Coles Pocketed 65% of The 10c/L Milk Levy

TanedaR on 05/12/2019 - 19:17
Last edited 05/12/2019 - 19:18

WOW, Coles just never fails us, We need a more powerful ACCC.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2019-12-05/coles-pays-norco-dairy-farmers-$5m/11768478

Coles introduced 10c/L milk levy on 20 March 2019, promised to fully passed on to Australian farmers, then from 1 April, they only passed on 3.5c/L

The ACCC's investigation focused on claims that when an unrelated 6.5 cents per litre increase commenced on April 1, 2019, Coles reduced its payments to Norco under the 10 cents per litre retail price increase from 10 cents per litre to 3.5 cents per litre.
Norco is a milk co-operative comprised of 194 member farms in northern New South Wales and Queensland.

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Comments

  • tsunamisurfer on 05/12/2019 - 19:36
    -8

    When they did this I made an effort to buy my milk at other places like Spud Shed.

    Honestly I don't care where that money goes, Coles or Farmers makes no difference to me.

  • WoodYouLikeSomeCash on 05/12/2019 - 19:45
    +3

    ACCC's investigation focused on claims that when an unrelated 6.5 cents per litre increase commenced on April 1, 2019

    It was April Fools Day…

  • HighAndDry on 05/12/2019 - 19:48
    +16

    I mean, there were no shortage of people calling the initial 10c 'levy' a PR exercise from the very beginning. I don't know why anyone would be shocked.

    • outlander on 06/12/2019 - 00:34
      +1

      Is anyone shocked? I'm confused how you got that out of it
      I don't see anyone expressing that here or in the article

    • Never Pay RRP on 06/12/2019 - 08:52
      +4

      I'm a bit shocked that Coles can say the extra charge is for the farmers and then only give a small portion to them.
      But Coles has form in the dishonesty department, remember their "freshly baked bread" that was made in Ireland and shipped across frozen?
      I avoid Coles whenever possible

  • whooah1979 on 05/12/2019 - 19:52
    -1

    They are passing on $0.035 when they don’t have.

    • Rumbaar on 05/12/2019 - 20:04
      -4

      It's $0.35, and the ACCC would think otherwise.

      • whooah1979 on 05/12/2019 - 20:06
        +6

        $0.35 is 35c.

    • HighAndDry on 05/12/2019 - 20:09
      +3

      I don't think the issue is the philanthropic effort because yes, 3.5c > 0c. It's that they advertised to consumers (to get people to buy) very heavily the 10c, and was only actually passing along 3.5c.

    • Never Pay RRP on 06/12/2019 - 08:55
      +3

      Well given that they stated that the additional charge was explicitly to help the farmers they should have to pass it all on if they had any integrity whatsoever. Coles clearly do not.

      Would you be ok if you bought "free range eggs" and subsequently found out only 1 in 3 of the eggs was sourced from free range chickens?

      • whooah1979 on 06/12/2019 - 19:59
        -1

        I don’t buy eggs.

  • brad1-8tsi on 05/12/2019 - 20:41
    +1

    A milk company a friend works for that suggested the "10c to farmers" promo to WW was told at the end of the campaign "we'll be keeping that 10c"

    • capslock janitor on 14/12/2019 - 23:21
      +1

      pls rephrase

      • brad1-8tsi on 16/12/2019 - 11:18
        +1

        I can't without writing a novel.

        Lets just say that WW saw an opportunity at the end of the "marketing period" to make an extra 10c margin and took it.

  • mskeggs on 05/12/2019 - 21:22
    +3

    Works out as $27k per farm. That’s a nice pay rise.

    • Never Pay RRP on 06/12/2019 - 08:57
      +1

      Well if the numbers above are correct (3.5c out of 10c) then it should have been over $80k per farm if Coles were honest.
      $27k is a whole lot less nice than $80k

  • pegaxs on 05/12/2019 - 22:00
    +7

    So, Coles has done what just about every charity in the world does? Take money for a cause and only pass on a portion of it and keep the rest as “administrative costs”

    Can’t say I’m shocked.

    • Stewardo on 05/12/2019 - 22:18
      +3

      Exactly, people would be shocked to read financial reports of some charities, most are freely available online. This works best if it’s a cause that’s seen as sacred, that any negative comment against said cause/charity makes you a horrible person.

      • zetapulse on 06/12/2019 - 11:15

        Do they release the actual data or is it just Auditor Certification?
        Also, who audits the auditors?

        • Stewardo on 06/12/2019 - 19:26
          +1

          https://www.acnc.gov.au/charity
          They have to report it. It’s all online. Often the details don’t tell the full story. You might have advertising staff at the charity on 60k but a lot of the perks of the job include shopping vouchers, entertainment budget, accommodation, fleet costs etc. All very creative book keeping. Often the administration costs are 50% or more of the money raised. So it’s very lucrative business.

          • zetapulse on 09/12/2019 - 11:16

            @Stewardo: Creative bookkeeping indeed. Lucrative business indeed.

    • Never Pay RRP on 06/12/2019 - 09:00

      Other charities exist solely for their charity work, so every single administrative overhead needs to come from the donations. I strongly doubt Coles had to setup a separate hr/finance/accounting/payroll/etc division to work out how to donate this money. It is clearly unethical theft

      • pegaxs on 06/12/2019 - 09:18
        +3

        Other charities exist solely for their charity work

        Yeah, I'm not buying it. Have seen plenty of examples of "charity organisations" executives driving around in what most would consider inappropriately expensive vehicles and living in houses that would wipe out some 3rd world nation's debt if sold.

        Many, if not most, charity organisations are set up solely to look after the interests of the individuals running it and not for the welfare of the those they are reporting to help. They are set up as tax dodges for the most part or a place to hide wealth.

        Coles is no different. But to suggest that other charity organisations are there solely for their contribution to their cause, is naive at best.

  • AbsX on 05/12/2019 - 23:17
    +4

    Shame shame shame

  • [Deactivated] on 05/12/2019 - 23:29
    +8

    Curtis Stone learnt some tricks off George Calombarris.

  • RM on 05/12/2019 - 23:37
    +3

    Btw…the surcharge is 20c/L at the moment.

  • Diji1 on 06/12/2019 - 01:50

    WOW, Coles just never fails us, We need a more powerful ACCC.

    The ACCC consists of lunatics who believe in an economic theory that states the economy works better when Government doesn't regulate it. So they don't believe that they should exist as an organisation.

    The head of the ACCC has stated that privatisation, specifically electricity and ports, has "severely damaged" the Australian economy. Despite this the idiot still believes that the theory of privatisation reducing prices and being efficient is sound.

    There is no evidence to support this theory.

    Which is why he also said that there is a danger that the public will "lose faith" in the theory as though it was a religion. This was in 2016 and the nutcases theories still haven't started predicting reality.

    • whooah1979 on 06/12/2019 - 06:07
      +1

      Less regulation, more revenue. That sounds reasonable.

    • Baysew on 06/12/2019 - 10:00
      +1

      Sounds like another nutcase idea for the Greens to abolish the ACCC, because it doesn't fit into their pure political ideology.

    • HighAndDry on 06/12/2019 - 12:41
      -2

      Capitalist theory has led to the longest period of growth and progress of human society in recorded history.

      You want to turn your back on it, go to Venezuela and see how they're faring.

      • zetapulse on 09/12/2019 - 18:33

        It doesn't matter how long your preferred ideology lasts if it doesn't last and survive for all our potential future generations.

        Besides, a lot of people are familiar with boiling frog syndrome.

        • HighAndDry on 09/12/2019 - 18:40
          -1

          On a site about bargain hunting that only happens because of market competition and sellers being able to set prices… this. Lol.

  • spoonman169 on 06/12/2019 - 04:13
    +2

    Is anybody actually surprised ? These grubs Coles and Woolworths wouldn't pay for their own mother to have life saving surgery to remove cancer.

    • apsilon on 06/12/2019 - 05:55
      +2

      I am. I'm surprised they passed on any of it voluntarily.

  • whooah1979 on 06/12/2019 - 06:04
    +1

    Coles introduced 10c/L milk levy

    Coles can’t legally impose a levy.

  • blaxland36 on 06/12/2019 - 09:06

    Haven't seen it on the commercial news stations guess there frightened by reporting this they may lose coles massive advertising budget

  • wannagrababargain on 06/12/2019 - 09:13

    Administration costs!

  • OzHunterNSW on 06/12/2019 - 10:59

    We should be able to demand all our accumulated flybuys credits be paid in cash, and have nothing to do with them ever again.

  • HeWhoKnows on 06/12/2019 - 14:25
    +5

    I think many people are missing the point that Coles is making.
    i.e. That a 6.5c per litre price rise came through from Norco at the same time.
    Coles simply factored this into the 10c rise in the retail price already notified.

    So in reality the whole 10c per litre is still going back to the farmers.
    Just not exactly the way Coles promoted it.

    Its all in the "accounting" and Coles is not keeping the 6.5c at all.

    So misleading advertising - YES
    Are the farmers getting an extra 10c - YES
    But 6.4c is part of a price rise from Norco.

    • SBOB on 06/12/2019 - 16:47
      +1

      Don't let facts get in the way of a Coles bashing ;)

  • 82norm on 06/12/2019 - 19:35

    Bring back regulation on essential services/products.

    • HeWhoKnows on 07/12/2019 - 11:31

      Then you will be complaining about the high cost of regulated products and that we need competition to drive down prices……Hohum

      • 82norm on 08/12/2019 - 12:55

        Given my experience with green slips, de-regulating the banking industry, electricity, etc….nothing has come good of a so called free market. I’d rather subsidise a government entity to run these services, inefficient as they maybe, than greedy corporates who will gouge every dollar whenever they can. Look at private health insurance, biggest rort there is and we’re all paying for it.

  • capslock janitor on 14/12/2019 - 23:23

    is that why the Coles branded 3L jug went from $3.30 to $3.60 recently?

  • ofey on 17/12/2019 - 08:59

    Boycotting Coles is not the answer. We choose what we buy. We choose only to buy whatever is on sale. Else we do not buy a full priced item from them.

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