Supermarket chain to give bonus, starting specials again

Countdown will pay its waged supermarket and distribution centre team members a bonus equivalent to an extra 10 per cent per hour worked over the course of the four week Level 4 alert lockdown.

The move comes as Countdown begins to run ‘‘specials’’ discounts in stores nationwide again as supplies rebuild and the country starts to settle into a calmer shopping pattern.

Since the lockdown began households have found their food bills rising, with Countdown having ended ‘‘specials’’ discounting, and prices of high-demand items like bread, and some fruit and vegetables rising dramatically.

The supermarkets categorically deny they are price gouging, and are working round the clock to keep shelves full, and simply have neither the stock, nor the staff to manage discounting programmes, which they also believe would exacerbate demand.

The scale of demand from households stocking up has been unprecedented, and Stuff understands Countdown sales have equated to a daily average of enough food sufficient to feed 7 million for a day for the past few weeks.

But households are struggling to understand the price increases, and emails of concern are flooding in to Stuff, and are prompting political concerns.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern addressed concerns yesterday by announcing an online scheme for people to report claims. Ahead of the Prime Minister’s briefing at 3pm,

Countdown announced its waged supermarket and distribution team members working during the lockdown would be paid a bonus equivalent to an additional 10 per cent more per hour worked in recognition of the essential service they were providing, and from September, Countdown team members with 12 months or more service would earn a minimum of the living wage of $21.15 an hour.

Countdown said it had also been paying any of its team who were required to self-isolate, either due to travel, their age, or because they had underlying health conditions.

Foodstuffs supermarkets were not super-profiteering during the coronavirus lockdown, Chris Quin, chief executive of Foodstuffs North Island, said yesterday.

Quin said some people were accusing supermarkets of growing their profits from the huge increase in demand for groceries caused by coronavirus panic-buying.

But, he said: ‘‘That’s not a fact.’’ ‘‘We are not going to come out of this as the super profiteers.’’

Supermarkets had expected to be accused of price-gouging at some point, said Quin.

People were scared and worried, he said, but Foodstuffs, which operated New World, Four Square and Pak ‘n Save supermarkets, had opted not to try to change public perception by challenging media coverage.

‘‘Don’t try to fix what you can’t fix,’’ he said. ‘‘Lot’s of people’s organisations have stopped dead. There are incomes that are going to dry up. There are impacts that are scary.’’

‘‘We are not going to come out of this as the super profiteers.’’ Chris Quin Foodstuffs North Island