How this shopper scored free steaks at Woolworths thanks to a staff member sticker
Shopper scores Woolworths steak for free thanks to this little-known sticker: “Did this happen to anyone else?”
- Woolies employee gives mom ‘Team Member Purchase’ sticker
- He put it on her steak which rang the free bell at the register
A customer was touched by a random act of kindness from a Woolworths employee after he gave her $11 free steaks.
The mother said the staff member approached her while she was shopping and put a sticker that read “Team Member Purchase” on the bar code on a pack of beef steak, causing it to ring at the register for $0.
She asked if anything similar had happened to other customers and while many said they’ve received free or discounted groceries from Woolies clerks on rare occasions, it was never confirmed whether the deed was right.
“I’m not sure if this happened to anyone else, but while we were at Woolies today, an employee chased us and put this sticker on the barcode of a steak we had in our trolley,” the woman explained.
‘ He then told us it would be free on check out and it was! I wonder if this is a new campaign they’re running, but it really was so appreciated.’
A mother was touched when a Woolworths employee put a sticker over the barcode on a pack of steaks she was buying so it would go through the checkout for free
The New South Wales customer shared the story and an image of the steaks with the mystery sticker on the Mums Who Budget – Australia Facebook page exciting dozens of members.
“Brb does all my shopping at Woolies now,” one mom said, and another wrote, “I want that to happen to my whole cart.”
“Maybe it’s a pay-it-forward thing, maybe he paid for it?” someone asked to which the shopper said: ‘I think so!’.
Many said they had also received stickers from staff on groceries and speculated what it might mean.
‘It’s not a scam or staff acting dodgy! It’s a random act of kindness. The managers would communicate to all employees how/what/when they would do it so that all employees would be aware,” said one member.
“I had a Kmart employee next to me at a self-serve last Christmas — she finished work and bought a drink. Before I could pay she stopped me and entered a staff code, which allowed me to get X amount. It was so nice of her!’ a second recalled.
Many said they’ve had similar incidents while shopping, but some warned the staff member could get in trouble for giving away free groceries
One mother said she was presented with a bunch of flowers when she stormed into a Woolies store with her newborn in stress and another mother even had her entire store of meat, diapers and formula paid for.
Others said the staff member who gave her the sticker and her steaks for free would risk getting in trouble from managers.
“The employee could be in trouble if he doesn’t have the store manager’s clearance as there is currently no promotion going on here in Queensland,” said a Woolies employee.
“But those stickers are for the staff, so other staff know you’ve already paid for them.”
Another staffer agreed that while he was happy that the customer was getting her meat for free, they were “intrigued” as to why the employee would hand over the sticker.
“When giving things to people for free, the staff isn’t supposed to use those stickers on customer items, they’re just for staff coming in with things the store is selling or paid for during their breaks. Only front-end managers and supervisors are meant to have access to use them,” they said.
“Hopefully they’ve gone through the RF device and ‘written off’ one of these meats in the system as a gesture of goodwill or whatever they call it now, or they could be in trouble.”
They added that they were familiar with managers “randomly” giving away items for free to help shoppers “just because they want to” and are pleased that people are continuing to make this gesture amid the rising cost of living.
The Daily Mail Australia has contacted Woolworths for comment.