'Utterly disgraceful': New video shows desperate fight for baby formula
The baby formula crisis shows no sign of slowing down after new footage emerged of a customer with a trolley packed full of tins outside a Woolworths supermarket.
Damning footage from a Woolworths store at Oakleigh in Melbourne’s southeast shows a male shopper frantically sorting through a trolley with at least 10 tins of formula inside on Saturday.
A concerned female shopper shared the clip with Yahoo News and labelled the behaviour of some shoppers as “utterly disgraceful” as they look to land the prized commodity as it hits shelves.
The woman claims a group of shoppers were running in and out of the store “at full speed” with their trolleys as they look to manipulate the two tin per transaction limit.
She said the group was even using children “as young as six” to get their hands on as many tins as possible.
“The poor staff literally stand and watch as it happens,” she said.
The customer claimed she spotted a trolley containing multiple tins placed in a different area of the supermarket – a technique she believes allows customers to deceive other shoppers into thinking there are no tins left to purchase.
The surge in sales of baby formula has been a controversial subject over the last year, with many shoppers, known as ‘daigous’, selling the tins to customers in China for profit.
There is high demand for overseas baby formula in China after the reputation of Chinese produced formula and its quality was badly damaged following a scandal in 2008 which led to the death of six babies.
Popular baby formula tins such as A2, Bellamy’s and Aptamil are worth about $25 to $35 each and are purchased and sold for up to $100 per tin, leaving Australian parents empty-handed.
Amid a series of videos showing daigous battling it out in store, Woolworths and Coles have both reiterated their commitment in ensuring Australian families are able to purchase tins.
Having both previously trialled eight tin limits, the supermarkets backflipped on their decisions following a scathing response from the public.
A Woolworths spokesperson failed to address the alleged techniques used to manipulate the limit but told Yahoo News the store in question was well stocked throughout Saturday, with “good stock levels” on Sunday.
“Woolworths has a two tin purchase limit on baby formula in place and our store teams work hard to ensure our customers have access to stock when they need it.,” the spokesperson said.
“As always, we encourage any parents who find their chosen baby formula is unavailable to speak with their Store Manager, so we can get them stock as quickly as possible.”
The spokesperson also noted the store was located near a chemist and a Coles supermarket, suggesting some of the tins in the trolley may have come from other stores.
