be taking a photo of the groceries. We have made this decision in the best interest of both your and our drivers health.
Crate to Bench unavailable
For the ongoing safety of you and our team, Crate to Bench is now unavailable and all orders will be placed in reusable bags for contactless delivery. Additionally, for the safety of our team, we will not be accepting bag returns to our drivers during this time.
I want to assure you that we are doing everything we can to continue to provide you with the level of service you expect in your grocery delivery from us. As the situation continues to rapidly change, we are committed to sharing updates with you at the earliest possible point with the information we have at hand and, as ever, are committed to the safety of our customers and team.
Thank you for your patience and continued support during this difficult time. We will continue to share updates with you and for all the latest information please visit woolworths.com.au
Many thanks,
Amanda Bardwell
Managing Director
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