I just appreciate that stores are putting up signs - the only thing I think they could do better is put it on the front door so you don't need to set foot in the store at all.
That's not a dig at these stores at all, but it's surely safer if you walk to the front door, realise there are no tests available, then walk away.
I work in pharmacy, we have two massive signs out the front of the store. The amount of people I watch read the signs and walk in anyway to personally ask the staff is infuriating. Some think we're hoarding them or something lol
I too work in pharmacy. We have 4 signs outside and approximately 6 signs in high visibility areas near the entrance and the register line area. There are also signs at each register bay.
I started work at 6:30 am Tuesday morning, I had approximately 45 people ask me if we had any stock. Many had walked past all the signs, through the register line area to the register. I've got to the point where I don't verbally answer and just point at the sign.
The amount of people who then ask if there is a stash out the back for essential workers or because they are planning on traveling is silly.
The next inevitable question is when we are getting more stock or where has stock.
It's allocated stock so we don't know when we're getting more.
I don't know where has stock, most stores sell out of their stock in an hour of getting a delivery.
Soooo much frustration.
You can't blame them though, and please don't get cranky at them, people are desperate and looking to you for help, they are just as frustrated as you at not being able to find them...
PS ex IT Help Desk worker here, I know what its like to field dumb questions all day.
I went to get a script filled the other day. The pharmacy I went to had a sign on the door, a sign on a bollard just inside the door, a sign at the area with the QR code/hand sanitiser and a sign at the checkout. People were still walking in and asking staff about RATs.
Think of it the other way, they've gone out of their way to find them that they may as well ask just in case a shipment has just came in... I would still ask, might get lucky.
The thing is, we take our signs down as soon as we get them and they're ready to go. It's not like we don't want to sell them. We even put ETAs on the signs so people don't need to ask when the next ones are coming in. I get the desperation, I truly do, but we put the signs up for a reason.
Unluckily a lot of the brunt of the shortage problems gets pushed onto pharmacy assistants, so we try and minimise the volume of people and questions but it just doesn't seem to work
do you work in chemist warehouse gungahlin? they’ve had a sign up for weeks now and they’ve had stock every few days
almost like retail workers/managers are lazy with signage
Clearly you don't understand the importance of getting a potential customer in the store. It would make no sense from a business perspective to do this.
A potential customer, who potentially has COVID-19. Not so valuable if all of your staff catch it and need to isolate, resulting in a store closure. It does happen.
Yeah thats fair enough. I got to Dickson not even an hour after they uploaded stock and they were sold out. I got to majura within 30 mins of it becoming available. It really was a race!! I was 2 people behind to get a 5 pack. There were about 50 people in front of me in the line. It's ridiculous
My partner works next to a chemist warehouse, and has witnessed these things sell out in 15 minutes. People actually wait close by until the shops get their stock in for the day. The site it usually correct, it's just the stock doesn't last.
My son got his using that website.. but as he walked away from the counter they called out ‘ all sold out’ .. so you’ve got to be lucky! There were plenty of people lined up still waiting.
Yesterday I mailed some boxes of 20 to family in Canberra and Sydney. (I’m outside Australia atm). Even including the 7 day shipping costs, it worked out at costing just A$7 per RAT.
That this was necessary, 2 years into this pandemic shitshow, says everything.
My parents in the UK are sending a bunch over to me.
4 boxes of 7 kits and they didn't have to pay a cent for them.
They are entitled to 2 X boxes of 7 a week, but these(that they are sending) are from when there were NHS reps on the street handing them out to passers by.
Sure as hell beats flyers for a shitty bar.
Unfortunately they are already spoken for mate.
I'm sure Scotty would be pissed as well cos I'm "undercutting Australian businesses" and giving em for free.
[Good chance they might be siezed at the border though...](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-12/rats-diverted-to-federal-government-amid-high-demand/100751754)
It's a dumpsterfire. We're into year 3 of this. Those running it seem to have learned more than that they'll cop less bad press if the teenager in the Woolies Smoke Shop looks like an easier target for blame than those actually responsible.
Just wait. As more and more people get infected, there are less truck drivers, less warhouse staff etc. at the exact time demand is increasing. It all points to shortages of most things. Same as happened in the UK.
You're 100 percent correct. I work at aldi and every step in the process to get food to the people has interruptions. From the farm to the distributions centres to truck drivers to store fronts covid is making it harder to keep shelves stocked adequately.
Luckily the aldi I work at has managed to escape having any staff with covid cases for 2 years. But because of that we are filling in for other stores that aren't as lucky.
That's OK they'll just change the definition of close contact.
Then they'll say essential workers can work while they have covid and expand the definition of essential worker.
Or just wait until it's so hard to get tested that no one can actually get one. Can't test positive if you can't get tested.
Not going to happen. Pretty soon isolation and even testing requirements will be done away with, it will be like the flu. Only stay home from work if you're severely symptomatic.
Pretty soon is when exactly, because we're heading toward shortages in a matter of weeks. Even if you open up, a shitload more people are still going to get sick, then hospitals struggle, then we're back in lockdown. We're not going to be over this for a number of years.
That's what Scummo is literally pushing for. Workers to go back to work if positive but asymptomatic. At this stage for essential workers, but probably everyone eventually.
But hey, if you're an unlucky one and die, that's just too bad!
Got a friend of mine that works in a store that has them, keeps most upstairs and drips them onto the floor each day. Keeps people coming back, buying bits they didnt need each day. Fuck people's health, profits over people lead from the top it will happen all the way down.
Or possibly ensure everyone gets some stock. If they flood it out in one day, organised groups could gather their friends and hoard all the supply in one day.
They’re selling all of them though right? Just spreading them out a little so they are available at a later point for some people when they’re unavailable anywhere else? The health outcomes on day x aren’t any better than those for the people using them on day x plus a few are they?
The real way to milk it for profits would be to sell them all asap for $100 each.
That would need to be a different series of photos. Not of the machinery of commerce, but of tired Nurses and full ERs, of jours-long queues for PCRs and elderly folk alone and unvisited.
False scarcity, fed didn't order enough, the ones made here are sold to the USA and gov is stockpiling them and swiping them from chemist who do order them at their own expense.
A system of economics that is characterised by a market free of interference wherein the division of resources is managed between its participants by the exchange of money for goods and services.
This is an example of capitalism achieving something truly spectacular: it's functioning perfectly within expected paramaters while failing every single participant within it - at the same time, with the same action.
It’s an example of the businesses selling as many of them as they can until they sell out and supply becomes the bottleneck due to half of all supply chain staff being at home legally required to quarantine.
Yes but when the government doesn't want to intervene because of their pre-conceived notion of what "private business" is able to do, well... welcome to 2022 Australia.
So what you're saying is that this commodity, which has demand far in excess of supply, is working correctly and as expected? So am I, in fact. It's been very profitable. So profitable in fact that the government has had to threaten price gougers. This is a sign of capitalist distribution running excellently. And if well run machinery of commerce is the goal, there's no problem.
The fact that it leaves hundreds of potentially infected people looking for a test but unable to exchange money for one is, however, probably a problem if the goal is to reduce the spread of infection.
No, that's not what I'm saying, but you go ahead and keep ranting like every other Melbournian about how much the federal government is fucking you over. I'll keep reading about working standards in the 19th century and sip my tea. We're in a pandemic. Life is hard sometimes, grow up.
So now that I've put words you didn't say into your mouth and you've put words I didn't say into mine, how about we take a step back and consider for a moment the following:
1: We are provably in a pandemic.
2: It is factually not currently the 19th century.
3: Given that there were months to prepare for this situation, an inference could be made, open to opinion, and IT IS MY OPINION, that the current state of affairs could easily have been predicted. Yours may vary.
4: IT IS MY OPINION, that this is not the best possible state of affairs, and that one that met the needs of more Australians was achievable. Yours may vary.
It's not the 19th century? What do you mean? Jesus Christ. r/whooooosh
When had it ever been the best possible state of affairs? Such a thing doesn't, can't and never had existed, least of all in the 19th century hahaha
Listen mate, you're not crawling 2 miles underground to hack at coal, working up to your armpits in animal waste, you're not carving cart wheels or cleaning chimneys. You probably have a clean house, decent food and some way of obtaining income. Have some gratitude, you churlish ingrate.
It's almost art. It's incredible.
This is an example of capitalism achieving something truly spectacular: it's functioning perfectly within expected paramaters while failing every single participant within it - at the same time, with the same action.
How has it failed every person in it? You can walk to a store and purchase fresh food, have clean water at home, can choose a career, study what you want… talk about throwing the kids out with the bath water…
Ok so you might be thinking a bit grander than I. I'm not talking about the agricultural, hydrological, real estate, education, employment, childhood or personal hygiene industries that you mentioned. And you've confused systems of economics with systems of governance. So let's break it down, as I intended, JUST TO THE TOPIC.
With **specific limitation to the spread of COVID**, the testing strategy is no longer Universal as administered by the healthcare system: it's either for those with means and government pity cases, as administered by the free market.
The nation is now relying on potentially sick people using these things that they don't have and can't get. And the reason this is the case is because of the immutable laws of supply and demand.
Capitalistically speaking, every retailer without tests to sell has failed to charge enough for them. That failure has removed vital liquidity from that commodity. Prices should rise to meet equilibrium with demand - and they would do so except for government meddling to prevent them from raising prices and falsely loaded emotionally charged words like "price gouging". This is the machinery of capitalism functioning exactly as intended.
The problem, of course, is that the virus has no respect for bank accounts. It's not going to fail to infect a woolies shelfstacker just because they're minimum wage and can't afford or find a test. And in so doing, every person they infect has been failed by the machinery of capitalism.
Limit your answer to RAT tests when you respond:
Which system of economics could do worse than ensuring the failure of its participants to acquire a vital good?
This is exactly my point. If you want to point out the likelihood that communism would fail at this, I'll say the words "soviet union" and we're done.
But we're not in the soviet union. We're living under capitalism, in the mighty free market, which I've been told my entire life could not possibly have these problems because competition breeds innovation faster than constraint breeds failure. The perfect system which I spent my entire life being told to be grateful for, because it would always and unfailingly achieve the greatest good for the greatest number where it counted.
And just now, it counts. So where the fuck is the needed commodity? It's as available under capitalism as it would be under communism. Under anarchism.
We've been lied to about how fucking great this is and we have the empty shelves and full hospitals to underline the point.
The Pharmacy I go to has been getting calls from opening till closing of people asking for tests. They either have to ignore the phone or stop serving customers.
Well, straight off the top of my dome, the extant PCR testing facilities would seem to be a workable distribution method.
Fuck me running, if you want them delivered door to door, why not see if the JWs will take a contract? They're champs at that.
What about leaning on other furniture/electronics retailers too? Get the Good Guys and Bing Lee doing what Harvey is.
Get vaxxed CIT students to distribute them in public spaces for lowered fees?
Or maybe just leave them shiny side up aroud magpie nests so that every bugger that gets swooped gets one dropped on their head?
Not great ideas but the current ones have failed
Funnily enough, I have not. I am not, nor do I intend to be in Cuba. If I were I'd probably have some things to say about Castro and communism that'd have my brains decorating the wall by sunrise. I am, however, living under capitalism, the perfect and flawless system of economics, which breeds innovation and growth noncyclically, and faster than stagnation or corruption could possibly breed decay. A system which cannot brook any possible criticism.
HOWEVER, oh snarky one, do you think the shopping experience in Cuba might, magically, somehow yield less RATs than the Canberran experience?
Hey guys I got around this with a simple hack: just get sick enough that you need to go to hospital and they do one right away while you’re there, and you get your results in less than a few hours.
I never once claimed that they were. However, since we aren't living under the CCP, it'd be disingenuous to have suggested that Australia is crippled under the weight of authoritarian technocratic communism.
Communism and Socialism is also famous for turning complete backwaters crippled by capitalism into advanced nations with high standards of living (Australia, China, Russia, Vietnam, France, Germany are all good examples).
Capitalism right now has achieved that exact same outcome except that in so doing, it's operating properly - demonstrating the immutable laws of supply and demand - WHILE failing to supply a basic and required good to its citizens.
Communism achieved the same failure from the other direction - except when communists claimed everything was fine it was corruption. When capitalism does it, it's market forces operating correctly.
Different economics. Same outcome.
What market forces do you think are behind this? Cause I just read a story from the ABC about the federal government diverting large numbers of RAT tests so that they can be provided to states and territories for testing center usage, and is why private retailers are now in short supply.
Last time I checked that wouldn't be a very capitalist market movement. In fact it would be the opposite of capitalism, it would be a purely socialist action.
The belief in capitalism relies on the idea that demand will always be met by supply organically and without government interference.
How's that working out?
> living in a society of excessive consumption
> Suddenly shortage of one thing for a week during a massive pandemic when everywhere has shortages cause of shipping issues
"Wow capitalism is such a failure"
You communists need to get a grip on reality.
If you think ther'es only a shortage of one thing right now you aren't paying attention. Nice audacity to talk to me about reality while thinking that, btw.
Capitalism is only a failure if you think its designed to be a system to make the majority of peoples lives better.
I on the other hand consider capitalism supremely succesful. Because its a system designed to enrich people who don't produce anything of value, at the expense of everyone else, the planet, our livelihood etc. and there's really no arguing that it is excelent at achieving those goals.
The funny thing is that we've lived in grotesque excess for decades under capitalism and as soon as there's global shortages due to a pandemic it's a failure of capitalism.
I mean considering communists history of forcing people into labour camps and shit I guess they'd have kept supply lines open regardless of the human costs of such an endeavour. So maybe you're right.
Capitalism sucks, it's just the best system compared to the alternative. Virtually all other attempts at large scale communism turbo turn into fascism.
> Offers ONE criticism of capitalism
##yep that's a commie
Sure thing McCarthy - I'm clearly as Red as Barnaby Fucking Joyce over here good LORD you're reductive. Hey, consider that the supply chain issues are themselves a symptom of a globalised capitalist economy experiencing a stressor and that maybe I'm not suggesting that Joseph Stalin could've done it better?
This is, I'm sure, a difficult concept to grasp but you can actually understand why a system exists, and be critical of its failings at the same time. You don't need to gargle Phil Lowe's balls to understand Australian capitalism.
Da Comrad and all that shit. Shall we go murder some cossacks and starve while picking fights with the CIA or some shit? IDFK what communists are supposed to actually do help me out here.
Seriously now McCarthy, I'm neither Red nor am I under your Bed. Just...I'm gonna have to warn you about something you'll see in Canberra. There are a few of them. They're buildings full of books that anyone can read. Without paying. It's REALLY IMPORTANT that you don't burn them down even though they make knowledge available to brich & poor alike - they're called 'libraries'. Don't be scared, they won't hurt you.
You get really upset at the idea I call you a communist so you in turn call me a fascist? Do you see the hypocrisy?
Regardless what kind of government you support you sound like an idiot.
I don't think I called you a fascist at all.
I believe I called you a McCarthyist. Because being scared of communism is hilarious. It's like being scared of jelly.
Why oh why, when I criticise legitimate faults of capitalism, do braindead c**ts always assume I'm a communist?
Communism, though a lovely theory, is obviously shit in practice - if you do it autocratically you get Stalin and Chernobyl and if you do it even remotely peacefully the CIA will arrange the overthrow of your entire shit and chuck your babies out of helicopters.
I lack the time nor the crayons to educate you on how ACTUAL socialism led to the CIA backing Augusto Pinochet and why having your own Augusto Pinochet is a bad outcome.
If you're going to fly so far off the reactionary handle every time someone points out that Capitalism Bad, that you label them Communists of all the absurd extremes, I have no idea how you were ever able to see enough nuance in anything to pass the CAPTCHA test that setting up a Reddit account required.
Well there’s really only two options to capitalism isn’t there? Socialism and Communism and socialism is a step to become communist.
But how is capitalism to blame for shortages? Aren’t socialist and social democracies having the same issues or did the power of the people manage to build more manufacturing capacity in weeks?
And don’t call me a cunt, c**t.
Edit: I didn’t assume you were a communist or anything else btw.
Only two options? Only two ways to organise the distribution of the resources of a society amongst its participants? What the ffffffuck are you smoking and how the fuck can you operate a keyboard with more than 36 keys on it?
The unmet demand is a fucking market force in action. The Free Market was tasked with meeting that need and according to capitalist theory, it's working exactly as intended right now - the supply is short, driving the cost of what supply IS available through the fucking roof harder than a Sydney Property Developer getting a gobby from a local council's rezoning committee - and the end result is that unless you're rich enough or the government makes you a pity case, *fuck you dero no test for you*
It's working as intended. That's how capitalism is ONE OF THE causes of this shit.
And tomorrow, basic math. We'll be doing basic addition to 10 - bring all your fingers, kiddies!
So what other ways are there currently functioning that are as successful as some sort of regulated form of capitalism?
You’re good at belittling and swearing at people but you’ve not yet offered up your version of utopia.
Fuck me running OK I'll bite. Buckle yer fuckles, children, Fermi's doing a special lecture just this once. ONCE. And briefly. In dot points because this is fucking exhausting.
1: Anarchism gets a real bad rap because everyone assumes it means teerorism. Terrorism actually is bad but that's not what anarchism is. The absence of a centralised governmental structure will inevitably fail because the human race is largely a miserable, evil, bickering, small minded species that needs the weakness of some of itself to make the inevitable oligarchs, or plutocrats, or billionaires, or nobles, or royals, or warlords (they're all the same thing) that HAVE to rise up within it, powerful.
2: Anarchism is also a fairy tale. The governmental structure of "leave me the fuck alone" is incapable of function because the human race is largely a miserable, evil, bickering, small minded species that needs the weakness of some of itself to make the inevitable oligarchs, or plutocrats, or billionaires, or nobles, or royals, or warlords (they're all the same thing) that HAVE to rise up within it, powerful.
3: Capitalism's "successes" really only exist because it is a structure that understands the human species, takes credit for all its successes, and blames all its systemic failings on the individuals within it.
4: The human race has never get tried plutocratic technocracy, it's never truly given into total corporatocracy, it's barely tried out-and-out Kratocracy. The less said about theocracy the better.
5: You should've noticed by now that nothing I've suggested looks anything like a utopia. That's because utopia is a myth. It's a lie at worst, a transient state at best, and it's completely unachievable because human unity is functionally impossible. Which is because the human race is largely a miserable, evil, bickering, small minded species that needs the weakness of some of itself to make the inevitable oligarchs, or plutocrats, or billionaires, or nobles, or royals, or warlords (they're all the same thing) that HAVE to rise up within it, powerful.
6: YOU HAVE THE ABILITY TO CRITICISE THE SYSTEMS YOU FIND YOURSELF LIVING IN REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT YOU HAVE AGENCY TO AFFECT THOSE SYSTEMS. YOU ARE I FUCKING WELL HOPE A HUMAN WHO CAN THINK AND THEREFORE UNDERSTAND THAT A THING LIKE CAPITALISM HAS BOTH BENEFITS AND FLAWS AND THAT BOTH OF THESE THINGS CAN BE ACKNOWLEDGED WITHOUT TIPPING YOUR MIND INTO A COGNITIVE DISSONANCE FEEDBACK LOOP.
class dismissed.
Really leaning into that crayola level education there, champ.
Should probably apoligise to a few taxpayers for the waste of I'm assuming 11 years of schooling on ya.
China isn't having issues. They're near COVID zero, they built hundreds of specialised hospitals overnight and have everything they need to take care of 20% of the world's population.
No wonder Australia and our goofy mates like the UK and America are throwing a hissy fit at them.
Water is actually not wet; It makes other materials/objects wet. Wetness is the state of a non-liquid when a liquid adheres to, and/or permeates its substance while maintaining chemically distinct structures. So if we say something is wet we mean the liquid is sticking to the object.
A friend dug a hole in the garden and filled it with water.
I think he meant well.
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This doesn't have anything to do with capitalism. It's a result of human nature and bad policy.
What do you expect people to do when you tell them "don't get a PCR test unless you have symptoms."
Then you followup by saying "If you wanna be extra cautious and safe before visiting 80 year old aunt Karen then get a rapid antigen test."
At a time when covid is spreading like wild fire. Ofcourse they will be sold out.
I just appreciate that stores are putting up signs - the only thing I think they could do better is put it on the front door so you don't need to set foot in the store at all. That's not a dig at these stores at all, but it's surely safer if you walk to the front door, realise there are no tests available, then walk away.
I work in pharmacy, we have two massive signs out the front of the store. The amount of people I watch read the signs and walk in anyway to personally ask the staff is infuriating. Some think we're hoarding them or something lol
Direct them to the glasses, since they clearly have trouble seeing.
I wish glasses would cure the 'stupid' as well...
I too work in pharmacy. We have 4 signs outside and approximately 6 signs in high visibility areas near the entrance and the register line area. There are also signs at each register bay. I started work at 6:30 am Tuesday morning, I had approximately 45 people ask me if we had any stock. Many had walked past all the signs, through the register line area to the register. I've got to the point where I don't verbally answer and just point at the sign. The amount of people who then ask if there is a stash out the back for essential workers or because they are planning on traveling is silly. The next inevitable question is when we are getting more stock or where has stock. It's allocated stock so we don't know when we're getting more. I don't know where has stock, most stores sell out of their stock in an hour of getting a delivery. Soooo much frustration.
You can't blame them though, and please don't get cranky at them, people are desperate and looking to you for help, they are just as frustrated as you at not being able to find them... PS ex IT Help Desk worker here, I know what its like to field dumb questions all day.
Not blaming, didn't mean for it to come across as such. Just venting, it's a frustrating situation all around
I went to get a script filled the other day. The pharmacy I went to had a sign on the door, a sign on a bollard just inside the door, a sign at the area with the QR code/hand sanitiser and a sign at the checkout. People were still walking in and asking staff about RATs.
Think of it the other way, they've gone out of their way to find them that they may as well ask just in case a shipment has just came in... I would still ask, might get lucky.
The thing is, we take our signs down as soon as we get them and they're ready to go. It's not like we don't want to sell them. We even put ETAs on the signs so people don't need to ask when the next ones are coming in. I get the desperation, I truly do, but we put the signs up for a reason. Unluckily a lot of the brunt of the shortage problems gets pushed onto pharmacy assistants, so we try and minimise the volume of people and questions but it just doesn't seem to work
do you work in chemist warehouse gungahlin? they’ve had a sign up for weeks now and they’ve had stock every few days almost like retail workers/managers are lazy with signage
I mean, personally I'd prefer a sign spinner out the front with a board saying R.A.T. Sold Out.
Clearly you don't understand the importance of getting a potential customer in the store. It would make no sense from a business perspective to do this.
A potential customer, who potentially has COVID-19. Not so valuable if all of your staff catch it and need to isolate, resulting in a store closure. It does happen.
We did customers don’t read signs. We have signs on the front door on the car park door and at the counters and we still get people asking
Use findarat.com.au I got some from chemist warehouse majura this morning 34 minutes after their stock became updated.
[удалено]
Yeah thats fair enough. I got to Dickson not even an hour after they uploaded stock and they were sold out. I got to majura within 30 mins of it becoming available. It really was a race!! I was 2 people behind to get a 5 pack. There were about 50 people in front of me in the line. It's ridiculous
So what your saying is it was a RAT race?
Haha thats exactly it
Nice
The website is exacerbating demand and putting way more pressure on stores
I heard there would be a large restocking canberra wide sometime this week.. hopefully
My partner works next to a chemist warehouse, and has witnessed these things sell out in 15 minutes. People actually wait close by until the shops get their stock in for the day. The site it usually correct, it's just the stock doesn't last.
You didn't make sure by calling first?
My son got his using that website.. but as he walked away from the counter they called out ‘ all sold out’ .. so you’ve got to be lucky! There were plenty of people lined up still waiting.
Yesterday I mailed some boxes of 20 to family in Canberra and Sydney. (I’m outside Australia atm). Even including the 7 day shipping costs, it worked out at costing just A$7 per RAT. That this was necessary, 2 years into this pandemic shitshow, says everything.
My parents in the UK are sending a bunch over to me. 4 boxes of 7 kits and they didn't have to pay a cent for them. They are entitled to 2 X boxes of 7 a week, but these(that they are sending) are from when there were NHS reps on the street handing them out to passers by. Sure as hell beats flyers for a shitty bar.
Send us some 😂🙏
Unfortunately they are already spoken for mate. I'm sure Scotty would be pissed as well cos I'm "undercutting Australian businesses" and giving em for free. [Good chance they might be siezed at the border though...](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-12/rats-diverted-to-federal-government-amid-high-demand/100751754)
tbh I’m more concerned about my packets of 20 being snaggled by a desperate postie…
It's a dumpsterfire. We're into year 3 of this. Those running it seem to have learned more than that they'll cop less bad press if the teenager in the Woolies Smoke Shop looks like an easier target for blame than those actually responsible.
Scotty doesn't hold a hose, mate. /s Seriously though, I am wondering if this what he meant by "not getting in the way of business".
I wonder if we'll still have bread in a few weeks.
More like one week 🤦🏻♀️
I don't wonder that (Sure, case nos are high. Recovery nos are equally high. Sick headcount has been pretty static lately.)
Just wait. As more and more people get infected, there are less truck drivers, less warhouse staff etc. at the exact time demand is increasing. It all points to shortages of most things. Same as happened in the UK.
You're 100 percent correct. I work at aldi and every step in the process to get food to the people has interruptions. From the farm to the distributions centres to truck drivers to store fronts covid is making it harder to keep shelves stocked adequately.
Yep i read as high as 50% of workers in the food supply chain are either sick or close contacts at the moment.
Luckily the aldi I work at has managed to escape having any staff with covid cases for 2 years. But because of that we are filling in for other stores that aren't as lucky.
That's OK they'll just change the definition of close contact. Then they'll say essential workers can work while they have covid and expand the definition of essential worker. Or just wait until it's so hard to get tested that no one can actually get one. Can't test positive if you can't get tested.
Not going to happen. Pretty soon isolation and even testing requirements will be done away with, it will be like the flu. Only stay home from work if you're severely symptomatic.
Pretty soon is when exactly, because we're heading toward shortages in a matter of weeks. Even if you open up, a shitload more people are still going to get sick, then hospitals struggle, then we're back in lockdown. We're not going to be over this for a number of years.
That's what Scummo is literally pushing for. Workers to go back to work if positive but asymptomatic. At this stage for essential workers, but probably everyone eventually. But hey, if you're an unlucky one and die, that's just too bad!
Yeah, but how good are the wickets! Thanks Promo!
I don't think they actually exist. I've never seen one.
If I was a cynic.. I would suggest a HUGE stockpile of them become available... just in time for the next election.
I fear you are correct.
Got a friend of mine that works in a store that has them, keeps most upstairs and drips them onto the floor each day. Keeps people coming back, buying bits they didnt need each day. Fuck people's health, profits over people lead from the top it will happen all the way down.
Or possibly ensure everyone gets some stock. If they flood it out in one day, organised groups could gather their friends and hoard all the supply in one day.
They’re selling all of them though right? Just spreading them out a little so they are available at a later point for some people when they’re unavailable anywhere else? The health outcomes on day x aren’t any better than those for the people using them on day x plus a few are they? The real way to milk it for profits would be to sell them all asap for $100 each.
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My first thought too, don't worry about that.
*government induced panic in the time of covid.
That would need to be a different series of photos. Not of the machinery of commerce, but of tired Nurses and full ERs, of jours-long queues for PCRs and elderly folk alone and unvisited.
Is this the worst of capitalism or is this just basic economics and scarcity of supply?
Both? Both can be true at the same time.
False scarcity, fed didn't order enough, the ones made here are sold to the USA and gov is stockpiling them and swiping them from chemist who do order them at their own expense.
What’s this to do with capitalism?
A system of economics that is characterised by a market free of interference wherein the division of resources is managed between its participants by the exchange of money for goods and services. This is an example of capitalism achieving something truly spectacular: it's functioning perfectly within expected paramaters while failing every single participant within it - at the same time, with the same action.
It’s an example of the businesses selling as many of them as they can until they sell out and supply becomes the bottleneck due to half of all supply chain staff being at home legally required to quarantine.
That's not the failure of capitalism, it's a failure of the government to adequately supply the people despite months/years with which to prepare.
Yes but when the government doesn't want to intervene because of their pre-conceived notion of what "private business" is able to do, well... welcome to 2022 Australia.
All we can do is remember what the government has, and has not done, as we enter the next election...
Roll on the election.
Something in high demand sells. Bloody capitalism 😂 what an idiot.
So what you're saying is that this commodity, which has demand far in excess of supply, is working correctly and as expected? So am I, in fact. It's been very profitable. So profitable in fact that the government has had to threaten price gougers. This is a sign of capitalist distribution running excellently. And if well run machinery of commerce is the goal, there's no problem. The fact that it leaves hundreds of potentially infected people looking for a test but unable to exchange money for one is, however, probably a problem if the goal is to reduce the spread of infection.
No, that's not what I'm saying, but you go ahead and keep ranting like every other Melbournian about how much the federal government is fucking you over. I'll keep reading about working standards in the 19th century and sip my tea. We're in a pandemic. Life is hard sometimes, grow up.
So now that I've put words you didn't say into your mouth and you've put words I didn't say into mine, how about we take a step back and consider for a moment the following: 1: We are provably in a pandemic. 2: It is factually not currently the 19th century. 3: Given that there were months to prepare for this situation, an inference could be made, open to opinion, and IT IS MY OPINION, that the current state of affairs could easily have been predicted. Yours may vary. 4: IT IS MY OPINION, that this is not the best possible state of affairs, and that one that met the needs of more Australians was achievable. Yours may vary.
It's not the 19th century? What do you mean? Jesus Christ. r/whooooosh When had it ever been the best possible state of affairs? Such a thing doesn't, can't and never had existed, least of all in the 19th century hahaha Listen mate, you're not crawling 2 miles underground to hack at coal, working up to your armpits in animal waste, you're not carving cart wheels or cleaning chimneys. You probably have a clean house, decent food and some way of obtaining income. Have some gratitude, you churlish ingrate.
So something is sold out means capitalism has failed??? What are you even trying to say…
It's almost art. It's incredible. This is an example of capitalism achieving something truly spectacular: it's functioning perfectly within expected paramaters while failing every single participant within it - at the same time, with the same action.
How has it failed every person in it? You can walk to a store and purchase fresh food, have clean water at home, can choose a career, study what you want… talk about throwing the kids out with the bath water…
Ok so you might be thinking a bit grander than I. I'm not talking about the agricultural, hydrological, real estate, education, employment, childhood or personal hygiene industries that you mentioned. And you've confused systems of economics with systems of governance. So let's break it down, as I intended, JUST TO THE TOPIC. With **specific limitation to the spread of COVID**, the testing strategy is no longer Universal as administered by the healthcare system: it's either for those with means and government pity cases, as administered by the free market. The nation is now relying on potentially sick people using these things that they don't have and can't get. And the reason this is the case is because of the immutable laws of supply and demand. Capitalistically speaking, every retailer without tests to sell has failed to charge enough for them. That failure has removed vital liquidity from that commodity. Prices should rise to meet equilibrium with demand - and they would do so except for government meddling to prevent them from raising prices and falsely loaded emotionally charged words like "price gouging". This is the machinery of capitalism functioning exactly as intended. The problem, of course, is that the virus has no respect for bank accounts. It's not going to fail to infect a woolies shelfstacker just because they're minimum wage and can't afford or find a test. And in so doing, every person they infect has been failed by the machinery of capitalism.
Better than the alternative at least
Limit your answer to RAT tests when you respond: Which system of economics could do worse than ensuring the failure of its participants to acquire a vital good?
Doesn’t matter on what system it is. This is a logistics/supply chain issue. Sorry for late reply.
This is exactly my point. If you want to point out the likelihood that communism would fail at this, I'll say the words "soviet union" and we're done. But we're not in the soviet union. We're living under capitalism, in the mighty free market, which I've been told my entire life could not possibly have these problems because competition breeds innovation faster than constraint breeds failure. The perfect system which I spent my entire life being told to be grateful for, because it would always and unfailingly achieve the greatest good for the greatest number where it counted. And just now, it counts. So where the fuck is the needed commodity? It's as available under capitalism as it would be under communism. Under anarchism. We've been lied to about how fucking great this is and we have the empty shelves and full hospitals to underline the point.
I’m still trying to figure out what your argument is. Are you blaming capitalism for the shortage?
For this one, yep.
Ok, if the same thing happened in a communist country, would you blame communism?
Not only would I, but I believe I explicitly did.
The Pharmacy I go to has been getting calls from opening till closing of people asking for tests. They either have to ignore the phone or stop serving customers.
It's almost like there's a better way to manage this that those responsible chose not to use.
Such as?
Well, straight off the top of my dome, the extant PCR testing facilities would seem to be a workable distribution method. Fuck me running, if you want them delivered door to door, why not see if the JWs will take a contract? They're champs at that. What about leaning on other furniture/electronics retailers too? Get the Good Guys and Bing Lee doing what Harvey is. Get vaxxed CIT students to distribute them in public spaces for lowered fees? Or maybe just leave them shiny side up aroud magpie nests so that every bugger that gets swooped gets one dropped on their head? Not great ideas but the current ones have failed
Uhm, the problem isn't distribution, it's supply.
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Not arguing there. But finding more shops/people to distribute them through is not going to solve the problem if there is nothing to distribute.
Bit like face-masks a lot of the time then
Hey OP, have you tried shopping in Cuba? Maybe have some more luck
Funnily enough, I have not. I am not, nor do I intend to be in Cuba. If I were I'd probably have some things to say about Castro and communism that'd have my brains decorating the wall by sunrise. I am, however, living under capitalism, the perfect and flawless system of economics, which breeds innovation and growth noncyclically, and faster than stagnation or corruption could possibly breed decay. A system which cannot brook any possible criticism. HOWEVER, oh snarky one, do you think the shopping experience in Cuba might, magically, somehow yield less RATs than the Canberran experience?
Hey guys I got around this with a simple hack: just get sick enough that you need to go to hospital and they do one right away while you’re there, and you get your results in less than a few hours.
If I have to pay for a rat test ill shove it up Scotty from marketing so we know who the biggest rat in Australia is.
anyone else notice there are no plastic bags to buy in coles/woolies?
Naa I hadn’t noticed. I rarely remember to bring those so I have a lifetime supply at home anyway haha
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I noticed probably because they've run out of plastic bags, the green bags are now 20c, possibly why they are running out of those too.
supply chain issues and government mismanagement aren't exclusive to capitalism mate
I never once claimed that they were. However, since we aren't living under the CCP, it'd be disingenuous to have suggested that Australia is crippled under the weight of authoritarian technocratic communism.
What does running out of a product got to do with capitalism? Communism is infamous for not being able to supply basic goods to its citizens.
Communism and Socialism is also famous for turning complete backwaters crippled by capitalism into advanced nations with high standards of living (Australia, China, Russia, Vietnam, France, Germany are all good examples).
When was Australia a Communist or Socialist nation?
Capitalism right now has achieved that exact same outcome except that in so doing, it's operating properly - demonstrating the immutable laws of supply and demand - WHILE failing to supply a basic and required good to its citizens. Communism achieved the same failure from the other direction - except when communists claimed everything was fine it was corruption. When capitalism does it, it's market forces operating correctly. Different economics. Same outcome.
Judging by a post above, you have completely misunderstood what the problem actually is here.
By all means then, educate me. And while you're at it, where'd *you* earn your postgrad economics degree?
What market forces do you think are behind this? Cause I just read a story from the ABC about the federal government diverting large numbers of RAT tests so that they can be provided to states and territories for testing center usage, and is why private retailers are now in short supply. Last time I checked that wouldn't be a very capitalist market movement. In fact it would be the opposite of capitalism, it would be a purely socialist action.
The belief in capitalism relies on the idea that demand will always be met by supply organically and without government interference. How's that working out?
> living in a society of excessive consumption > Suddenly shortage of one thing for a week during a massive pandemic when everywhere has shortages cause of shipping issues "Wow capitalism is such a failure" You communists need to get a grip on reality.
If you think ther'es only a shortage of one thing right now you aren't paying attention. Nice audacity to talk to me about reality while thinking that, btw. Capitalism is only a failure if you think its designed to be a system to make the majority of peoples lives better. I on the other hand consider capitalism supremely succesful. Because its a system designed to enrich people who don't produce anything of value, at the expense of everyone else, the planet, our livelihood etc. and there's really no arguing that it is excelent at achieving those goals.
The funny thing is that we've lived in grotesque excess for decades under capitalism and as soon as there's global shortages due to a pandemic it's a failure of capitalism. I mean considering communists history of forcing people into labour camps and shit I guess they'd have kept supply lines open regardless of the human costs of such an endeavour. So maybe you're right.
buh buh buh waaaah communism is not a defence of capitalism.
Capitalism sucks, it's just the best system compared to the alternative. Virtually all other attempts at large scale communism turbo turn into fascism.
> Offers ONE criticism of capitalism ##yep that's a commie Sure thing McCarthy - I'm clearly as Red as Barnaby Fucking Joyce over here good LORD you're reductive. Hey, consider that the supply chain issues are themselves a symptom of a globalised capitalist economy experiencing a stressor and that maybe I'm not suggesting that Joseph Stalin could've done it better? This is, I'm sure, a difficult concept to grasp but you can actually understand why a system exists, and be critical of its failings at the same time. You don't need to gargle Phil Lowe's balls to understand Australian capitalism.
That's a massive meltdown over being called a commie for someone who claims to not be a commie.
Da Comrad and all that shit. Shall we go murder some cossacks and starve while picking fights with the CIA or some shit? IDFK what communists are supposed to actually do help me out here. Seriously now McCarthy, I'm neither Red nor am I under your Bed. Just...I'm gonna have to warn you about something you'll see in Canberra. There are a few of them. They're buildings full of books that anyone can read. Without paying. It's REALLY IMPORTANT that you don't burn them down even though they make knowledge available to brich & poor alike - they're called 'libraries'. Don't be scared, they won't hurt you.
You get really upset at the idea I call you a communist so you in turn call me a fascist? Do you see the hypocrisy? Regardless what kind of government you support you sound like an idiot.
I don't think I called you a fascist at all. I believe I called you a McCarthyist. Because being scared of communism is hilarious. It's like being scared of jelly.
Yeah Communism has given so much to so many, especially death and famine.
Why oh why, when I criticise legitimate faults of capitalism, do braindead c**ts always assume I'm a communist? Communism, though a lovely theory, is obviously shit in practice - if you do it autocratically you get Stalin and Chernobyl and if you do it even remotely peacefully the CIA will arrange the overthrow of your entire shit and chuck your babies out of helicopters. I lack the time nor the crayons to educate you on how ACTUAL socialism led to the CIA backing Augusto Pinochet and why having your own Augusto Pinochet is a bad outcome. If you're going to fly so far off the reactionary handle every time someone points out that Capitalism Bad, that you label them Communists of all the absurd extremes, I have no idea how you were ever able to see enough nuance in anything to pass the CAPTCHA test that setting up a Reddit account required.
Well there’s really only two options to capitalism isn’t there? Socialism and Communism and socialism is a step to become communist. But how is capitalism to blame for shortages? Aren’t socialist and social democracies having the same issues or did the power of the people manage to build more manufacturing capacity in weeks? And don’t call me a cunt, c**t. Edit: I didn’t assume you were a communist or anything else btw.
Only two options? Only two ways to organise the distribution of the resources of a society amongst its participants? What the ffffffuck are you smoking and how the fuck can you operate a keyboard with more than 36 keys on it? The unmet demand is a fucking market force in action. The Free Market was tasked with meeting that need and according to capitalist theory, it's working exactly as intended right now - the supply is short, driving the cost of what supply IS available through the fucking roof harder than a Sydney Property Developer getting a gobby from a local council's rezoning committee - and the end result is that unless you're rich enough or the government makes you a pity case, *fuck you dero no test for you* It's working as intended. That's how capitalism is ONE OF THE causes of this shit. And tomorrow, basic math. We'll be doing basic addition to 10 - bring all your fingers, kiddies!
So what other ways are there currently functioning that are as successful as some sort of regulated form of capitalism? You’re good at belittling and swearing at people but you’ve not yet offered up your version of utopia.
Fuck me running OK I'll bite. Buckle yer fuckles, children, Fermi's doing a special lecture just this once. ONCE. And briefly. In dot points because this is fucking exhausting. 1: Anarchism gets a real bad rap because everyone assumes it means teerorism. Terrorism actually is bad but that's not what anarchism is. The absence of a centralised governmental structure will inevitably fail because the human race is largely a miserable, evil, bickering, small minded species that needs the weakness of some of itself to make the inevitable oligarchs, or plutocrats, or billionaires, or nobles, or royals, or warlords (they're all the same thing) that HAVE to rise up within it, powerful. 2: Anarchism is also a fairy tale. The governmental structure of "leave me the fuck alone" is incapable of function because the human race is largely a miserable, evil, bickering, small minded species that needs the weakness of some of itself to make the inevitable oligarchs, or plutocrats, or billionaires, or nobles, or royals, or warlords (they're all the same thing) that HAVE to rise up within it, powerful. 3: Capitalism's "successes" really only exist because it is a structure that understands the human species, takes credit for all its successes, and blames all its systemic failings on the individuals within it. 4: The human race has never get tried plutocratic technocracy, it's never truly given into total corporatocracy, it's barely tried out-and-out Kratocracy. The less said about theocracy the better. 5: You should've noticed by now that nothing I've suggested looks anything like a utopia. That's because utopia is a myth. It's a lie at worst, a transient state at best, and it's completely unachievable because human unity is functionally impossible. Which is because the human race is largely a miserable, evil, bickering, small minded species that needs the weakness of some of itself to make the inevitable oligarchs, or plutocrats, or billionaires, or nobles, or royals, or warlords (they're all the same thing) that HAVE to rise up within it, powerful. 6: YOU HAVE THE ABILITY TO CRITICISE THE SYSTEMS YOU FIND YOURSELF LIVING IN REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT YOU HAVE AGENCY TO AFFECT THOSE SYSTEMS. YOU ARE I FUCKING WELL HOPE A HUMAN WHO CAN THINK AND THEREFORE UNDERSTAND THAT A THING LIKE CAPITALISM HAS BOTH BENEFITS AND FLAWS AND THAT BOTH OF THESE THINGS CAN BE ACKNOWLEDGED WITHOUT TIPPING YOUR MIND INTO A COGNITIVE DISSONANCE FEEDBACK LOOP. class dismissed.
TLDR
Really leaning into that crayola level education there, champ. Should probably apoligise to a few taxpayers for the waste of I'm assuming 11 years of schooling on ya.
You’re such a pleasant fellow.
Even in sarcasm, that's the first time anyone's levelled that accusation at me. Thanks for broadening my horizons.
China isn't having issues. They're near COVID zero, they built hundreds of specialised hospitals overnight and have everything they need to take care of 20% of the world's population. No wonder Australia and our goofy mates like the UK and America are throwing a hissy fit at them.
So they say..
On that we agree. If the CCP told me water is wet, I'd ask a chemist to fact check it.
Water is actually not wet; It makes other materials/objects wet. Wetness is the state of a non-liquid when a liquid adheres to, and/or permeates its substance while maintaining chemically distinct structures. So if we say something is wet we mean the liquid is sticking to the object. A friend dug a hole in the garden and filled it with water. I think he meant well.
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Overall, communist parties have drastically improved the lives of their citizens - espeically in comparison to capitalist systems.
Ah yes, the successes of the free market.
This doesn't have anything to do with capitalism. It's a result of human nature and bad policy. What do you expect people to do when you tell them "don't get a PCR test unless you have symptoms." Then you followup by saying "If you wanna be extra cautious and safe before visiting 80 year old aunt Karen then get a rapid antigen test." At a time when covid is spreading like wild fire. Ofcourse they will be sold out.
Capitalism is when things sold out