You know you're being conned in some way or form but they go about it in such a nice spinning way you cant quite put your finger on what it is. We've all been encouraged to look the other way at their Huge price reductions while they stealthily increase other items. Now they are trying something new.
Woolworths and Safeway supermarkets and pretty much the range of their stores like Big W, Dan Murphys and BWS have recently adopted the optional receipt strategy, whereby customers who purchase less than $30 worth of goods are asked if they want a receipt instead of being automatically offered one.
The reasons according to Woolworths are two fold.
Firstly because they care about the environment and want to save paper. Because 4 inches of very thin white paper is the difference in saving the environment - as opposed to the 16 page glossy brochure that appears in the letterbox every week which has no impact whatsoever.
Secondly it will save time for the customer. The extra one second (if that) it takes the checkout operator to hand you a receipt apparently adds up to 400 hours per store every year "...we expect this change to reduce time spent waiting by more than 400 hours each year in every supermarket" Forgetting the fact that the time saved for each and every customer is still just one second.
So for that odd time once a year when you are in a queue with 5 people ahead of you, spend those moments thinking what you will do with the extra five seconds gained. Its not as if the 400 hours are cumulative where at the end of the year customers are queued up for days to buy their bread. For a weekly visit, each customer waits less than one minute per year in total for a receipt.
Maybe customer service has become so specialised and the competition in the sector so intense that Woolworths care about the seconds. Or maybe it has to do with something else.
Could it be that Woolworths really don't want scrutiny regarding the accuracy of their pricing? Far too many times to mention i have arrived home only to discover that at least one item has been priced incorrectly. Sometimes i spot it at the checkout, but most times i don't notice it until Ive carefully looked at the receipt. How many other people don't notice the mistakes until they are home?
Pricing errors are more common than we might imagine. In my case, mostly they are in the supermarket's favour - Ive been charged too much. Very occasionally i get my own back, but never enough to make up the difference. Without a receipt i would never know - I'm acting on trust. And while i might not be bothered to go back to the supermarket to complain, id like that option. After all, if the product scans incorrectly Woolworth's will give you the item for free.
So I'm sure there is more to this than just a paper and time saving exercise. It comes down to scrutiny. This new initiative will in some way make Woolworths more money. No doubt about it. And if it will make more money, as sure as night follows day, Coles will follow. Cheap bread anyone?
About Just Grumpy
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Always thought by law they had to give you a receipt.
Wouldn't you like to check your receipt?, know what you bought?, and how much it cost?, or would you rather put your trust in Woolies, not care, and maybe be overcharged?. You shouldn't have to ASK for a receipt everytime, it should be automatically given to you without question. If more people complained, then maybe something might get done, until then, there's little hope i'm afraid of this changing. Hell, that's just my opinion.
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