Asda should reinstate charity and food bank collections

[charitynjw]

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitio...s?bucket=blast

ASDA SHOULD REINSTATE CHARITY AND FOOD BANK COLLECTIONS

CS

Campaign created by
Clare Smith










64,995
of 75,000 signatures

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TO: ASDA

Asda has removed all charity collections points from its stores nationwide with little explanation. These allowed customers to donate food to various charities on their way out of store. Some food banks receive approximately 25% of their donations via Asda and many local charities, including those collecting for animals, are also affected.
Asda should immediately reverse their decision and reinstate the facility.

Why is this important?

Many animal charities and food banks rely on these generous donations from the public and will struggle without them. Asda provided an essential and welcome service for the community.
'In Frome, Somerset, the food bank run by the charity Fair Frome was notified of the end of in-store food collections last week. “ He put the proportion of food his charity had received from the Asda collections at 25%.
Food banks are not the only charities affected. In St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, representatives of a charity that helps stray cats called Cat Call were recently told that a box for donated cat food, as well as a collecting box for cash contributions, would have to be removed from a local Asda, along with several other collection points for local charities.
The Cat Call collection point had been in the store for about two years, and provided 85% of the charity’s cat food, distributed to people who temporarily provide a home for stray cats, but may not be able to afford to feed them.' John Harris The Guardian 17.2.2016

[pt2537]

Re: Asda should reinstate charity and food bank collections

Shocking move by ASDA in my view.

[seduraed]

Re: Asda should reinstate charity and food bank collections

there is a petition on 38 degrees to reinstate food banks. meanwhile maybe we should write and complaintyo asdaand then stop shopping there. they are type of company which only responds to bittom line.

[Amethyst]

Re: Asda should reinstate charity and food bank collections

http://www.tesco.com/food-collection/

Tesco top up donations by 30%, and deliver it... no idea if Asda used to do that.

[charitynjw]

Re: Asda should reinstate charity and food bank collections

there is a petition on 38 degrees to reinstate food banks. meanwhile maybe we should write and complaintyo asdaand then stop shopping there. they are type of company which only responds to bittom line.

The link on post #1 should bring you to the petition.

Update - yep, just checked.

[pt2537]

Re: Asda should reinstate charity and food bank collections

there is a petition on 38 degrees to reinstate food banks. meanwhile maybe we should write and complaintyo asdaand then stop shopping there. they are type of company which only responds to bittom line.

ive signed the petition on 38 degrees a while ago.

[Nibbler]

Re: Asda should reinstate charity and food bank collections

No statement from ASDA at all?

[Kati]

Re: Asda should reinstate charity and food bank collections

From Charity's link:

First off, they say that they are restructuring how they give to charity. They are giving two million more in cash terms. Great! However local charities connected with food find it very useful to use the collection service in particular, there is currently no clarity as to how, or even whether, small, local charities like those affected will be able to access any extra money,and of course it adds a whole level of bureacracy that local charities are not neccesarily ideally placed to cope with. Local charities, and indeed many customers, seem to value the feeling of a direct link between themselves and the charities concerned and to like the food collection box way of giving to their local community.

Here is reason two. It is not fair on their other charities. I don't really understand this reasoning. The collection boxes are used by organisations that are specifically in need of foodstuffs for animals and foodbanks. It costs little to provide the service by Asda and so does not eat into their charity funds for other organisations as such to which they can continue donating both food and money if they wish.

Reason number 3 given by Asda. Customers steal from the boxes. Not sure about the extent of this as Asda haven't provided any data or real life examples as yet. It is possible that this may happen occasionally with the odd item but no charity has reported a major stripping of boxes on a regular basis or any sense that it is a major issue. Asking charities to man the boxes for hours is unrealistic for many smaller charities and would eat into valuable volunteer time and resources. No other supermarket who run collection schemes have brought up such issues and asked for such a criteria before allowing boxes into their shops.

And reason number four given by Asda is...they feel that the boxes must be manned by the charities constantly in order to provide information to the public. Charities could however provide this information in other ways if neccesary, such as a leaflet. However to be honest I think most customers donating understand the term 'local food bank' or the local cat and dog rescue organisations on the boxes. It isn't rocket science. No one would appreciate the feeling of running a gauntlet of volunteers surely! Those who want to donate do. Tesco is currently expanding their charity box scheme with no such conditions in place so this is very much a management decision by Asda as an organisation.

[Amethyst]

Re: Asda should reinstate charity and food bank collections

Ahhh a ''Spokesperson'' from Asda

Asda, which is owned by US retailer Walmart, has said the move is an attempt to make donations more effective and customers better informed about where their money is going.

"This is absolutely not about us stepping away from supporting food banks at all, if anything it's about improving the way we support local causes," said a spokesperson.

They added that "endless amounts of unmanned points" across the supermarket would not be effective.

[nemesis45]

Re: Asda should reinstate charity and food bank collections

Signed on 38 D
Rumours around our area that some donated good were "restocked"???

nem

[Noah]

Re: Asda should reinstate charity and food bank collections

The irony that a company who rely on government handouts to supplement the wages of its employees (both here and in the U.S.) removes the very help that some of the employees rely on

[PAWS]

Re: Asda should reinstate charity and food bank collections

All their reasoning seems to imply that they are changing how they give to local charity. Well the collection boxes are about the customer giving to the charity and Asda simply give the boxes floor space –which let’s face it wouldn’t kill them- so has jack to do with how Asda support local food banks. As for people stealing from the boxes…..is this the same organisation who had the time and resources to persecute a woman who accidentally underpaid at the self-checkout by 27p?

[Kati]

Re: Asda should reinstate charity and food bank collections

http://www.theguardian.com/business/...-food-bank-ban

Asda backs down over food bank ban

Supermarket chain to allow collection points back into its UK supermarkets after backlash

The supermarket chain Asda has announced a policy U-turn that will see the return of permanent collection points for food banks and other charities in all its UK stores.

The move comes after the Guardian broke the news that the collection points were being removed across Britain. Some food banks said the move would threaten 25% of their supplies, while the Trussell Trust food bank network warned of losses of food of up to a third.
Asda removes food bank donation points from UK stores

[charitynjw]

Re: Asda should reinstate charity and food bank collections

Asda reinstate food banks at stores

February 26th, 2016 • No Comments

http://www.bitterwallet.com/asda-rei...itterWallet%29



By Mof Gimmers
Asda, unannounced, removed a number of permanent collection points for food banks from their stores in the UK. These points allowed people to donate items they’d bought in stores, as well as food brought in from their homes, with some charities saying that Asda contributed up to 25% of their donations.
Obviously, this decision was met with confusion from shoppers, and in some cases, outright anger.
Well, it looks like Asda have changed their minds about the whole thing, which is good news for the charities, the people they help, and of course, great news for those who like to do a good deed now and then.
The Guardian report that this change started to make moves midweek, with Asda’s internal social network (The Green Room) buzzing with staff saying that they’d like to see a return to these collecting points.
In a briefing, released to Asda’s staff, the company said: “We are reinstating all previously existing unmanned collections in store, eg Guide Dogs for the Blind collections, food banks, Marie Curie collection trays. This is about reinviting existing charity partners back into store, not about actively going out and recruiting any new unmanned collections at this stage.”
It was thought that this move was initially brought in, thanks to costs being cut. Seeing as the supermarket has just announced their worst quarterly figure ever, this seemed to add-up. However, Asda deny this, saying that they were channelling an additional £2m in charitable funding via their Asda Foundation.
Asda said: “We made some changes to our community programme around unmanned collections in the belief that this would benefit the many local good causes who collect in our stores. On this occasion, our customers and colleagues have told us they understand our intentions, but prefer us to continue to give charities more options to maximise donations. We are therefore reinstating unmanned collection points.”
“Asda plays an important role in the communities we serve and we look forward to continuing to support many more local charities and good causes.”