Woman calls for Woolworths boycott over price of basic bathroom item
The woman claims some Aussies will have to work two hours to be able to afford the product.
A woman has called for a "boycott" of Woolworths over the price of shaving blades which she blames on the greed of major supermarkets.
The product — Schick Hydro 5 Sensitive Blades 8 Pack — costs $43 at the retailer, and is the same price at at Coles. However a quick online search sees the product for sale on eBay for $21 while a comparable pack goes for less than a quarter of the price at other retailers.
The woman compared it to Shaver Shop, where an almost identical product from the same brand is on sale for just $9.50. That product — Schick Hydro 5 Sense Hydrate With Coconut Oil 8 Pack — has been reduced from $39.
"I'm boycotting Woolworths as of right f***ing now," she wrote in her now viral video that has been viewed nearly a million times in the past 24 hours.
"There are people in Australia right now who will literally have to work two hours to be able to afford a pack of eight razors. And this isn’t just because the cost of everything is going up.
"This is pure corporate greed from the Woolworths/Coles monopoly."
Woolworths responds to woman's claim
A Woolworths spokesperson said the product is not currently on special at their stores but is likely to be on sale at another time.
“At Woolworths, we offer specials on 6,000 products every week to help our customers' shop go further," a spokesman for the retailer told Yahoo News Australia. “Different retailers have different arrangements with suppliers so it's not really a case of comparing apples with apples."
The retailer also offers a range of shaving blades at lower prices, starting with packs that offer a unit price of 22 cents per blade head.
What does the average Aussie earn?
The average Aussie wage for the financial year 2020-2021 was $68,289 per year.
The median Aussie wage — so taking the "middle" value of a list of all wages — was $50,980 per year.
The biggest proportion of workers (44.5 per cent)— earn between $44,001 and $120,000 per year.
Only 4.1 per cent of Aussies earn more than $180,001 per year.
Source: Australian Tax Office
Social media users react to woman's 'boycott'
Thousands of people responded to the video, adding their thoughts to the comments section. While some agreed the retailer's price for the product was "a joke," and also complained about the price of other products, some thought her comparison was unfair.
"The website has them on sale… you think all companies offer the same discounts all the time?" one person said.
"Who buys this stuff at full price though? Just buy the generic brands?" another said.
"Just don’t buy the brands that are outrageously priced — we don’t buy it they don’t profit," a third person said.
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