Being stuck at home and not able to attend school due to ‘Flu like symptoms’ I have become slightly more aware to the reality of the situation that Australia and its people are now facing due to the COVID-19 (Corona) virus. A large panic has now began spreading around our nation due to the recent spread of the Corona virus. Thus, our supermarkets, including the Coles almost next door to my house, is now running out of essential items on store shelves due to the rush of people attempting to stock up in preparation of a quarantine or self isolation. I’ll attempt to now discuss what’s currently happening and what that could mean for the future.
While I don’t actually have the Corona virus, I didn’t want to walk around outside too much while coughing and looking half dead. So I decided to travel to my local Coles and Woolworths at least once before the week started. The strange thing that I had noticed was not only the insane amounts of empty shelves within the stores isles, but the posters around the store announcing a newly introduced ‘one pack per transaction limit’ to control the mass hoarding of toilet paper.
With the consumer demand constantly rising, toilet paper companies are now struggling to keep up with the rates that their products are being sold out. Many companies have now amped up its production time to 24 hours a day in an attempt to match the customer demand.
This ramped up demand for toilet paper is largely predicted to be an example of herd behaviour. With so many customers flocking to supermarkets first thing in the morning just to get toilet paper, even those who don’t plan to quarantine themselves and just need toilet paper for their daily lives are now struggling to purchase them. When these customers finally get the chance to purchase the toilet paper that everyone is panicking to buy, present bias comes into due to the fact that a customer may find themselves buying large amounts and overstocking to avoid having to line up once again.
Most of the widespread panic for stocking up and hoarding food seems to come from advise to get ready for a 2 week isolation. However, this tip has now been blown out of proportion as it was mainly intended for those who must self quarantine themselves immediately due to the Corona Virus but is now being used by everyone in general who fears for the virus.
While I may not be able to return to school until I stop coughing, I still believe that the implementation of the one pack of toilet paper per customer policy was an amazing decision that’ll slow down the mysterious dissapearence of toilet paper.
sources:
Year 11 MHS Economics 2020 
Good to see a unique perspective on the issue, I hope you’ve stopped coughing by now 🙂
Considering that we’ve now seen a demand for pasta and flour, I wonder what the next items that are going to be swept off the shelves.
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Wonder what’s going to be next after toilet paper
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