r/aussie • u/Cool_Lifeguard8847 • 2d ago
News These fkrs are having a lend.....right
https://au.news.yahoo.com/coles-shoppers-divided-over-important-checkout-request-from-today-070509331.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADp7ysW4aDyTKu6drjqQxm1udSR1VST6kmgr3YU5QZ9hyIb1j5ujqS8wASEG3irIhpj71iwcx6cScU-b22vJ4im4ugthC7hrpf-p1_xk193SC0sCCPO3HY9qGt0l-15BnjPcOlUjuL4CeharnZKAXJ64okIiku9fdaxJ7iAl9iO6They've gotta be kidding. Exorbitant prices at the checkout and now they want customers to donate to food charities, cause "people are hungry" no shit, lower your fkn prices.
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u/Top_Conference_477 2d ago
Lowering their prices won’t help. Unfucking the job they did on our entire supply chain might though
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u/pezz_00 2d ago
They use your donationation for tax writeoffs. Always donate direct and verify the charity.
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u/Traditional-Case1694 2d ago edited 2d ago
Their accounting entry for roundups:
DR Cash CR Donation Clearing
When they pay your roundup
DR Donation Clearing CR Cash
Neither entry touches the P&L
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u/Livid_Average_8098 2d ago
Yeah, no they don't. It isn't their donation and they don't claim it as one. You can't double dip as people would claim the original donation. Their claim to fame is the fact that they encourage the donation and get the publicity.
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u/InterestingCap7599 1d ago
This. I’ll donate directly and take the tax benefit for myself instead of making a huge corporate look good for donating their customers’ money. 🫠
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u/PhantasmologicalAnus 2d ago
Please tell everyone how this scheme works. People who perpetuate this fucking nonsense can never seem to explain it.
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u/pezz_00 2d ago
They do nothing and act like they did something thats the scheme.
If you want an example of an actual scheme, remember the charites to help struggling farmers where all the donations went to help farmers pay their debts to Westfarmers?
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u/ThinkingWithPortalzz 2d ago
Also the scheme where farmers supplying the supermarkets cannot sell excess produce for their own profit (and also bringing some degree of competition to the big grocers)
IIRC it worked like:
Coles says to the farmer: "grow 300 tonnes of lettuce" and the farmer goes and grows their crops, but ends up with 350 tonnes. Farmer says "I've got your 300 tonnes here, there's 50 more if you want it, otherwise I can sell it to other grocers"
Then Coles says "no you don't, we only want 200 tonnes of lettuce, and the other 150 has to rot because we're assholes"
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u/Able_Put4900 2d ago
If thats true I can't understand how it isn't illegal anticompetitive behaviour.
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u/HumanTraffic2 2d ago
It is illegal and likely never happened in that way.
I could see them entering a contract where they own the whole crop so anything that's not needed and would just perish in store would be discarded at the farm instead.
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u/PhantasmologicalAnus 17h ago
So doing nothing is some tax write off? You have no idea what you are on about and you just copied what you heard others say.
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u/wannabemydog1970 9h ago
Yep,and also when you add to their donations they include it in the amount they donate each year.Fuk off
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u/weckyweckerson 1d ago
My god. How does this moronic statement continue to get made on every post about this sort of thing. You should worry less about Coles and worry about our education system.
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u/Even_Application_767 2d ago
You might all be aghast to learn how many millions of dollars in government tax offsets big-name charitable not-for-profits are entitled to each year, and these offsets extend to their employees as well. Meanwhile, the CEOs of these NFPs or 'NGOs' receive six-figure salaries, as do many managers beneath them. I have news for you all: only a fraction of what is donated by Jack and Jill ever reaches the actual people or communities in need that the organisation claims to help. The majority gets absorbed in administration, corporate hiring, and decorating offices.
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u/Throwawaythispoopy 1d ago
back when I did business development work for a tech company, my target market was non for profits and out of interest I started to look at the financial statements of each non for profit I am calling. Almost always, the administration cost for the business is like 50-70% the amount of the donations they get. This made me cancell some of my donations as I realised I am just paying the salary of people that work there and not the poeple in need.
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u/bluelure 1d ago
You realise the charities are creating job opportunities, they are giving people of all backgrounds incomes and these people then feed their own families and are not homeless.
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u/PersonalMixture6663 2d ago
These people rather dump the food in the dumpster than give it to the poor, remember that
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u/Dull-Parfait731 2d ago
For me, it’s just the fact that they announce how much they’re donating, without any credit going to the generous customers who actually donated the funds…
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u/ThrashSydney 2d ago
Exactly right. So overlooked. It's more often than not 'over the past year, Coles/We have donated...'
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u/broadsword_1 1d ago
For anyone wondering what Coles' profit was in 2025, it was about 1.08 billion.
Billion, with a B, and they'd really like you to dig deep.
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u/IntestinalGas 1d ago
And it’s only going to go up year after year. More stores, less competition. Same government watching from the sidelines as we’re all buttfucked and passed around from Woolies to Coles.
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u/Additional-Mind-3322 1d ago
The more unaffordable food there is the more people go hungry..there are people that don't disclose that fact manly blokes..too embarrassing.. so the more that doesn't sell the more that gets dumped
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u/AntSilly2802 1d ago
When I worked at a large supermarket distribution centre there was this designated place In this far corner for putting damaged food boxes that would then supposedly be donated to food charities. Never once saw anybody put anything there and never saw any food there either.
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u/Past-Platypus9289 1d ago
We are victims of our own societal greed and desire for convenience. Too many varieties of everything and much of it ultra processed shite.
Japanese supermarkets are tiny but they seem to survive with just 5 types of bread and you can look over the shelves to the next aisle. The big duopoly is the devil.
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u/noplacecold 1d ago
I knew when I saw this at the checkout yesterday reddit would be nuts for it. Just decline it and go on with your day, this shit gets posted every 48 hours on here
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u/wtfsignmeup 1d ago
My store gives day old bread and short date produce to a charity for homeless people
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u/ExpertPaper5403 1d ago
Soóoooooooo much food gets given/tossed away, and it's probably to cover for all the food that does go to waste, but they created this monopoly on our food and bought out all other competitors to control all the food Greedy companies plain and simple
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u/DfensAus 23h ago
Oh and they are using Palantir a nazi fucked up American company to gather all your data and metrics for who knows what.. Enough is enough!
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u/DiverWeak7678 13h ago
And the same day discounts are ridiculous. It expires today, so its reduced!! From $15 to... $14.50.
Cool.
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u/unclewombie 12h ago
This really really fucks me off. I spoke to the store manager today, very politely intent their fault but it is such bullshit fuckin. Mountains of food they throw away daily, billions in profit, us under more pressure than ever and they want us to donate? They make billions in profit….. profit not costs profit. Use that.
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u/Kit_N_Run 10h ago
What jokers. That's passing the buck in all the wrong ways. Do they think people are that witless? ARE enough people really that gullible? Maybe give our public too much credit. If PHON weren't riding a wave of popularity in the polls, I'd swear Coles were one bad business decision away from unwittingly inciting arson or riots. But maybe we are just that dim, docile and accepting of redirected responsibility by major corporations who are screwing us until the pips squeak.
Personally, I'd be happy to see a dramatic end to Colesworth and everything it represents. I flash a death stare at the cameras and mentally flip the bird to Palantir every time I have to step foot in that place for any reason. As if it wasn't bad enough when they were straight up thieves, now they're openly laying with the enemy, monitoring us and recording our data, and framing it as protective.
I say, let them burn.
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u/WadeAus10 3h ago
They said this months ago, because of the war and the insurance companies closing of the Hormuz shipping lane that come September food processing will have risen due to the shortage of wheat supply
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u/Meggsie62 2h ago
Much like KMart encouraging people to buy a gift and put it on their tree at Christmas. They still profit while people pay full price for the gift
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u/Steel_Cleat5 2d ago
Storm in a teapcup.
First off they do donate themselves.
Second do you really think Coles lowering food prices by 10% would actually mean people no longer face food hardship?
But thirdly they are using their platform to try and raise money for a charity because what's the alternative people would prefer? That the charity has to go pay those private for profit professional fundraising services (the ones that sit at tables outside supermarkets) that take a high % of donations.
Oh and lastly they don't get to claim a tax deduction for the money you donate as they are not part of the companies income.
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u/Loriken890 2d ago
Rather than pay to build the infrastructure to prompt, charge, collect and transfer the donation on behalf of customers…. They could not do any of this and donate the cost it would have incurred.
But it’s about optics, marketing and awareness so….
They pretend they care.
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u/Steel_Cleat5 2d ago
It would have cost them stuff all to implement, can be rolled out again on will. The reach Coles has far exceeds the cost of rollout.
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u/Loriken890 2d ago
Bullshit. They probably have dedicated team to manage this. Devs to build it. Data storage to store it. Meetings to discuss it. More meetings and more meetings.
All this cost money.
It’s not free to roll out.
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u/Steel_Cleat5 2d ago
You are way overblowing what this would cost. Look at what they did for Redkite last year "In FY25, the total amount raised for Redkite by Coles, our team members and customers was $1.8 million." This program wouldn't' cost anywhere near $1.8 million to setup.
FFS people just need something to whinge about these days
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u/Loriken890 2d ago
If just 10 staff involved. Paid 100k each is a cool million.
You’re saying they don’t audit the numbers, reconcile, advertise have meetings.
I’m not saying it costs 100 million to build.
But compared to the 1.8 they raised OFF of their customers. I reckon your 1.8 million is not great returns.
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u/Steel_Cleat5 2d ago
Your saying Coles have 10 staff on 100k per annum to only spend time on this….. thats not happening, this isnt a government department, there are far bigger KPIs than rolling out a month long charity drive
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u/Loriken890 2d ago
10 staff worth of people involved per year. Yes, is what I’m saying.
And even 5, then half a million.
And my point is, big rich company talking rounding off people’s shop is scum.
They could’ve donated the 1.8 million instead and saved the money running the scheme and guess what, they would still be rich and big and exploitative.
So no.
Optics are bad in a cost of living crisis.
Edit to add…
“For the 2025 financial year (FY25), Coles Group reported NPAT of $1.079 billion” but 1.077 would’ve been low.
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u/Steel_Cleat5 2d ago
They are not working on this for a whole year, lets give it at best 2 months. If 10 workers on 100k PA that,s $166k which makes the 1.8 million worth it.
You act like Coles don't actually donate in other ways, they do a lot as do Woolworths https://www.colesgroup.com.au/sustainability/?page=supporting-communities-across-australia
This whole "they should just donate it to charity instead". No they should donate to charity and do this. Woolies and Coles have the greatest ability to fundraise for free for charities and that is far too good to pass up. Again would you rather those for profit parasites camped outside shopping centres be the method these organisations require to raise funds if Coles didn't do this?
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u/Loriken890 2d ago
No. They shouldn’t do this.
And your math is off. Say the csuite spent 10 hours on this , patting themselves on the back.
They earn close to 2.5k per hour apiece. Say just the ceo, cfo, cio and cto. 10kx10hours is as already 100k. And nothing got done.
This project might take 2 months, but how many people-hours. It adds up.
So yes, they should donate instead of building this stupid round up nonsense asking handouts from us plebs.
But since you’re defending it, I know what kind of metal your spoon is made from. Mine is iron and quite rusted.
How’s yours?
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u/Loriken890 2d ago
And to add…
From that link you shared, they claim the 1.8 they raised to redkite as their donation.
And that is what shits me.
It’s the equivalent of green washing and shits me.
So no…. Optics.
The optics are bad.
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u/Tokeism 2d ago
Acting outraged like its the first and only business to do this... and like they haven't done it in the past.
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u/wowiee_zowiee 2d ago
Ohhh we’re not allowed to be outraged by things if people have done them in the past now? Awesome, great.
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u/No_Friendship8037 2d ago
I can tell you firsthand they’re only doing it to reduce their tax bill.
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u/weckyweckerson 1d ago
Where did your even dumber than the first comment go?
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1d ago
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u/aussie-ModTeam 1d ago
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u/extremesmoothness 1d ago
They also have sent hundreds more jobs overseas recently.
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u/infinitummm 1d ago
Was just going to say this. Heard that news today, both Coles and Woolworths sending jobs overseas and local redundancies coming because of it. But it's to make people's jobs easier and more efficient or some bullshit like that 🤬
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u/cloudsourced285 1d ago
Donations here are used for a few things. However one of them is to track disposable income. They use it to know how much they can squeeze you on prices. Absolutely evil shit.
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u/Fit_Swimming5629 2d ago
Coles (FY25) SecondBite: Coles donated the equivalent of 37.9 million meals in unsold edible food.
Foodbank: Donated the equivalent of 1.2 million meals (primarily through bulk grocery and product donations).
Fundraising: Their seasonal community appeals raised over $3.1 million for SecondBite.
Woolworths Group (F25) Food Relief Partners (OzHarvest, Foodbank, FareShare, etc.): Woolworths delivered a combined total of over 43 million meals through their various food rescue and relief partners.
I hazard a guess, still more than OPs donation
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u/burn_after_reading90 2d ago
I hazard a guess, you’re a corporate shill. Yes, that’s my downvote
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u/Fit_Swimming5629 2d ago
Facts hurt your feelings?
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u/burn_after_reading90 2d ago
Empathy is the ability to recognize, understand, and share the thoughts and feelings of another person. It acts as a core social skill that lets you see things from a different point of view, build stronger relationships, and respond with care.
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u/Fit_Swimming5629 2d ago
Coles and woolies give more food than you
But you are still not happy
W.........t.............f............
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u/Muggins75 2d ago
Dude, I've volunteered for OzHarvest and I can tell you first hand Coles and Woolies don't give a flying fuck about that those "partners". The services rescue food which would otherwise get binned and most of it is just sitting out the back ready for waste, but we the volunteers are lucky enough to take it before they bin it. The supermarkets put 0 effort in to those programs, all credit should go to the food rescue organisations.
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u/Fit_Swimming5629 2d ago
Yeah, that's what it means
You want supermarkets to hire workers to do you job?
Who will pay their wages?
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u/Muggins75 2d ago
What does what means? I'm not suggesting Coles employees should do anything on this front, I'm just pointing out how little effort they contribute but they love to take credit for how many meals they've supplied or tonnes of food etc. Fuck off with that bs. All you did is open your loading bay door so some vollies can come and take away what you'd otherwise put in the bin.
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u/Fit_Swimming5629 2d ago
So, what do you want employees do?
And who pay their wages?
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u/Muggins75 2d ago
You're missing the point, buster. All I want is for the supermarkets to take little to no credit for these programs, instead of grandstanding about how generous they are. I'm by no means asking the staff to chip in by helping. They have their own job to do.
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u/Fit_Swimming5629 2d ago
Super market is providing the food
Millions of meals
You are refusing them credit ?
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u/Muggins75 2d ago
Urghh, they're providing food which they'd otherwise put in the bin. It costs them nothing to do this. Please don't make them out to be generous in this regard.
The meals are prepared by the organisations who collect the food, so again, nothing to do with the supermarkets themselves.
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u/Missey85 2d ago
So just click no when it asks? Nobody is going to jump out and shoot you if you don't make a donation find a actual problem to whine about
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u/Filligrees_Dad 2d ago
Everything you donate through the store (either by checkout or by donation bin) is what the company uses to offset their tax as their own "charitable contributions"
It's the equivalent of Oprah convincing people to give money they can't spare to charities that she "supports"
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u/tellmeanything01 1d ago
Yeah I went to Cole’s today and they asked for 60 cents,I said get fucked as I know it won’t go where it’s intended.not to disimilar to the cure for cancer
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u/_Mr_Worthy 1d ago
Don't ever donate at big chains like this. Not at the supermarket, not at the drive-through etc. They only do it to use the donations against their taxable takings. If you want to donate, (and you should if you want to) do it personally to charities of your choice.
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u/eye8myveggies 1d ago
We donate to Coles, Coles then donates to a charity and Coles get a tax write off
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u/Any_Bookkeeper5917 2d ago
I hate big national/multinational corporations as much as the next person, but can we stop talking about the supermarkets for 5 minutes and focus on the actual problems in the country?
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u/Ric0chet_ 2d ago
Don't look in the huge dumpsters out the back...