Customer outrage after Woolies shopper charged for bringing own bags
The turbulent switch for Australian supermarkets to reusable shopping bags continues after one disgruntled Woolworths shopper noticed an extra charge on his receipt for using his own bags.
Cairns customer Jason Taylor took to Facebook to vent his anger after discovering an eight-cent charge on his shopping at the supermarket’s Stockland Earlville store.
His receipt shows ‘#BYO Bag’ priced at one cent each, for which he had brought eight.
“Go Woolworths. Charging us to use our own bags. Sneaky little…,” he wrote on August 8.
Some Facebook users were shocked over the charge and let their thoughts known.
“This is disgusting,” one user wrote.
“That’s absolutely terrible!” another comment said.
Others suggested the nominal fee didn’t warrant such a reaction on social media, however some pointed out one cent from each customer across the country would equate to “millions” of dollars.
A technical glitch, says apologetic Woolworths
A Woolworths spokesperson told Yahoo7 News that the charge had been a technical glitch.
“This customer appears to have been impacted by a technical error during the switchover from the old Rewards offer on Wednesday,” the spokesperson said.
“We sincerely apologise to the customer for this error and ask them to keep their receipt so they can get this rectified by a store manager or service desk manager next time they’re in store.
“At Woolworths, our customers receive 30 Woolworths Rewards points for bringing their own reusable bags when shopping with us.”
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The spokesperson confirmed the issue had been rectified.
The mishap is the latest in a long line of troubles for Australia’s leading supermarkets after they ditched single-use plastic bags.
Customer’s anger over the switch boiled over in June when one employee was attacked by a furious shopper.
