Yahoo Finance Aussie slams Woolworths: ‘I just want grapes and tampons’
Woolworths has been called out for its ‘forced philanthropy’, especially with the cost of living soaring.
A Woolworths customer has slammed the supermarket giant for forcing its customers to select whether they want to donate their change to charity.
The Aussie, who goes by the recovering teacher on TikTok, said it was appalling that a “multi-billion dollar” company was asking consumers to donate to charity instead of doing it themselves.
“I'm just morally opposed to multi-billion-dollar companies doing shakedowns of consumers when they just want to buy red grapes and tampons,” she said in the video.
“So, this is a little message to Woolworths. I don't want my 85-cent refund. What I do want is for you to start making these donations, yourselves.”
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‘I no longer shop there’
Others were quick to rush to the comments section to agree with the Woolies shopper, with some going as far as to say they no longer shopped there.
“Well said. I no longer shop at Woolworths for this exact reason,” one user said.
“They donate their own money, claim the tax, then recoup the money through customers. [I] always say no,” another said.
“[There] should be a third button ‘Woolworths to donate the change’,” another suggested.
“I want a discount for scanning, packing my own shopping! If not, give us back full counter service,” another person said.
Corporate profits pushing up cost of living
Coles and Woolworths have been cashing in thanks to higher inflation. In the 2022 financial year, Coles reported an annual profit after tax of more than $1 billion. Woolies reported a $907 million profit.
The Australia Institute found corporate profit was the main reason Aussies were dealing with soaring prices.
“The main driver for inflation in Australia is excess corporate profits, not wages. Inflation would have stayed within the Reserve Bank target band if corporates had not squeezed consumers through the pandemic via excess price hikes,” it said.
Customers have 'no obligation' to donate
A Woolworths spokesperson said supporting Australian communities was it's top priority.
"In addition to our ongoing investment with our community partners and not-for-profit organisations, Woolworths customers are given the option to make a small change donation at our self-service checkouts," the spokesperson said.
"In this case, the charity was the Royal Flying Doctors Service which has been well supported by our customers if they chose to make a donation at their discretion.
"In the last two years, the round up option has helped raise millions of dollars for our various community partners. We’d like to thank our customers for their ongoing support of these community initiatives and a reminder that there is no obligation on customers to donate."
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