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Woolworths introduces new 'round up' checkout promo for shoppers

Woolworths has introduced a temporary new checkout feature.

The supermarket’s Feed Appeal Campaign, which raised $883,000 last year, started on June 2.

The campaign aims to help provide food relief for struggling communities across the country with a 47 per cent increase in demand since the Covid-19 pandemic hit last year.

Shoppers can buy donations in $2, $5 or $20 increments.

Or they can simply donate to the Feed Appeal via the Round Up option. It’a prompted when a shopper spends more than $30 in a Woolworths supermarket or over $15 in a Metro store.

A woman uses a self service checkouts at a Woolworths store in Sydney.
Woolworths has introduced a temporary new checkout feature. Source: AAP

It means shoppers can round up to the nearest dollar and the extra money goes directly to the campaign. Just 50c can equate to an entire meal, according to Feed Appeal.

Sarah De La Mare, head of community and sponsorships at Woolworths, said the Round Up option was introduced last year.

“Providing the opportunity to round-up their bill to the nearest dollar for a community organisation has resonated well with our customers,” she said.

“The small financial gesture by them at the checkout goes a long way to helping these organisations support those most in need in the community.

“In the last year alone, the opportunity to allow customers to round up their bill 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.”

Woolworths has previously offered the Round Up option to shoppers during the NSW floods earlier this year and for OzHarvest over Christmas.

A shopper wearing a face mask leaving a Woolworths shop in Sydney.
The option allows shoppers to round up their shop and pay the difference to charity. Source: AAP (file pic)

Woolworths' General Manager for Community Peter O’Sullivan told The Daily Telegraph earlier this month the coronavirus pandemic has “exacerbated” the issue of Aussies being unable to put food on the table.

“Prior to the pandemic, Australia was already seeing a year-on-year increase in the number of people not being able to put food on the table each day and needing to reach out to food relief agencies,” he told the paper.

“The financial impact of 2020 exacerbated the issue and pushed even more Australians into food insecurity last year, totalling more than five million.”

Woolworths also has a separate donate option available at self-service checkouts throughout the year which allows shoppers to give to other charity options such as the Salvation Army.

The Feed Appeal ends on June 30.

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