How Woolies has exposed huge price rises and checkout changes with 2016 TV ad: Have your say

Coles has spruiked its “exceptional customer service” as Woolies screens a 2016 TV ad about the pride its checkout workers take in bagging-up customers’ groceries. But it’s Woolies getting bagged.

Coles has spruiked its “exceptional customer service” as its competitor Woolworths screens an eight-year-old TV advertisement proclaiming its pride in the care its checkout workers take in bagging-up groceries.

But shoppers have, in turn, bagged Woolworths for using an advertisement from July 2016 when grocery prices were a fraction of what they are today, to promote the chain.

In the Woolies ad called Packed With Pride — now screening during prime time television — a well-spoken and genial young male checkout worker tells a customer he will place all the frozen goods in one bag and also put the eggs aside so he can place on the top of a bag later, so they don’t risk being squashed.

Woolies reuses an old ad to spruik its claimed superior bag packing. Picture: YouTube

The ad promotes packing of bags of groceries for just $35.50. Picture: YouTube

Consumers have called “bullsh-t” on the small total for the shop. Picture: YouTube

The total for the shop, which also includes a bag of oranges, comes to just $35.50.

The checkout worker’s proud mum, looking on from a distance as she pushes a laden trolley, later remarks that he should clean his room to a similarly high standard to that which he packs shoppers’ groceries.

But the ad — which exposes the huge rise in grocery prices in the years since the ad was made — has seen people comment that it’s “very smart reusing an old ad hoping no one would notice” and that now people must pay for their bags as well as mostly back their own bags.

“2024: ‘Okay, that will be $566.45c. Would you like to tip 20 per cent?” comments one person on the supermarket’s YouTube page, while another quips “$35.50? Lol! More like $105.50!”

Another says: “$35 I call BS that there is so much to pack and only cost $35.”

Yet others remark that the ad was produced pre-Covid, at a time when supermarket bags were free and there were more checkout workers and fewer self-serve stations.

Woolies introduced its 15-cent reusable plastic bags in 2018, made from 80 per cent recycled material.

These days Woolies shopping bags range from 25 cents for a paper bag to $3 for a macro resusable jute bag.

Chiller bags are $2.50.

Woolworths was contacted for comment.

Meanwhile, its competitor Coles told the Herald Sun it was “always looking for ways to improve how we serve our customers and provide exceptional customer service”.

“Our team members are trained and encouraged to help our customers where possible. Whether it be packing their bags effectively, offering to scan bulky items at the self-service checkout area for them, helping them to find an item in the store or even reaching a product that’s up high, it’s all about offering the best possible customer service experience for them so they come back time and time again,” a spokesperson said.

“We are constantly evolving and carrying out various training approaches with current and new team members across the country to ensure a seamless and efficient shopping experience for our customers.”