Food price-fixing payout used to feed the hungry
By donating $25 Loblaws gift cards to food banks, Canadians can help those who can’t afford their daily bread
The idea is to channel anger into charity. Take the great grocery rip-off and turn it into a great food giveaway. Turn the bread price-fixing scandal into a boon for the Daily Bread Food Bank. What an idea. After Loblaws turned itself in to authorities for participating in a decadeand-a-half scheme to fix the price of bread, the company announced it would give away $25 gift cards to customers in apology, alongside their promise to never do it again.
People remained angry, understandably. As the Star’s editorial board wrote Thursday, “The idea that the biggest grocers and bakers in the country would collude to raise the price of one of the most basic food staples is repellent.” Especially since such a scheme “clearly penalized lower-income people more than others.”
Upon hearing of the goodwill gesture by the company — which the Star reported Loblaws vowed would not preclude customers from participating in any class-action lawsuit — some people immediately figured out a way to make the gift cards help lower-income people more than others, too. By donating them.
“Get it then give it to a food bank,” one person posted on Reddit, starting a thread that immediately generated dozens of responses. “EVERYBODY. ABSOLUTELY EVERYBODY IN CANADA. SIGN UP. THEN SEND YOUR CARDS TO THE FOOD BANK,” tweeted author and television host Gail Vaz-Oxlade, a message that was shared thousands of times.
It is an enticing idea, with potentially huge impact if it were widely adopted. There are more than two million adults in Toronto potentially eligible to receive the cards. We’d be talking about possibly $50 million worth of cards here.
For perspective, consider the Daily Bread Food Bank — an umbrella organization feeding donations to local food banks across the city — received total revenue from all donations and other funding of just over $14 million in 2016, according to Charity Intelligence Canada. Even if only a fraction of Torontonians donated their $25 gift cards, they could add up to a significant boost for the charity.
There’s some poetic-seeming justice in seeing the spoils of food cheating used to feed the hungry.
“First off, I’m very grateful. It would be great,” said Gail Nyberg, executive director of the Daily Bread Food Bank.
She said typically, cash donations are far more useful than gift cards to the charity. “I can’t put those cards in the gas tank or use them to pay a salary.” When buying groceries, Nyberg said, her agency typically gets deeply discounted rates from Loblaws and other suppliers, whereas gift cards are meant for retail transactions.
Still, she said, even under normal circumstances, gift cards are useful donations. “If someone needs formula, for instance, and we’re out, they’re really useful then. Gift cards have really good uses for us and our member agencies.” They may also be used, for example, by local food banks who often shop retail to fill out their supplies. So even when they are donated normally, they are not wasted, though Nyberg suggests they are not a perfect replacement for donations of cash or nonperishable food.
Now, if tens of thousands of these cards started rolling in, then the agency might consider how to best put them to use.
Loblaws’ spokesperson did not respond to a question about whether the company would consider allowing the food banks to redeem the cards for the discounted bulk purchases they typically make from Loblaws, if people donated their cards in massive numbers. The company was also silent on whether they have considered allowing eligi- ble people the option to send the gift card they are entitled to directly to a food bank agency such as Daily Bread.
“Our focus is really on customer trust and making sure we can efficiently put money in the hands of individual Canadians. With our card in hand, they would have the choice to feed themselves or those in need of charity,” Kevin Groh, Loblaws’ vice-president of corporate affairs and communication wrote in an email.
Daily Bread’s Nyberg said if people do want to donate such cards, they should avoid just placing them in donation bins in grocery stores, where they are liable to be lost or stolen. “It’s like putting cash in the bin. You probably wouldn’t want to leave cash in the bin,” she says. The mail might be a somewhat safer bet, or if people are organizing to donate together, she suggests large numbers of cards pooled in one envelope and either dropped off at Daily Bread’s office or sent by courier. If enough cards were pooled in one location, the charity may consider sending a representative to pick them up.
I’ve signed up at loblawcard.ca, so I can donate my card.
It seems like a fitting gesture for those of us already able to afford our own daily bread — a small windfall in compensation for our past overspending that could be a slightly bigger boost tomorrow to someone in need. Edward Keenan writes on city issues ekeenan@thestar.ca. Follow: @thekeenanwire