An Adelaide supermarket boss has wiped the smile off the face of a would-be profiteer who attempted to return 150 packets of toilet paper for a refund.
John-Paul Drake, the director of Drakes Supermarkets, posted a video on YouTube recounting the customer’s outrageous refund demand.
“He said he wanted to get a refund yesterday on 150 packets of 32-pack toilet paper, and 150 units of one-litre sanitiser,” Mr Drake said.
But the supermarket owner promptly washed his hands of the transaction.
“I told him that,” Mr Drake said, sticking his middle finger up at the camera.
“That is the sort of person that is causing the problem in the whole country.”
He said the shopper had bought the goods, worth around $10,000, with the help of a “team” of stockpilers when panic-buying spiked about four weeks ago.
“The person had a team of people that brought the products, because they were only allowed to buy one of each at a time,” he said.
“You do your sums – that’s 150 separate purchases to buy those.
“Absolutely disgraceful.”
Mr Drake told ABC radio the hoarder said his eBay site had been shut down, so he couldn’t sell the goods.
Drakes Supermarkets, which has 50 stores in South Australia and Queensland, has been hit hard by panic buying in recent weeks.
“We’ve sold eight months of toilet paper in four weeks … a year’s supply of flour in nine days,” Mr Drake said.
“If everyone had just bought the things they needed in their immediate short term, we would be fine,” he said.
“We have had some staggering statistics.”
Supermarkets across the country have imposed limits on items that have been subject to frenzied buying.
Toilet paper was among the first items that frantic Australians began panic-buying en masse.
Most of Australia’s toilet paper is manufactured domestically.
