Coronavirus: Police set to patrol toilet paper aisles after price gouging

Police will be in action at shopping centres and the toilet paper aisles of supermarkets in a bid to calm down frenzied Aussie shoppers.

2 min read

March 19, 2020 - 8:03AM

The man was slammed on social media. Picture: Facebook

NSW police will patrol the toilet paper aisles of Australian supermarkets to calm panic buying of groceries.

The Daily Telegraph has revealed police will be visible in shopping aisles and malls after discussions with supermarket bosses.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Jeff Loy said people should be able to go about their daily business and bad behaviour was not acceptable.

It comes after Australians unleashed on a “selfish” hoarder caught trying to sell staples like hand sanitiser, toilet rolls and nappies at inflated prices online.

The coronavirus pandemic has sparked an unprecedented flurry of panic buying among shoppers, with supermarkets plagued by a toilet paper shortage for weeks on end.

The man posted a photo of his stash on Facebook yesterday afternoon, revealing he was selling individual toilet rolls for $5 each – and packs of 24 rolls for a staggering $100.

“Inbox me for toilet paper, Hand sanitiser, nappies, baby formula and antiseptic wipes. Lots of stock. Happy to express post, no pickups,” the post reads.

Unsurprisingly, the offer sparked serious backlash, with fellow Facebook users branding the man “selfish” and a “scumbag”.

“Should be ashamed of yourself. Clearly you're not. Hopefully you'll realise that what you're doing is a disgrace...” one outraged Facebook user wrote, while another labelled the seller a “piece of garbage”.

The man posted his offer just hours before Woolworths announced a major shake-up to its buying restrictions list, introducing a blanket two limit rule on everything in-store unless stated otherwise.

Coles is also regularly adding items to its growing list of restrictions, capping the sale of chilled milk at two units per shopper.

And Aldi has also announced major changes in its stores, restricting shopping hours and introducing buying restrictions as well as code of practice when entering stores.

So far, Australia has 560 confirmed cases of coronavirus across every state and territory, and six Australians have died as a result of the illness.

The local case comes just days after US brothers Matt and Noah Colvin made headlines after buying up 18,000 bottles of hand sanitiser which they planned to sell at a profit.

Those plans were scuppered when Amazon pulled their listings, with the men receiving an outpouring of criticism.

Matt Colvin has since announced he will be donating the coveted products.

PRICE GOUGING?

An ACCC spokesperson told news.com.au the body “cannot prevent or take action to stop excessive pricing, as it has no role in setting prices”.

However, the spokesperson said in some “limited circumstances” excessive pricing may be deemed “unconscionable” – for example, if the product is critical to the health or safety of vulnerable consumers.

“If a business makes misleading claims about the reason for price increases, it will be breaching the Australian Consumer Law,” the spokesperson said.

They also confirmed that state of emergency laws were state and territory-based, and so anyone who breached those laws would be answerable to authorities in those states.

So far, the coronavirus outbreak has caused a state of emergency to be declared in Victoria, the ACT and Western Australia.