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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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 02 2019, @04:23PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 02 2019, @04:23PM (#781062)
  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday January 02 2019, @05:14PM (1 child)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday January 02 2019, @05:14PM (#781086) Journal

    Are the stores the ones who are upset, or is it the customers that aren't hoarding products for resale?

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    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by kazzie on Wednesday January 02 2019, @06:06PM

      by kazzie (5309) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday January 02 2019, @06:06PM (#781107)

      The local customers (who expect their local store to have baby food in stock) are the ones who are upset. Finding that your chosen variety of baby milk is suddenly unavailable when you need more is a stressful experience. And that's just for those parents whose babies prefer one particular brand: when your baby is allergic to or intolerant of some milks, you'll have even less room for manouvre.

      The stores will be getting grief from their customers. They want to keep their customers happy, of course. And while the Daigou will come in, empty the shelves of milk powder, and hand over their money, they can't be relied upon for repeat business. The locals who come in on a weekly basis are the ones the stores need to keep happy, as if they fail to do that, they'll take their regular custom elsewhere.

  • (Score: 2) by Kalas on Saturday January 19 2019, @12:23PM

    by Kalas (4247) on Saturday January 19 2019, @12:23PM (#788607)

    That's not a meme, that's an image macro. It's only a meme when it "goes viral" ie. becomes widespread or well-known. I'm too tired to go into the why of it but the most people don't know the difference. I was once a part of the culture that popularized image macros and it still irks me to see them referred to as memes when anything could me a meme, not just a picture with a caption slapped on. Rickrolling is the best example to come to mind but I don't recall ever hearing the news call that a meme.