Off Topic but for a good cause

Submitted: Friday, Jan 12, 2007 at 10:49
ThreadID: 41137 Views:1967 Replies:6 FollowUps:15
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Hi everyone,
Woolworths is donating it's entire supermarket sales on Tuesday 23rd January 2007 to the drought relief.
So if you need to do your grocery shopping, make sure you do it on that day and help out the drought relief program.
For more info go to...
www.woolworths.com.au and click on the "Fresh News" section or click on Site Link

Lets help out our fellow aussies in their time of need
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Reply By: Member -Signman - Friday, Jan 12, 2007 at 11:07

Friday, Jan 12, 2007 at 11:07
Ah..there's a bit of a difference between SALES & PROFITS. Then there will be the small print- like, they meant only NETT profits, and ya da ya.
Woolworths doing something for the community?? there's gotta be a catch!!
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Follow Up By: Chris & Debbie - Friday, Jan 12, 2007 at 11:18

Friday, Jan 12, 2007 at 11:18
Yes it does say profit in the article but they still expect this to be in excess of $3million, which will be donated to the CWA
Chris
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Follow Up By: madcow - Friday, Jan 12, 2007 at 11:22

Friday, Jan 12, 2007 at 11:22
Might kick start a few other business's into gear. 3 million$$ is nothing to sneeze at!
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Follow Up By: Member -Signman - Friday, Jan 12, 2007 at 11:40

Friday, Jan 12, 2007 at 11:40
Granted $3mil. is nothing to sneeze at- but it's a pittance to Woollies.
The local (very) small Wollies here turns over $45 mil. pa. Now how may Woollies stores are there?? And some of them would have turnovers many times larger than our local.
Not being cynical here (much) but the final figure is gonna be real interesting!! If it's not in the vicinity of $20 mil. I will have major doubts.
And just look what the likes of Wooloies are doing to the farmers anyway. Screwing them down in prices to make humungous profits- that we end up boosting thru their fuel outlets.
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Follow Up By: Member -Signman - Friday, Jan 12, 2007 at 12:28

Friday, Jan 12, 2007 at 12:28
OK, so I've got a 'bee in my bonnet' about this Woollies publicity stunt...
The Facts:
For the year ending 30/6/06 Woollies annual (sales) turnover was $37,734 million
From this Woollies declares an annual profit of $9,445 million (an increase of $1,642 million over y/e 2005).
So lets assume there is no increase this year, based on 2006 figures, the average DAILY profit is $9,445 million/365..that works out to be $25.8 million PER DAY (give or take).

So the small print will be interesting... eg -not on liquor sales, not on fuel sales, not on poo-ticket sales etc etc.

I declare my interest- I'm a Woolworths share holder.
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Follow Up By: Des Lexic - Friday, Jan 12, 2007 at 13:37

Friday, Jan 12, 2007 at 13:37
Signman, You quote an annual turnover of $37,734 million and a profit of $9,445 million on an annual turnover. That is a profit of 25%. If those figures are correct, then we are being ripped off BIG time. I bet you would love to run your business at a 25% profit. A better idea would be for Woolies to pay the Primary Producers a fair and equitable price for the products that are supplied instead of screwing the poor buggers all the way.
I used to be one of those poor buggers so I know what they are doing.
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Follow Up By: BenSpoon - Friday, Jan 12, 2007 at 15:52

Friday, Jan 12, 2007 at 15:52
they support the community... we bag them.
I can see why other chains dont bother.

Signman, I can totally understand your side though- Mick the farmer says thanks for the donation of your dividends.
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Follow Up By: Member -Signman - Friday, Jan 12, 2007 at 16:07

Friday, Jan 12, 2007 at 16:07
Hi Ben,
My comments (as a shareholder) is for the Company not to play tiddlewinks with a relative paultry $3mil. I wouldn't lose sleep if they were open and made it worthwhile with, say, $30mil.
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Follow Up By: Richard Kovac - Saturday, Jan 13, 2007 at 00:53

Saturday, Jan 13, 2007 at 00:53
Des

Sorry but when do Woollies pay the Primary Producers ??

I would think they pay the hole salers

I would not want to BE in business if I didn't make 25% , 33% is ind standard before tax?

Richard
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Follow Up By: Des Lexic - Saturday, Jan 13, 2007 at 16:59

Saturday, Jan 13, 2007 at 16:59
Richard The major chains now bypass the wholesalers and deal direct with the growers. They stitch them up with contracts at a lower price than what they would normally receive through the wholesalers under the guise of bigger volumes of sales and continueing contracts. I don't have an issue with the wholesalers being bypassed but the growers generally receive a poorer payment. For example, you might buy navel oranges in the shops for $2.00 a kilo yet the grower might be lucky to get 50c a kilo delivered to the store. Oranges don't go off if stored in coolrooms, and therefore little waste. The grower has had all the risk and expenses of growing, harvesting, delivering and in some cases, displaying the product and the merchant just cashes in. Are you also aware that if you were selling chocolate or whatever, the manufacturer has to buy shelf space and set the shop display up as well as refilling the shelves. The shelves at eye level command a much higher price than the lower shelves.
Sorry but the supermarkets get little sympathy from me.
Now the pressure is on that they only sell there own brands and not the recognised brands that we are used to buying. It is only anothe money grab by the supermarkets.
Off my soapbox now.
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Reply By: DIO - Friday, Jan 12, 2007 at 18:14

Friday, Jan 12, 2007 at 18:14
I'm all for helping anyone in need. WW effort is a publicity stunt to try and regain some credibility with Australian public. Any money they 'donate' will be immediately subtracted from their annual figures as a TAX DEDUCTION. They are not giving away anything. Someone on another forum pointed out, very sucinctly that Tuesday would have to be one of the quietest trading days of the week. So much for their generosity.
AnswerID: 214955

Reply By: Member - Norm C (QLD) - Friday, Jan 12, 2007 at 23:10

Friday, Jan 12, 2007 at 23:10
Are you guys serious?????
First fom FACTS:
Last financial year the Woolworths Group made a NPAT (net profit after tax) of $1.03B ($1,030,000,000) on revenue of $37.7B. This is a profit on sales of 2.732%. A lot of money admittedly, but nothing like the numbers quoted above. And those of you in business would know that these are skinny margins in % terms.

If they trade 363 days per year (this is close to right, but not certain), one days trade is, on average about $2.84 million. Given a bit of growth since last year, $3 million is probably close to right, perhaps a bit high.

There are approx 323,000 shareholders in Woolworths, many of them are small investors with less than 1000 shares. Indirectly, the overwhelming majority of posters on this forum would be indirect shareholders via super funds. It is your maoney they are giving away.

This is a wonderful gesture by a great Australian company. Sure, within the context of it's total profit it might be small. But $3 million is still a lot of money. With the reaction I see here, you would wonder why they would bother. Perhaps this is why most companies don't do this sort of thing. If they do nothing, they stay below the radar. If they try to do something good, they are critisised for being mean and not doing enough. No wonder most of them do nothing.

Good on you Woolworths. I just hope you ignore the nonesense from those who suffer from 'tall poppy syndrome'. I hope this is the start of a regular contribution back to the community and that you encourage a few more big companies to follow suit.
AnswerID: 215029

Follow Up By: Member - Julie P (VIC) - Saturday, Jan 13, 2007 at 10:17

Saturday, Jan 13, 2007 at 10:17
I agree with Norm C - isn't this a typical Aussie "tall poppy" thing - I think it is a great gesture - and they do support lots of charities (here in Victoria they are Safeway) - and they have continual raffles for Royal childrens Hospital etc - good on them for doing something - if we all do a little bit (not that $3m is a little bit) we can help each other - why put people down for trying to help. Thanks to anyone who is doing something to help any charity.
jules
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Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic)&Moses - Monday, Jan 15, 2007 at 10:19

Monday, Jan 15, 2007 at 10:19
Norm, I am pleased you have got to the actuals not as above in regard to the above figures off the "top of a head". It is wrong that people put trifling figures like that to a mis-statement as was said above your contribution.

As Julie says they amongst many businesses see a community responsibility to fund particular activities and charities. They will do it particularly if they have a value to be seen doing it, but that isn't always the case that it is seen.

I work with a company that sponsors several thousand dollars a year towards education of individuals in a particular relm. It is hardly trumpeded, but would be noticed in some circles. There are many companies like that.
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Reply By: Middle Jeff - Friday, Jan 12, 2007 at 23:28

Friday, Jan 12, 2007 at 23:28
Hi all
I have worked for Woolies and a couple of really big multinational ones and the amount of work they do for charities would blow you away and not just money, time and effort in running them and with training and a whole lot of non taxable stuff that does not show up on the books. If you ask them why they don't tell anyone it is because off responses that you read here, as they have all told me we have the ability to help so we should, remember the people running these companies are really just like us.

Have fun

Craig
AnswerID: 215034

Follow Up By: DIO - Saturday, Jan 13, 2007 at 10:31

Saturday, Jan 13, 2007 at 10:31
Gee mate, if you've ever worked for WW you would know (unless you were one of the bosses) that they are masters at the art of exploitation (mirrors, smoke that sort of thing) and manage to come up smelling roses. Don't be fooled by them and their well planned ploy to get some brownie points.
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Follow Up By: Middle Jeff - Saturday, Jan 13, 2007 at 23:10

Saturday, Jan 13, 2007 at 23:10
Hi Dio
I know exactly what they are like I was a union delegate at the Sydney warehouse and I know every trick they have, but they are very serious about charities.
Do they make a profit? YES! that is there job and they are very good at it, do I agree with their management practices? NO, that is why I left a long time ago. Other companies I have worked for I did R&D work or management in production.
Have fun
Craig
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Reply By: DIO - Saturday, Jan 13, 2007 at 11:03

Saturday, Jan 13, 2007 at 11:03
Lets help out our fellow aussies in their time of need ....it's far too late for a lot of the aussie growers/farmers who have simply gone out of business thanks to WW and other large profit driven organisations.

Why have WW recently introcued a new line WW SELECT to their shelves. I know why, at least 80% profit/mark-up on every item and most of them are produced either overseas or with imported products. Gee you WW supporters must be real proud of THIS GREAT AUSTRALIAN COMPANY
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Follow Up By: Member - Norm C (QLD) - Saturday, Jan 13, 2007 at 14:29

Saturday, Jan 13, 2007 at 14:29
Well DIO, I hope you put your money where your views are and refuse to shop at 'WW and other large profit driven organisations'. You probably should avoid any 'profit driven organisation' just to be sure.
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Follow Up By: Hairy - Saturday, Jan 13, 2007 at 15:34

Saturday, Jan 13, 2007 at 15:34
How can you knock someone for trying to help?
Face it, the entire world isn't made up of complete assholes
as you would like us all to believe!
Have you got anything good to say about anyone?
I'm sure you must still be dirty with the world because of that kick me sign on your back when you were hall monitor at school!
I heard councils are looking for volunteer parking inspectors, give it a go, I reckon you'd have what it takes, It might even put a smile on your face!
Smile
Cheers
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Reply By: Member - MrBitchi (QLD) - Monday, Jan 15, 2007 at 10:00

Monday, Jan 15, 2007 at 10:00
After the way WoolWorths railroaded Maleny I'll NEVER shop in one of their stores again.
AnswerID: 215381

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