If a Woolies store has sanitiser it will be behind the service desk. Soap is preferred but anything that lathers will help combat the virus.
One of our regular customers works at Rebel. They said that as part of their COVID-19 measures, they are no longer accepting cash payments. Also starting Monday their opening hours will be 11:00-5:00 7 days from next week. Their store also saw a run on weights and treadmills after the gym closure announcement
All things being equal, I should get a food delivery sometime between 5 and 8 tomorrow morning (Woolies). Im glad I took the advice to apply for priority assistance. I may well end up shopping like this from now on, even when the virus has extinguished itself.
I had to do the standard weekly shopping yesterday. Most shops were not too bad, The pharmacist was very strict, you are only allowed in the shop after vetting, non-prescription meds strictly limited and that is if you are known.
Woolies was odd. Most things looked OK. Not much in the way of mince or snags but most meat and veg was normal.
The locusts had got all the toilet paper, the flour and the white sugar. What are these people going to do with that combination? Perhaps they are expecting a steady diet of cake will induce the runs.
Most likely nothing as they probably don’t know how to cook.
Unless thay think they can simply pop a packet in the microwave and it will magically turn into junk food.
Latest email from Coles CEO.
HELPING EMERGENCY SERVICES TEAMS DURING THIS TIME
Dear XXXX,
You will have heard at the weekend that essential services will remain open as the COVID-19 situation continues. Supermarkets, liquor stores and petrol stations are essential services and as such all our stores remain open every day across Australia. Our distribution centres are also open and we’re working with our suppliers and partners to get more stock to stores as fast as possible.
We’re open 7am to 8pm every day
Our supermarkets will remain open 7am to 8pm every day*, with the first hour of trade on weekdays exclusively for Coles Community Hour. 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
Helping our emergency services and healthcare workers
We know how hard our emergency services and healthcare workers are working right now, so we’re dedicating our Tuesday and Thursday Coles Community Hours to them, starting Thursday 26 March.
This means that the first hour of trade on Tuesdays and Thursdays will be for emergency services and healthcare workers who hold an AHPRA card, have a workplace ID or are wearing their work uniform^.
Monday, Wednesday and Friday Coles Community Hours will be for customers who hold a government-issued Pensioner Concession Card, Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, Companion Card, Seniors Card, Disability Card and Health Care Card^.
^these arrangements will be reviewed as necessary.
Health and safety in our stores remain a priority
We are applying guidelines to help with social distancing in our stores. We advise that customers should use the length of their trolley as a guide for the distance between themselves and other shoppers and we ask all our customers to please wash their hands before entering stores. The use of tap-and-go for payment where you can is also encouraged. We’ll be announcing further health and safety initiatives in the coming days.
New Coles Online Priority Service (COPS)
We’re in the early stages of rolling out our new Coles Online Priority Service (COPS) and we’re looking to bring this service to as many vulnerable customers as possible, hopefully by the end of the week. Our priority is ensuring we can offer a good range of everyday grocery essentials with high availability to our customers who find it difficult to shop in-store. Please check www.coles.com.au for further updates on this home delivery service; we’ll be making it available as soon as we can.
We are incredibly proud of our team members in-store who are working hard to get stock on to shelves as fast as possible, create a safe place to shop, and provide our customers with great service. We ask that you continue to show them kindness and patience.
Best wishes,
Steven Cain
Chief Executive Officer
Coles Group
And now we have grubs stealing toilet paper at knifepoint.
And the toilet paper calculator you have been waiting for.
One of the challenges is the supermarket policies seem to conflict with the measures implemented by government.
Placing limits on key staples means one has to shop more regularly to meet one’s everyday food needs. Take milk, if one buys 2 packages and uses two containers every day or two, one is then forced to visit the supermarket again to restock.
With the government asking Australians to limit visits to supermarkets (say once a week), this is impossible for most with the current purchase limits in place.
Implied or actual?
We would do a major non perishables big supermarket shop once every two weeks.
But - fresh food twice per week over two or three different places. Bakery, a F&V, butcher, local grocer, etc. IE we purchase as needed only for a few days, less to waste, more to enjoy.
With more than 2 weeks since our last successful big shop, this week was pretty dismal when it came to replacing normal usage.
With the issues around supply of TP, paper towel, tissues, selected cleaning products, tinned tomatoes, flour, etc we are now wondering if we need two or more supermarket shop visits a week in the hope of picking the right moment on the right day.
Food is not a concern, although our usual bakery was sold out of bread by 11am yesterday. Woolies had plenty of the branded products.
Spotted toilet paper in the wild today. Rumours of its extinction are somewhat exaggerated.
Aldi had a security guard on duty, making sure that only a limited number of customers was in store at a time. Other stores had guards making themselves conspicuous.
Mosaic Brands, the owner of Noni B, Millers, Rockmans, Rivers, Katies, Autograph, W.Lane, Crossroads, and Beme announced today that it is closing all it’s stores temporarily and standing down all 6800 staff
Oh dear. Who will ship out all the hand sanitizer and masks when the stock arrives?
And now this ridiculous new restriction by the WA Government.
Whilst the intent is good, there was obviously no one at the wheel when they created this.
The ability to purchase 2 of the list of 4 items daily would allow anyone to drink to comatose levels every day.
And unless they live in a 1 pub town, what is to stop them buying their daily limit at more than 1 pub?
And even if they do live in a 1 pub town, they can still circumvent it by using another person to also buy booze.
Some years ago when my wife and I were driving back to Cairns, we stopped at the Koumala Hotel south of Mackay for a pub lunch and we saw a bogan pull up in the very back of the carpark behind the pub and a woman went inside and came out with a carton of beer over her shoulder.
I assumed he had been banned by the pub but he obviously had a workaround.
And if I actually needed further proof of incompetence, I did not need to look further than this part of the article.
“I stress that this is not prohibition. The quantities that a person can buy per day is in excess of 100 standard drinks of alcohol per day. This is to address anyone that is purchasing far in excess of what anyone could reasonably consume.”
Can anyone actually work out how it is possible to get over 100 standard drinks out of any 2 of the listed items?
South Australia has now allowing "existing liquor licence holders selling takeaway food will be able to sell two bottles of wine or one bottle of wine and a six-pack of beer, cider or pre-mixed spirits with any sale.
The change will also extend to community clubs" (ABC News)
Couldn’t agree more!!
Also, the out of stock items have forced me to visit more supermarkets/grocers
than ever before.
Even at the chemist yesterday my usual tablets were not available and I went to collect at another store: that’s twice the exposure to other chemist shoppers than I usually have.
Also the circle with ‘wait here’ sign on the floor of the supermarkets has me having to stand on the same spot where someone else has been waiting for a long time and possibly coughing or sneezing while standing there. I stood a bit to the side of the spot, but still…
Latest email from Coles CEO.
KEEPING EVERYONE SAFE DURING THIS TIME
Dear XXXX,
We know that health and safety is front of mind for lots of our customers at the moment, and we want to let you know that we’re working closely with the Department of Health to ensure the most effective protection for both you and our team members in our stores during the COVID-19 situation.
Increased cleaning & sanitisation throughout our stores
We’ve added extra cleaning & sanitisation to high contact areas of the store, including trolleys, baskets, checkout areas and self-service screens. We ask all customers not to enter a store if they are unwell, to wash or sanitise their hands before entering stores, and to remind everyone to not touch their face unless your hands have been sanitised. The sanitisers we use at Coles have all been confirmed to kill coronavirus.
Not touching face & washing hands regularly
We have received questions about protective equipment in-store. To date, the Department of Health factsheet does not consider wearing gloves or masks to be necessary when shopping or at check-outs, and interactions in-store within social distancing guidelines are considered low risk. The Department of Health factsheet recommends washing hands regularly, using hand sanitiser and keeping a safe distance as the most effective ways of protecting yourself and others.
Keeping a safe distance
We’ll be adding signs around our stores and at the checkout area to help you follow social distancing guidelines. The length of a trolley (1.5m) is a good guide for the distance you should keep from other customers and team members, and we ask that you follow all directions signposted in-store on keeping a safe distance.
Less contact near the checkout
We’ll be making a few changes at our supermarket checkouts to help with social distancing. We’ll be asking you to queue at the marked signs in front of the checkout, along the belted area and when you’re packing. We’ll also ask you to pack your own bags to minimise both handling & close contact time. When paying, we recommend card payments instead of cash, and we encourage you to use tap and go to make checking out as easy as possible.
Making our bakery more convenient
We’ll be making a few changes to make our bakeries more convenient. Single item bakery goods such as in-store baked bread will be individually pre-wrapped, and for bread loaves, we’ll be stopping slicing on-demand to ensure better availability of pre-sliced options.
Finally, we’ll be regularly rotating our teams on checkouts throughout the day to help keep everyone safer. Please respect the guidelines we’re putting in place as your health and safety remains a priority for us.
Best wishes,
Steven Cain
Chief Executive Officer
Coles Group
No mention of banning trolleys in the self service checkouts.
You can make your own liquid hand wash by grating from a cake of soap into a small saucepan, and adding enough water to fill your old dispenser.
Boil until soap is dissolved, adjust the soap/water ratio to make it easy to be pumped out; leave it for a day, pour into dispenser.
Any preferred oil essence could also be added.
Bacteria lives very happily on a cake of soap, soap contains fat and that’s good food for bacteria, although it’s unlikely to cause serious problems to most people.
It’s good practice to rinse off the soap after use and to let it dry in between usage.
Some of us might have noticed how ants love the bathroom and the kitchen sink: they love the fat in the soap! 
I noticed our nearest Woolies had closed every second self service checkout. Obviously necessary to meet the 1.5m rule. Which would leave extra room for your trolley.
Same here for some very basic items. Very difficult for those who have a limited number of retailers outside the cities and larger regional centres.
CHANGE NEEDED?
I remember having petrol rationing with reduced hours of opening and only able to fill up on alternate days based on number plates.
Perhaps we need a bit of lateral thinking. I noticed mostly TP when it is available is being delivered in our area is in bulk buy packs, often 24 rolls in each. That’s a months supply for some of us. Perhaps limiting product to a 4roll pack for a while combined with the pack limits might slow things down. Restricting shopper access to one day a week based on your month of birth per photo ID might be the final step. It might also thin the crowds and slow those shoppers/hoarders continuing to overload the system.
It’s draconian and why should the 80% of consumers who care be penalised for the actions of a minority. Coles and Woolies must have pretty good knowledge based on loyalty card data which customers and households are the bigger purchasers. Some might have a valid need for more than average which will show in history.
Given the loyalty cards seem to know what on line specials to email us, are there better ways to halt the frenzy, and genuinely benefit the greater community? @BrendanMays - food for more than thought.
A week or so ago, Coles stated that they were organising supplies of toilet rolls in smaller packs so more people could get one.
Unless they are still working throught what was in the system, it must have dropped by the wayside.
