Do Tasmanian Woolworths customers really prefer the "Frequent $hopper Club"?

[SteveL]

There is a very interesting legal reason for FSC - back story dates back to when Roelf Vos sold to WW and FSC was a condition of sale.... don't have time to type it right now but you can google!

Hmm. Unfortunately I'm not finding anything on google - what search would find the information on F$C being part of the conditions of sale?

 

[RooFlyer]

The sale to woolworths occurred in 1982, so possibly not much detail on the web.

 

[Mattg]

The sale to woolworths occurred in 1982, so possibly not much detail on the web.

Surely a sale in 1982 wouldn't stop Woolworths from changing its loyalty program in 2020. What am I missing?

 

[RooFlyer]

Surely a sale in 1982 wouldn't stop Woolworths from changing its loyalty program in 2020. What am I missing?

No idea. I was just responding to SteveL that he couldn't find much on the web about it.

 

[Antoallison]

I don’t live in Tasmania but I did try to use my Woolies card (an automatic action at the till now) when doing an initial grocery shop while on a holiday in self catering accomodation. I was surprised it was not accepted.

So while it means that Aussie tourists miss out gaining points whilst there, it is a windfall for local smaller businesses.

I much preferred spending my money in those stores for the rest of the 2 week stay.

 

[drron]

So the Frequent Shopper Club was not part of the purchase of Tasmanian supermarkets- Roelf Vos in the north and Purity in the south - in 1982.The Club was actually started by Purity in 1992.The 2 brands kept their separate names until the early 2000s.The answer was found in plain sight.

Woolworths Supermarkets - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I then had a fascinating read of a Tasmanian Parliamentary Committee into Grocery Markets and pricing in 1996.

Terms of reference

The scheme was first offered to Independent grocers but they knocked it back as it would cost $40 to give the customer the $20 for 2000 points.The scheme was taken up and perfected by Purity and then a couple of year later by Roelf Vos.When it was just Purity prices in the south were 2-3% higher in the South.After being taken up by Roelf Vos prices equalised.
Reading between the lines Woollies do better with the FSC than EDR.

What was included in the sale agreement of Purity was to retain a State Office in Tasmania.Interesting reading from that 1996 report small producers could convince the Woollies Tasmanian office to stock their products but little success with Coles buyers in Melbourne.

 

[Himeno]

There was a contract clause somewhere, presumably in a sale agreement, that required Woolworths to retain the FSC in Tasmania.

That seems to have been resolved, as apparently, the WOW Rewards program is to be rolled out in TAS later this year.

 

[Deleted member 71772]

There was a contract clause somewhere, presumably in a sale agreement, that required Woolworths to retain the FSC in Tasmania.

That seems to have been resolved, as apparently, the WOW Rewards program is to be rolled out in TAS later this year.

That's great news that Tasmanians can soon get WOW Rewards but where did you read that?

 

[Himeno]

That's great news that Tasmanians can soon get WOW Rewards but where did you read that?

Video update by the 1 and 2 in charge of Woolworths Supermarkets while announcing new Rewards app to staff.

 

[mrfreeze]

So the Frequent Shopper Club was not part of the purchase of Tasmanian supermarkets- Roelf Vos in the north and Purity in the south - in 1982.The Club was actually started by Purity in 1992.The 2 brands kept their separate names until the early 2000s.The answer was found in plain sight.

Woolworths Supermarkets - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I then had a fascinating read of a Tasmanian Parliamentary Committee into Grocery Markets and pricing in 1996.

Terms of reference

The scheme was first offered to Independent grocers but they knocked it back as it would cost $40 to give the customer the $20 for 2000 points.The scheme was taken up and perfected by Purity and then a couple of year later by Roelf Vos.When it was just Purity prices in the south were 2-3% higher in the South.After being taken up by Roelf Vos prices equalised.
Reading between the lines Woollies do better with the FSC than EDR.

What was included in the sale agreement of Purity was to retain a State Office in Tasmania.Interesting reading from that 1996 report small producers could convince the Woollies Tasmanian office to stock their products but little success with Coles buyers in Melbourne.

I worked for Purity then Woolworths from 1985 until end of 2000 and did the store ordering during some of that time.
Interesting point about pricing was us Taswegiens complained about our higher pricing at the supermarket compared to the mainland and the Purity GM stating it cost more to bring stock into the state etc. when in fact the price of stock into the warehouse out at Derwent Park was the same as on the mainland.
A store was then charged freight on the invoice total of stock ordered.

When the FSC was bought in it also effectively halved the staff discount to 5% rather than 10%.

 

[Beasley]

There was a contract clause somewhere, presumably in a sale agreement, that required Woolworths to retain the FSC in Tasmania.

That seems to have been resolved, as apparently, the WOW Rewards program is to be rolled out in TAS later this year.

That is fantastic to hear because I have no interest in FSC and simply want to maximise my QFF points like everyone can in other states. Where can I find the video announcement?

 

[ike]

If this is true and Woolworths is bringing the program here, that’s great news!! Moved from QLD here and miss the QFF rewards. I’m still getting the offers and can’t use them

 

[AFF Editor]

If this is true and Woolworths is bringing the program here, that’s great news!! Moved from QLD here and miss the QFF rewards. I’m still getting the offers and can’t use them ☹

It is true, Woolworths has confirmed it.

Woolworths Rewards is Coming to Tasmania

With more than 12 million members, Woolworths Rewards is one of the most popular loyalty programs in Australia.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[ramboflyer]

Mixed feelings about this change. Current FSC works well. When swiping the FSC at checkout you will be asked if you want to use your $$ credit off your current shop provided it's over $10.

On the positive side when Woolworths Rewards starts I will earn both Qantas and Krisflyer points with the one transaction when using my Westpac Amex card to pay.

 

[Himeno]

That is fantastic to hear because I have no interest in FSC and simply want to maximise my QFF points like everyone can in other states. Where can I find the video announcement?

You can't find the video unless you have a woolworths domain google account.
Rob (Head of Stores) and Claire (Director of Supermarkets) [Rob reports to Claire, Claire reports to Brad - the CEO] send out 1 or 2 update videos each week in the store comms.
This week, they were talking about the new Rewards app. They mentioned the bonus 3000 point offer for staff who download the app, then Rob mentioned that Tristan (Operations Manager for 31 stores in TAS) was sure to email him again about there not being Rewards in TAS. Rob then assured Tristan that Hannah (Director Rewards) had committed to getting TAS onto Rewards by the end of the year.

 

[Stealthflyer]

I don’t think I’ve used my FSC in over a decade. in fact, I think the card ended up being semi-digested by my puppy. I didn’t chase bonuses and back then I never spent enough to get base rate points with the swipe. The base rate is pretty low as it is.

I started using Flybuys due to the partnership with Velocity. With Virgin teetering on the edge, I might have a look at Woolworths Reward card for Qantas points.

 

[Jurahn]

The Woolworths Rewards program also has these kinds of offers.

Would you appreciate the option to earn Qantas points/status credits, or are you happy enough with cash back?

We moved to Tasmania two years ago, and I was surprised to find that Woolworth Rewards didn't operate here, so joined the FSC instead. I prefer the $ off my shopping as I have no interest whatsoever in earning Qantas points, as we always fly VA - although we may end up with no choice but to use Qantas, depending on the outcome with the current VA situation. Mind you, Mr Jurahn, who once worked as a contractor for Qantas, said he'd rather swim to the mainland than fly with them ...

I must admit, I've never had a bonus points offer from FSC and have only seen the double points days advertised two or three times since we've been here (have never received an email from FSC, only ever seen a TV or newspaper ad for the double points days). It would be nice to go back to earning more points with WWR bonus offers as I do the majority of my shopping at WW now because Coles doesn't have a very big presence here and their southern Tassie stores are quite small compared to WW stores. Not so happy though if we end up having to use double the redemption rate for the $10 off. Currently we can earn points at WW and BWS, but not at Big W or Caltex Woolworths.

 

[drron]

Of course they will swap over to ER later this year.working in Tassie on and off over the last 14 years and using Coles instead of WW as I at least ended up with more KF points.I do intend to fully retire next year so will almost certainly miss the changeover.
And also in the north the WW stores are better than the Coles offerings with just a couple of exceptions.

 

[Jurahn]

I don’t live in Tasmania but I did try to use my Woolies card (an automatic action at the till now) when doing an initial grocery shop while on a holiday in self catering accomodation. I was surprised it was not accepted.

So while it means that Aussie tourists miss out gaining points whilst there, it is a windfall for local smaller businesses.

I much preferred spending my money in those stores for the rest of the 2 week stay.

It works both ways though - if we're visiting the mainland, our FSC cards don't work there either (you can't keep a Woolworths Rewards account with a Tasmanian address, so I had to cancel mine when we moved here).

 

[Kevin Blades]

It works both ways though - if we're visiting the mainland, our FSC cards don't work there either (you can't keep a Woolworths Rewards account with a Tasmanian address, so I had to cancel mine when we moved here).

I have had a WR card for a number of years an live in Tassie and the card is registered to my home address.