Woman furious with Woolworths Coles over charity drives

A shopper has slammed supermarkets for asking her to ’round up’ her grocery bill to donate to charity at self-service checkouts.

The woman, who goes by The Recovering Teacher online, took to TikTok to express her anger over the ‘philanthropy shakedown’.

‘I do press no because I am just morally opposed to multi-billion dollar companies doing shakedowns of consumers when they just want to buy red grapes and tampons,’ she said. 

She explained she’s had a gutful of being asked if she wants to donate her hard-earned cash to the supermarket’s chain’s not-for-profit charity partners.   

‘This is a message for Woolworths – no I don’t want my 85cent refund, what I want is for you as a multimillion dollar conglomerate to start making these donations yourself,’ she fumed.

A Woolworths spokesperson defended the company’s fundraising efforts and told FEMAIL supporting Australian communities is a priority.

‘This is an entirely voluntary donation that customers can choose to make or decline, at their own discretion,’ the spokesperson said. 

But the mum’s video went viral with many people agreeing with her.

‘I used to feel guilty saying no, but f**k it – I am just an average single mum trying to do my best,’ one woman said.

‘I’ve been asked twice in the last 2 days. Both times I’ve said no and both times I’ve thought, how about hitting up the top end of town,’ said another man. 

The Recovering Teacher explained in the comments that she shops at Aldi and farmers markets where she can in order to avoid the donation prompts. 

Customers also slammed Woolworths’ competitor, Coles.

‘Coles with their 0 food waste program making sure food goes to those in need-many are in need of food donations because of corporations like Coles,’ one said.

And others took aim at the ‘charity hawkers’ out the front of the supermarkets – claiming they often earn more an hour than they can get in donations. 

One mum said she calculates the ’round ups’ and at the end of each year donates to a charity of her choice. 

Others criticised the TikToker for complaining about the donation prompt and using foul language.

The teacher dubbed the ’round up’ option and other supermarket schemes as ‘fake philanthropy’ 

‘Or you could just ignore it and not waste so much energy on getting mad,’ one woman said.

This, and people criticising her swearing, prompted the teacher to make a second video.

She explained she would be standing by the first video and called for people who don’t have a problem with the ‘capitalist hellscape we live in’ to open their eyes.  

The Woolworths spokesperson also explained the round-up program runs alongside the company’s other philanthropic efforts.

‘In the last two years, the round up option has helped raise millions of dollars for our various community partners. We’d like to thank our customers for their ongoing support of these community initiatives and a reminder that there is no obligation on customers to donate,’ they said.