Taiwan Baofupu, it’s so happy not to rush to buy it! I was waiting for the company to send benefits without having to go to the supermarket to grab toilet paper. Unexpectedly, just after the Spring Festival, the friends on the other side were trapped in a "toilet paper war" like zombies. No matter whether you are riding a bicycle or a motorcycle, or you are driving a Mercedes-Benz, you are all toilet paper porters anyway!
What do we need to grab for toilet paper that we are used to in our lives? What's wrong with Taiwan again?
This has to start with the news from the previous two days: It is said that the three major toilet paper suppliers in Taiwan have confirmed that the toilet paper price will be increased one after another from March. Many brands of toilet paper on the market that "can be named" are also confirmed to be increased, and the increase of is not 1% or 3%, but is as high as 10% to 30% between ! Later, a Taiwanese media calculated a string of extracted toilet paper of 200 yuan (NTD, the same below), saying that the most expensive after the price increase may become 260 yuan, which is about the same as a bento money; the time point for adjustments to rise as soon as mid-March, and the slowest increase will be before April.
Taiwanese industry insiders said that this wave of price increases was mainly affected by the rise in international raw material pulp prices. Although some major toilet paper manufacturers wanted to reflect the cost problems caused by the rise in international pulp last year, household toilet paper generally remained low due to other operators "sustaining the selling price". However, in the past year, the price of pulp has risen by at least 40%, exceeding the load of Taiwan's upstream manufacturers. Among them, there are many operators who have not increased their prices for more than ten years. In addition, freight costs and packaging materials have also increased by 20% to 30%, and owners have felt the pressure to double. Therefore, Taiwan's sales channels have recently received notices that toilet paper will be adjusted.
This is amazing. Nowadays, almost most people are dispatched to major supermarkets to grab toilet paper, which has become the most "common" and "abnormal" daily scenery in Taiwan.
According to Taiwanese media reports, major stores ushered in a peak of buying toilet paper last weekend. Some stores even restricted one person from buying two strings of toilet paper, so as not to be robbed in an instant; in addition, there are many toilet paper sold out and taken off the shelves. Paper-related daily necessities, such as kitchen tissues, portable facial tissues, wet tissues, hand wipes and diapers, have also driven more than 5 times the sales volume. "Many people are snatching toilet paper like zombies. I panic and followed them up to grab two packs," said Mrs. Zheng, 41, who lives in , New Taipei City, and Banqiao District, still in fear.
What’s even more exaggerated is that even the Taiwan claw machine was clamped with “toilet paper”, and the owner even claimed that “it’s right, it’s guaranteed to take 20 yuan”! This made netizens sigh: Mainland people grab houses and gold, and we are grabbing toilet paper and milk tea. Taiwan is a joke...
Although Taiwan's "Consumer Protection Department" pointed out that toilet paper will definitely not increase before mid-March, the people of Taiwan are still trying their best to grab it...
In fact, due to the lack of natural resources, many important raw materials are relied on imports, so they often suffer from fluctuations in international raw materials prices. But why can even small toilet paper trigger such a crazy rush to buy this time? This not only puzzles the mainland, which is separated from it, but also makes even international media such as the BBC use it as headlines. What is wrong with Taiwan?
A deeper study of its roots, the reasons are as follows:
The main reason is that the Taiwanese people lack trust in the Tsai administration
Taiwan's Central Network News published a comment on the 27th saying that when Tsai Ing-wen saw people rob toilet paper, she should not think that this is a trivial matter. Behind this phenomenon, there is actually people's uneasiness.People's hearts are uneasy, small enough to grab toilet paper, big enough to cause social turmoil, "people's hearts are uneasy, and if they are a little encouraged, they will flow like water"; the article also pointed out that Tsai Ing-wen should reflect on why people's hearts have been so uneasy in the past year and a half in power? Did the people lose confidence in the Taiwan authorities or hope for the future?
Korean Party spokesman Hong Mengkai also said that in the past two years Tsai Ing-wen took office, not only has she been unable to create an economy, but she can not even maintain the low price of daily necessities. "The toilet paper cannot freeze, what else can I expect?"; she also "provide suggestions" the Tsai administration changed the "Party Industry Association" to "Price Association", mocking him for using his ruthlessness to deal with political enemies to deal with price-raising manufacturers, "I believe that they will be more down-to-earth than being helpless." Hong Mengkai also pointed out that if Tsai Ing-wen cannot realize that this wave of toilet paper price increases may be the beginning of public grievances in Taiwan and continue to turn a deaf ear to it, the rebound will only be even louder next time.
Taiwan political commentary host Huang Zhixian posted a message saying that all major events are nothing more important than buying toilet paper, and "not being able to grab toilet paper is the latest reason for the collapse of Taiwanese people"; he even mocked that toilet paper has always represented "worthlessness", but the DPP has rewritten the value of toilet paper, which is "also the latest political achievement of the DPP."
Dean of the School of Communication of Shin Hsin University in Taiwan You Zixiang also pointed out that in the past, the DPP criticized the Kuomintang for "not even buying -meter wine ", but now the DPP has become "not even buying toilet paper", which is really "not able to do things and is not hygienic"; meteorological anchor Li Fucheng directly said on Facebook that this Taiwan authorities, which is equal to non-existent, has no other functions except to fight, so everything will rise, and salary will never rise!
2011 Ma Ying-jeou took rice wine in hand and told the public to reduce the 180 yuan per bottle of rice wine to 25 yuan that everyone can afford.
Of course, in addition to the criticism of experts, scholars and politicians of this "toilet paper chaos", a large number of Taiwanese netizens also took advantage of the situation to express their dissatisfaction with the Tsai administration, "If the economy is well developed, the people will have no complaints, but if the economy is not done well, the public will be resentful", "Sure enough, Tsai Ing-wen comes to power, and the people will die", "The Democratic Progressive Party will not fall, and toilet paper will not be lost."
Some people complain that in fact, it is not just toilet paper. Now Taiwan’s prices have risen across the board, and many consumer goods in the livelihood are also included, but compared with the sharply rising prices, wages have not increased (it is the same as not rising)…
It is not difficult to see from this that the Tsai Ing-wen administration has been in power for less than two years. Not only have many false strategies lost their hearts, but the rise in prices and stagnation of salary has made most Taiwanese people feel unsafe.
Secondly, because people from Taiwan lose their sense of security
Chim Wenhai, a professor at the Department of Corporate Management of Donghua University, believes that the phenomenon of the whole people's crazy toilet paper is the "flock theory" in psychology. He said that many consumers will follow the choices of most people, just like the sheep moving collectively. Although they do not know the reason for doing this, they will feel more secure. Chi Wenhai also pointed out that the Tsai administration has been in power for nearly two years, and the gap between the rich and the poor has widened, and the public grievances are very high, which also causes "most people to feel insecure." He pointed out that the failure of the overall environment income will lead to relatively few rational consumers. In addition, the market volatility is high, and the Tsai administration has been unable to effectively curb price gouging. "No wonder the people are afraid of rising."
Taiwan retired general Lan Ningli said that rushing to toilet paper also reflects the fragility of the hearts of the Taiwanese people; in a commentary article published by the Hong Kong China Review News Agency on the 27th, it also pointed out that the imbalance in supply and demand of toilet paper has driven price increases is a global problem, so why is the only thing in Taiwan that there is a rush to buy? That's because Taiwanese people are fragile, which has already been precedent when the Taiwan Strait crisis occurred 20 years ago.
Taiwan's China Times believes that the public's "blindly obeys" the action of buying toilet paper reflects the mentality of "saving as much as you can" caused by the lack of salary increase. If the Taiwan authorities do not observe and underestimate this buying trend, be careful to pay the heavy price.
Everyone can use toilet paper every day and is an absolute necessity for people's livelihood. But now Taiwanese people are worried about this small roll of paper. At the same time, Taiwanese people may also face a wave of big price increases. As Taiwan's Central Network News said, when the people were in a miserable situation, the Tsai administration was at a loss and could not come up with effective ways to manage prices, let alone curb the sharp rise in prices. In this way, the DPP authorities, which can no longer afford to suffer the people, are really incompetent. No wonder Taiwan’s Chinese characters in 2017 are the word “confused”!
Statement: This article is a work submitted by the "Taiwan Baofupu" team. The content is the author's personal opinion and has nothing to do with China Taiwan Network.
