Coronavirus: Woolworths moves to ration toilet paper as panic buying empties shelves

Supermarket giant Woolworths will begin rationing toilet paper as coronavirus panic buying leaves many store shelves empty.

On Wednesday, the company announced it had “moved to apply a quantity limit on toilet paper packs,” limiting customers to four per purchaser to “ensure more customers have access to the products”.

“It will help shore up stock levels as suppliers ramp up local production and deliveries in response to higher than usual demand,” the company said in a statement.

Supermarket shelves have been stripped bare as coronavirus and the fear of being caught without a domestic essential led to dozens of people panic-buying the tissue.

Also on Wednesday the Australian recycled toilet paper company Who Gives a Crap announced it had completely sold out of stock. In a statement headlined “holy crap” the company said that “panic buying madness” had exhausted its supplies.

“We also want to acknowledge that these are crazy times,” the company said in a statement which also encouraged its customers to remain calm.

“We feel it too. We’re thinking a lot about how we can do our bit to encourage kindness, empathy and calm. If you have spare rolls, see if your neighbours need some. Go and support your favourite Chinese restaurant. Watch some puppy videos.”

It came after the company’s co-founder and chief executive Simon Griffiths had Tweeted that sales had increased by eight times, with the leafy Sydney suburbs of Mosman and Balmain the heaviest purchasers.

Woolworths said the company was working to re-stock supplies with long-life food, also in high demand.

“The vast majority of the products in our range remain available for our customers as normal,” Woolworths said.

The phenomenon has become perhaps the very definition of rolling news – #toiletpaper has been trending on Australian Twitter.

Aghast shoppers have been tweeting pictures of empty shelves in supermarkets where row upon row of toilet paper once sat, and with it Twitter has been having some fun.

Some shoppers were confronted with a barren sight: