Woolworths and Coles stock limits hit rural families hardest

Charters Towers mayor Liz Schmidt says she will campaign hard for families who have to travel hundreds of kilometres and can’t stock up due to new supermarket limits.

Toilet paper is one of the many things supermarkets have put limits on. Charters Towers mayor LIz Schmidt said she would be asking big supermarkets to give islated families a pass to buy more groceries due to the big drive they had to make just to get supplies. Picture: AAP Image/James Gourley

REGIONAL families that have to travel hundreds of kilometres for groceries are some of the hardest hit in new major supermarket chain rationing rules.

But Charters Towers mayor Liz Schmidt has revealed plans to take on the big supermarkets and fight for her community and said she would work hard to ensure her community had what it needed.

Amid coronavirus panic buying, major retailers Woolworths and Coles put a limit on the number of items in certain categories people could buy including toilet paper, non-perishable food and other supplies.

Mayor Liz Schmidt.

Cr Schmidt said many families in the isolated communities in the 400km long, 300km wide electorate lived too far from regional centres to regularly shop.

“People from Greenvale, they’ve come over 200km or so to get to stores and they can only get limited stock, which isn’t really fair,” she said.

Cr Schmidt said those people usually shop once every few weeks or month to save on travel expenses.

“We’re the size of Tasmania, those people that need to come in from outlying areas … this is where they get their stuff,” she said.

The mayor said an ID checking system could be one option, which would allow for isolated people to purchase more food.

A Woolworths spokeswoman said they can appreciate the frustration the shortages and limits are causing customers in remote areas, and the company was working through the issues.

“We’ve seen an extraordinary level of demand for groceries across the country over the past week, which has unfortunately led to stock shortages across Australia,” the spokeswoman said.

“We’re doing the very best we can to get more stock in our stores and onto our shelves in the face of this unprecedented demand.

“We have a wide range of limits in place across a number of our products to ensure as many customers as possible have the best possible access to items when they shop with us.

“At the present time we’re regrettably not in a position to facilitate pick up orders for any of our customers including those from remote areas.

“We … will look to resume our pick up service as soon as we possibly can.”

Originally published as Woolworths and Coles stock limits hit rural families hardest