The Most Ridiculous Thing Ever
As you may or may not be aware, our region has been affected by floods for the better part of the last month. Fortunately, due to our location, our homes generally don’t flood, and we can still get around town. It’s getting out of town that can be a problem (or getting to schools even)
Area’s further north of us have been cut off for weeks. And it is this that’s caused our biggest problem.
You see, I live somewhere between Mackay and Townsville. For those whose knowledge of Queensland geography is a little sketchy, here’s a map:
Now the problem has been our food supplies - in particular fresh produce and perishable items such as meat, dairy and frozen goods.
It amazed me when I first moved here to learn that the majority of our food arrived from Brisbane by rail. But what I didn’t realise was that the warehouse for our food was located in Townsville.
And don’t go thinking it was as simple as putting the food on a train up to Townsville either. Oh no.
Our food, apparently, is sent by train, from Brisbane to Mackay, where it is taken off the train and put on the back of trucks for the 4 - 5 hour drive to the Townsville warehouse. From there it is sorted and placed back on the same trucks and delivered back to us, somewhere between the two centres.
Is that not the most rediculous thing you’ve ever heard?
With all this rain and Townsville isolated by floodwaters to the north, south and west (and now that I think about it - on the east as well) food has been both unable to reach Townsville, or be delivered from Townsville, leaving large parts of North Queensland without food supplies. Including us.
Not for the first time have I been glad of my obsessive bargain buying as we have been fine with a freezer full of meat and frozen vegetables and a pantry full of tinned foods and powdered milk that has enabled me to continue feeding the family on our usual fare without much drama.
I wonder if this years floods will change the distribution chains of the major retailers? Or if this will continue to be a process that boggles the mind in its complexity for years to come?
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I’m betting the floods won’t change a thing. The people who think up these ridiculous distribution patterns live far, far away and are unaffected by any or all weather extremes. They are always able to get whatever food they want or need when they want it, so are able to ignore the needs of anyone else.
Very frustrating! I remember my parents finding it frustrating that most of the fresh food grown in Darwin was shipped to Adelaide for sorting and packaging before being shipped back to Darwin (making it expensive). Ludicrous! Talk about adding more miles to our food!
All the way from Darwin to Adelaide and back??? I’m stunned. That’s such a huge unnecessary distance. What idiot dreams up these processes? Oh, right, those who live far, far away…….and their cousins who own the trucking companies, haha.
This comes under the same blanket as sending raw materials to China to be made into goods that are then sent back here to be sold at hugely over inflated prices. Think ipods, cost hundreds of $$$, cost of manufacture is about $4 I’ve heard. And we get the left over manufacturing scraps too, made into all those tacky bits and pieces that fill our cheap as chips type shops.
That’s insane.
And yeah, I’m betting that this years floods don’t change a damn thing. Sigh.
Good think you won’t be there for the next one! lol