Good news for Woolworths customers
Woolies seems to have been in the press for all the wrong reasons in the last couple of weeks, but the supermarket has made a major announcement that’s going to come as great news for loyal Woolworths shoppers around Australia.
Woolworths is set to scrap the expiry date on all Woolies-brand gift cards from March 31, with existing expiry dates lifted on cards bought from the end of March last year.
The move has been welcomed by shoppers and consumer advocates around the country, putting pressure on other retailers to follow Woolworths’ lead.
"We welcome Woolworths' decision and we'd like to see the other major retailers, who haven't already stopped fleecing their customers, follow their lead," Choice spokesman Tom Godfrey told AAP.
"Although you might think a gift card is a convenient purchase at the point of sale, it's worth remembering you're buying a bunch of terms and conditions.
"From short expiry dates to activation fees, gift cards are more a present for the retailer than they are for your loved one."
This move comes week before the NSW Department of Fair Trading introduces a three-year minimum expiry limit for most gift cards across the state.
Woolworths has scrapped gift card use-by dates. https://t.co/xz9WiwqNed #7News pic.twitter.com/lwKqXHPsFY
— 7 News Brisbane (@7NewsBrisbane) March 8, 2018
"After talking to more of our customers about this in recent months, we've decided to go one better and scrap gift card expiry dates for good," Woolworths head of financial services and insurance Chris Cramond said.
"It means one less thing to worry about for our busy customers, who will have complete flexibility to use gift cards as and when it suits them."
The change will apply to gift cards purchased as all Woolworths supermarkets as well as Big W, Dan Murphy's, BWS, Cellarmasters and Caltex Woolworths Petrol.
A study released by Finder.com.au last August revealed Australians rate an average of $70 million a year on unredeemed gift cards, with $54 left unused on each on average.
What do you think of the move?