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posted by martyb on Wednesday January 02 2019, @01:22PM   Printer-friendly
from the open-branch-stores-in-China dept.

A daigou is a personal shopper who buys items to send back to people in China, usually for a significant markup. This is a cheaper alternative for Chinese buyers to purchase products around the world. Especially products so in demand in their home country that they often can't be purchased. Like decent quality milk powder produced by Australia. This has caused problems with locals in Australia with hundreds of tins of baby formula being purchased by Chinese daigou to be sent back to China. These daigou can strip shelves of milk powder in minutes. While supermarkets have responded with limiting the number of tins a person can buy per purchase this has failed as the daigou simply go straight back in to purchase more. In response, the Australian public now records videos of these Chinese shoppers stripping the shelves of baby formula then posts to social media. Australia is well known for giving anyone a fair go but there are limits.

Ever think of robbing a store but stopped thinking "what if I'm seen?". Cameras are everywhere. Just about everyone has one in their pocket. Powered up, hours of free space, a phone unlock and camera app start away from filming. YouTube and Facebook have made it easy to share videos for free. Anyone can do it. Now they are. When over 30 daigou recently went on a baby formula buying spree in Brisbane, Shane Conroy captured the raid on video to post to Facebook. The footage has since been viewed half a million times with thousands of shares. The situation with foreign shoppers stripping shelves is only getting worse. The public is now stepping up to record these incidents to post them online to publicly name and shame these people as laws and rules are ineffective.

Is it better when Big Brother is not a central authority but instead is implemented by the people, themselves?


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  • (Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday January 02 2019, @04:02PM (2 children)

    by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Wednesday January 02 2019, @04:02PM (#781057) Journal

    That's why one would raise prices on that one particular item in demand. You might not sell as much of it, or lose a little on it due to a supply-price mismatch, but the people who really want your full shopping experience (item plus other stuff) will come to your store and buy the other stuff and Chain Y down the street will suffer for being out of it. You don't want to be the cheapest price on such an item; instead, you want to be second cheapest.

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  • (Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday January 02 2019, @07:42PM (1 child)

    by sjames (2882) on Wednesday January 02 2019, @07:42PM (#781131) Journal

    Which makes consumer's anger at the daigou rational. Naturally they don't want rising prices and shrinking availability.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 03 2019, @08:41AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 03 2019, @08:41AM (#781415)

      But is this not exactly what capitalism teaches us, with all the suppy and demand balacing each other out? Surely the consumers are aware to have embraced such concepts freely, are they not?