Last month Stats NZ announced they were dropping saveloys, condensed milk, frozen cheesecakes and fresh peaches from the list of food items it uses to calculate the food price index: Vegetables push food prices up.
And on the radio today there was a story about people stockpiling saveloys and condensed milk because they think they will no longer be able to buy them (Panic buying in Taranaki supermarkets) -- what, because Stats NZ no longer records the prices of those items??!! Are there really such morons out there?
The radio story suggests it was because of a John Campbell story at the time. Didn't they actually listen to the story? The comments at the bottom of that page are just as bad:
James: It never fails. When we have something that works good, tastes good and has withstood the test of time; someone who views the world from behind a desk with a computer and a calculator, tells the masses they can't have savaloys any more. ABSOLUTELY ASTONISHING!!!
Leigh: Love them or hate them for me I remember being driven out to Longburn freezing works butcher with my father and have very fond memories of the sparse white interior of the butcher and all the meat products proudly on display. The best thing about visiting our local butcher - FREE SAVELOYS that would be handed out to throngs of hungry meat loving kiwi kids it's a damn shame that the next generation of children in my family won't be able to experience such a simple but kiwi tradition. Farewell old friend, you will always be in my memory.
I just don't know what to say.