Yahoo Finance Woolworths worker rages about note posted in lunchroom on company profit: 'Like we are falling for that'
The supermarket claimed it only made 3.6 cents for every $1 of profit.
A Woolworths worker has leaked a note posed by management in the staff lunchroom showing how much profit the company makes. The supermarket has been accused of price gouging and is facing numerous inquiries about its pricing tactics during a cost of living crisis.
The memo claimed Woolworths only makes 3.6 cents profit for every $1 spent by a customer. A spokesperson told Yahoo Finance the factsheet was drawn up as part of its submission to the Senate Inquiry into supermarket prices and was given to staff to break down their costs.
But the worker felt the note was disingenuous, and hit back at the profit claims.
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"I work for Woolies, and they put this in the lunch room because we all felt ripped off," the staffer said.
"They put it here to assure us that they are not as rich as we think they are.
"Like we are falling for this crap. Saying they only make 3.6 cents from every dollar, what a joke."
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The note said that for every $1 that customers spend, 65 cents goes back to suppliers, 17 cents go to store costs and staff wages, 5 cents goes to supply chain costs, another 5 cents goes to support and other costs, 2 cents is for stock losses and another 2 cents is for interest and tax.
That leaves just 3.6 cents for profit.
Yahoo Finance revealed Coles made a similar claim last year.
"For every $100 a customer spends, Coles makes $2.60," Coles said.
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In Woolworths' Senate Inquiry executive summary, it was claimed supermarkets are a "high-volume, low-margin sector" in Australia.
"Australia has one of the most efficient and productive grocery sectors in the OECD," it said.
"We make around 3.6c in every $1 in our Australian Food Group. This is before our investment back into making our business (and indeed the Australian grocery sector) more resilient, innovative and efficient through our balance sheet."
It added that it publishes detailed audited financial accounts every six months to provide "a high degree of transparency both to our investors and the broader public".
When out-going CEO Brad Banducci fronted the Senate Inquiry, a lot of attention was placed on how much profit the company was making while shoppers were dumpster diving and forgoing meals as food was too expensive.
Woolworths made $1.7 billion in profit last year and Banducci's salary alone was more than $8 million.
A fiery back and forth between him and Greens Senator Nick McKim resulted in the CEO being threatened with jail for contempt.
Woolworths was also recently fined a little more than $1.2 million for failing to pay leave entitlements to hundreds of Victorian staff.
The court was told the company had made a “human error” when updating its payroll systems over an 18-month period beginning in 2014.
- with NCA Newswire
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