Older shoppers have fired back at ‘spoilt brat’ young Aussies after one demanded supermarkets restrict those customers who take too long at the check-out to a ‘boomer hour’.
The shopper, from Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula south-east of Melbourne, claimed older customers ‘should be more mindful of time-poor workers and busy parents’ in a post shared on Facebook.
They added older customers were taking up too much space in the aisles to stop and socialise, making it inconvenient for other shoppers in a rush.
Boomers on social media labelled the idea as ‘brainless’ and lashed out at young Aussies for being ‘entitled’ and ‘self-centred’.
Older shoppers have fired back at young Aussies after one demanded supermarkets restrict those customers to a ‘boomer hour’ because they take too long in the aisles and at the check-out (pictured, older woman doing her shopping at a Woolworths in Melbourne)
‘What a pack of disrespectful spoilt brats … they have a lot to learn about life … they can go & get stuffed,’ one person wrote.
‘What a brainless idea. Stuff that, bowing down to the selfish or the impatient,’ another person commented.
One boomer wrote that ‘young idiots’ should ‘get stuffed’, while another suggested their own solution: ‘Here’s an idea, f*** off little turds’.
Other boomers said they will shop whenever they want, with many claiming they will now deliberately take longer while in supermarket aisles and at check-outs.
‘Omg, next they’ll want to euthanasia (sic) over fifty years old. What is wrong with these self-important self-centred spoiled brats? They drive like they shop “get out of my way, get off my road, get out of my supermarket”,’ one person wrote.
‘All about me generation. Me me me, I need to have my voice heard, I need to make every situation about me ’cause the world revolves around me,’ another commented.
One boomer advised young Aussies who are complaining about slow shoppers to remember that they too will be old some day.
‘I think some of you that complain about slow older people forget that in the future if you are lucky enough to reach that age, you too will be slower,’ they wrote.
‘If you don’t want to wait then use the self-service machines which most supermarkets have now days or shop online, your problem solved.’
Consumer behaviour analyst Barry Urquhart (pictured) slammed the idea claiming it is ‘ageism personified’
Consumer behaviour analyst Barry Urquhart branded the idea as ‘ageism personified’.
‘It won’t work because they are a primary driver of the marketplace at the moment,’ he told 7News.
‘At a time where the cost of living and the cost of doing business is acute, you can’t turn and marginalise any consumer group.
‘Those Australians who have got the money and are spending it are 50 years of age and older, they are very attractive to retail businesses at large.’
Mr Urquhart explained Australia, with the exception of Sweden, had the highest level of personal debt in the world and at a time when people were therefore looking to curb spending, any customers need to be encouraged.
Mr Urquhart said the older Australians have the money to spend and are a primary driver for the market (pictured, older shopper at a Woolworths check-out)
‘This is ageism personified. People are wanting to say ”let’s marginalise the older people, let’s make them invisible” and they’re saying ”no, we’re asserting ourselves in tourism, hospitality, flight purchases at large”,’ he said.
‘Follow the money and the money in Australia at the moment is for people aged 50 years of age and older because they’ve got less mortgage, more discretionary purchases and are spending it.’
During the peak of the Covid pandemic, Woolworths and Coles introduced priority access for elderly people so they did not miss out on scarce essential items.
Both retailers opened for senior citizens and those with disabilities between 7am and 8am so they could get their shopping done without being shunted aside by aggressive panic buyers.
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