New Zealanders are taking the drastic measure of ordering groceries for delivery from Australia, to avoid soaring food prices at their local stores.
Kiwi shoppers have been ordering food items like raw almonds, tins of spaghetti and pasta shells from their overseas neighbours' groceries stores, to be jetted over to them on international flights.
A woman from the city of Wellington, who didn’t want to be named, told the Guardian that she now regularly ordered groceries online from across the Tasman to supplement her local shopping.
She had been shocked at the range of products available from Australian stores and how much cheaper they were than those on New Zealand shelves, she said.
A comparison of two shopping carts created by the woman - one from an Australia-based multinational and the second from one of New Zealand’s largest supermarket chains - showed a substantial difference in cost.
Even taking into account the currency conversion, the cost of GST and a customs fee, she saved close to $70 (£36) on a $267 (£138) shop.
The downside, the woman said, was that a lot of things were unavailable due to stock issues.
“I think that’s because everybody started to do it,” she said.
It wasn’t the first time the trend had been publicised; last month another New Zealand woman, who similarly did not want to be named, made headlines after posting her Australian-purchased shopping cart on social media.
She had ordered via Amazon in Australia and received her order of bulk nuts, dried fruit and household items like toothbrushes in five days.
She told TV1 that she had saved about 35 per cent on her groceries, however was unlikely to repeat the experiment.
“I wouldn’t recommend others do it because the order is flown in so it’s not good for your carbon footprint,” she said.
“Also I now have 10 toothbrushes and a year’s worth of almonds to get through.”
With food prices rising steeply in New Zealand, the trend illustrated the desperate measures some families were taking to alleviate costs.
The country's opposition party has laid the blame for "spiralling" increases in food costs squarely at the feet of the Government, but Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern hit back at the accusations.
The Government said rising food prices was an issue "nearly every country is facing". Covid-19 related supply chain issues and the ongoing war in Ukraine, had worsened the situation, it said, and reinforced the need to rein in "super profits of the supermarket duopoly".
Food prices in New Zealand were reportedly 7.6 per cent higher in March than they were the year prior, marking the largest annual increase in over a decade.
The price of fruit and vegetables were up 18 per cent.
And the sharp increase in feeding a family comes as households are already stretched by high petrol prices, rising rents and increasing mortgage payments.
Annual inflation hit 6.9 per cent on Thursday - the highest in three decades.
Those online shopping for groceries abroad were limited to pantry staples like tinned food, flour and pasta, had to shop around for deals and often had to spend a certain amount to hit the free delivery threshold.
But the Wellington woman said that due to having an immuno-compromised family member, their home had remained in a mini-lockdown and had been having groceries delivered anyway.
A majority of New Zealand supermarkets required a higher minimum spend or regular fee for delivery, she said.
While she said she would prefer to buy local and was concerned about the environmental impact of ordering groceries from overseas, the lure of savings amid rising living costs was too great.
“I’ve gotta do what I’ve gotta do,” she said.
