Why Are Bags Of Walkers Crisps Being Flogged For £6 On eBay?

People throw the word dystopian around a lot these days, but the crisp shelves in our local Tesco are setting off some serious alarm bells about the fabric of society...

Due to an IT glitch, operations at Walkers have been “disrupted,” leading to empty shelves and some very disappointed Squares fans.

“A recent IT system upgrade has disrupted the supply of some of our products. Our sites are still making crisps and snacks but at a reduced scale,” a Walkers spokesperson told The Guardian. “We’re doing everything we can to increase production and get people’s favourites back on shelves. We’re very sorry for the inconvenience caused.”

The crisp-maker is reportedly prioritising its most popular varieties, including ready salted, cheese & onion, salt & vinegar, Quavers and Wotsits.

However, a visit to the Tesco website paints a bleak picture, with ready salted, Quavers, Wotsits and Walkers Baked all unavailable.

In the meantime, enterprising crisp hoarders have begun flogging their Walkers on eBay at vastly inflated prices. Missing your Tuesday meal deal and desperate for a bag of ready salted? For £6.20 (plus £3.20 postage), your potato-based fantasies can be a reality. Alternatively, you can get your hands on a bag of salt & vinegar for £6.89.

And, if you’re hoping to bag some potato snacks from a bargain bin, you’re likely to be disappointed, according to the fine folks at Poundstretcher.

A spokesman for the company told BusinessLive: “In our last order, instead of getting 26 pallets – which is equivalent to a truckload – we received seven cases, which is not even a pallet-full. It is that bad.

“I was in Tesco the other day and the crisps shelves were empty, so I think the bigger supermarkets are being affected more severely as their sales are higher volume.”

When will the crisis end? Not until at least December, according to Walkers. The company has said its factories won’t be able to produce crisps at normal levels until the end of November.

Until then, it might be wise to get cosy with the likes of Doritos and McCoy’s. It’s going to be a long month otherwise.