Ann: New Financing Package, page-50

100% agree with the ' media beat up '. No question there. It's worse I think than the the worst possible ' reality ' TV show , and the worlds biggest social experiment if you will with respects to applying it to the Western Economic supply / demand metrics and modelling. We'll be looking back on the way the Global Economy handles this for years to come. And there will be dramatic ' fallout ' and outcomes to the way Individual Countries adapt , change , and twig there supply chains and systems. I think the toilet paper issue was brought up here again today. I raised the issue last week when hearing back from my family members , so I had to have a look into it for myself this week .......and couldn't really believe what I was seeing.

No stores until ALDI had even contemplated a rationing or ' Fair ' system. After watching the news last night , I had to go and have a look at what COSTCO was doing. At 10 am when the Store opened there were some coming out with obvious supplies of the ' Good Stuff '. I asked the Girl at the door and she stated that unfortunately they had all sold out of what they had withing minutes of the opening. However if you rang in , they were advising that a shipment was coming in and available at 11 am. So I trundled on down to that ' Bulk ' area where they have all that sort of stuff and bottled water etc... The Guy there was asking folk if they were after toilet paper , and instructing them that they must go down to the first isle where there was a queue forming to obtain their allotment. So naturally I ran for the queue and was quicker than most ( even with my crook knee ) as I was without a trolley. Anyway , they apparently had just received a shipment of 40 pallets , and were issuing out 1 x 48 pack per customer card holder. The upshot was that within the hour they had again sold out 40 pallets. I managed to grab some paper towels and facial tissues as well. Because these items were sold out in over 4 ' large ' big name stores I had visited.

So it's a learning curve to see how our overall systems cope with everything. The big test will now be to see how our Hospital , Aged Care , and education systems cop[e with an ever increasing burden in dispensing the much needed healthcare.

So we shouldn't be fooled or conned by the number's ' trickery ' when we see that Coles was up approx 10% , because when the shelves are re-stocked come end of March / early April ......everyone who has 1 months supply will no longer be required to shop for these items. Numbers are a funny thing. What's down in one QTR , could be ' MASSIVELY ' up in the next. And as AJM IS both a ' Producer ' and ' Seller ' ( retailer / wholesaler ....whatever you like ) , they also have the benefit of increasing they're stock's to gain the production cost recoveries which will then be realized in the ' amplified ' sales occurring in subsequent periods. So 2 - 4 weeks in the grander scheme of Year to Date totals is neither here nor there really.......