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Rolling in toilet paper: Australian family over-orders coveted commodity

(Reuters) - An Australian family is rolling in a much-coveted commodity after mistakenly ordering 48 boxes instead of 48 rolls of toilet paper online.

That works out at 2,304 toilet paper rolls for Haidee Janetzki and her family at a time when panic buying due to the coronavirus outbreak has caused major grocers in Australia to restrict supplies to a pack a person.

Janetzki thought she had placed her regular order from online retailer Who Gives a Crap last month and failed to notice the massive credit card bill until the pallets were delivered to her home in southern Queensland state.

How did she feel about the accidental purchase?

"Gobsmacked, confused and like a bit of an idiot," Janetzki said.

Janetzki's husband Chris went on social media to detail both the "exciting day" the toilet paper arrived, and Janetzki sitting on a 'throne' made from the boxes and decorated with different rolls on Wednesday, holding a staff in one hand and with a crown on her head, both made with toilet paper rolls.

"I'm relieved my friends and family don't have to worry about it," said Janetzki, when asked how she felt about the toilet paper demand Australia was facing.

Chris said they had worked out that it would take their family 12 years to get through the huge order. Instead, they have decided to sell some boxes in a fundraiser, at the same price at which they bought them.

"We are flying high, we are sitting pretty, we are loaded with toilet paper," Chris said in the Facebook post on Wednesday that has since gone viral.

(Reporting by Nur-Azna Sanusi; Writing by Karishma Singh; Editing by Janet Lawrence)