Food

Coles and Woolworths reward plastic-free shoppers with points

Jul 13, 2018

Coles and Woolworths revealed they will offer points to customers who come armed with their own bags.

Coles and Woolworths have faced ongoing backlash from customers after banning single-use bags, and now the supermarket giants have taken to bribing customers in a bid to calm the waters.

Coles announced on Friday it will offer Flybuys points to customers who come armed with their own bags as they continue to transition away from single-use bags.

From today through until next Tuesday customers who bring their own bags can swipe their Flybuys card at the checkout and earn 30 points, up to once a day.

“We’re really grateful that our customers are increasingly bringing their own bags when shopping at Coles,” operations director Paul Bradshaw said. “Offering Flybuys points is a small way of saying thank you to our customers for making the switch to reusable bags.”

Competitor Woolworths is also adapting a similar move and is giving customers who bring their own reusable bags with bonus Woolworths Reward points.

The grocer announced today the offer will be available from Saturday through until the end of the year. Shoppers will earn two rewards points for every shopping bag they bring with them to use in store.

“We are clear that this is just the start of our move to support a greener future and we have a lot more to do in this space and thank our customers for all of the suggestions they have made in terms of other areas we need to focus on,” Brad Banducci, Woolworths Group CEO said.

The supermarkets have faced ongoing backlash from customers in Victoria, NSW, Qld and WA after banning single-use bags on July 1.

Coles announced on Wednesday it would once again extend its free reusable bag policy. The supermarket giant originally said Sunday would be the last day shoppers could get the 15 cent reusable bags for free, but now plans to continue the free run to help customers cope with the store-wide ban on single-use plastic bags.

However, annoyed customers who’ve already purchased reusable bags have slammed the company’s decision and accused them of “bowing to the minority whingers”.

“I am annoyed that many people have gone to the trouble to obtain re-usable bags and remember to take them to the supermarket, but because a few people get cross when they have to pay, Coles has chosen to continue giving out the plastic bags indefinitely,” one shopper wrote on the Coles Facebook page.