Woolworths online shoppers fuming over 'wasteful' bagging practice: 'Ridiculous'
Woolworths has received multiple complaints after a string of excessively bagged deliveries have left shoppers fuming.
A New South Wales customer took to the Woolworths official Facebook page today, telling the retailer that she ordered 80 items for delivery and was given a whopping 27 bags.
“That averages out at just under three items per bag,” she said.
The shopper posted a photo of all of the bags she received in her delivery alongside two boxes of oats.
“These two items (weighing 500g each) were in separate bags and were the only thing in those particular bags,” she wrote.
The woman also said that the delivery driver didn’t follow instructions and wasn’t on time.
“I’ve cancelled my subscription and won’t be using this service again,” she said.
A Woolworths representative commented on her post to request further information, and apologised for the issues with the delivery.
An Adelaide customer also took to the Woolworths Facebook page recently, posting a video of singularly bagged grocery items.
“Got our delivery on Friday and this is how it was bagged - it’s a clear waste of resources and bags,” the shopper wrote.
“Packing was poor - something to think about and have better training around packing techniques.”
The man’s video shows items including magazines, soda bottles and frozen goods, all packed alone in the delivered bags.
A Woolworths representative was quick to respond to the customer’s gripe, confirming that Woolies had also received a private message from the man about the issue.
“We're sorry to see the way your delivery order was packed,” the representative wrote.
Yahoo News understands that each of the customers’ complaints have now been resolved and that relevant teams have received feedback on packing.
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Woolworths customers responded to the Facebook complaints with their own theories as to why the bags were packed so sparingly.
“Your shopping is divided up into many totes and different shoppers, we simply can't put everything in one bag. The scanning system doesn't work like that,” one Facebook user wrote.
“Woolworths changed the way the online shoppers do the shopping now, it used to be one person did pretty much all your shopping, but now many people get your order and it’s too time consuming to go through, so people are double handling things,” said another.
“A friend was telling me their employees get paid per bag that they pack,” wrote a third.
Woolworths clarifies bagging expectations
A Woolworths spokesperson has set the record straight in an official statement to Yahoo News.
“We have a dedicated team of personal shoppers who work hard to handpick thousands of online orders to the highest standard every day,” the spokesperson said.
“Unfortunately, we’ve missed the mark on these orders and have followed up with the team to remind them of our packing policy.”
The spokesperson also noted that certain items may be packed into separate bags for safety reasons.
“For food quality and safety reasons, items such as raw meat, cleaning products and some fresh produce are packed into smaller plastic barrier bags or separate bags,” the spokesperson said.
“Customers can recycle any household soft plastics and plastic bags through the REDcycle bins at the front of every Woolworths supermarket next time they’re in store.”
Woolworths also recently posted a TikTok teaching customers how to use the REDcycle bins in store.
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