Woolworths, Qantas, Australia Post: Most trusted brands revealed despite some facing big scandals

A new list of Australia’s most trusted brands has shown that many of them are highly regarded despite recent negative publicity.

The Roy Morgan Trusted Brand Awards judged organizations such as supermarkets, media organizations, automobiles, travel, services, banks, insurance, pensions, charities and more.

Woolworths picked up the highest gong with the likes of Qantas, Toyota, Australia Post and ABC closely following.

The eventual winner – dubbed ‘best of the best’ by Roy Morgan – has now been Woolworths for two years in a row, after it knocked Bunnings from first place.

And while all of the companies are clearly highly trusted by Aussies, they’ve also gotten quite a bit of hot water in the past year, no more than Australia’s flag carrier.

Qantas – Most Trusted in Travel & Tourism

Last week, a video surfaced of a passenger on a Qantas flight from Denpasar to Sydney ranting to a flight attendant, ‘you’re being rude and it’s fucking disgusting’.

“(air hostesses) made her cry, and she’s crying because they were rude to her with a newborn baby, sorry,” the man said.

Although he was taken off the flight, he received a lot of support on social media.

‘He is right. I would do the same if someone didn’t respect my family,” one commented.

“Standing up for his family, crew at fault,” wrote a second.

Qantas’ CEO Alan Joyce has also been criticized this year for getting a massive $287,000 pay raise, raising his package to a reported $5.5 million.

This spike in wages came despite both Qantas and its subsidiary Jetstar being plagued by delays, cancellations and other issues as air traffic bounced back from the pandemic.

In April, Mr Joyce had to apologize after blaming customers for not being ‘match fit’ to fly, as queues twisted around airports across Australia.

But Australians are a forgiving bunch and Qantas is still one of the most trusted brand names.

Woolworths – Most Trusted Supermarket

Woolworths not only received the most trusted supermarket award, it was also the overall winner.

According to the Roy Morgan awards, Woolworths customers said it was “sensitive to consumer needs and provides quality products.” There is no reason to be suspicious.’

Another customer said, ‘I really like their pricing, customer service and delivery’.

But it was a different story in a Daily Mail Australia report in June, when a farmer called on Aussie shoppers to boycott Woolworths for its prices.

“The only way you’ll teach Woolies a lesson is if you don’t buy your fresh fruit and vegetables there – go to the greengrocer or come to the Flemington markets,” says Guy Gaeta, an apple and cherry grower from Orange, NSW.

Mr Gaeta claimed that families could save ’50 or 60 per cent’ on their fruit and vegetable bills by shopping at Sydney’s Flemington markets.

Toyota – Most Trusted Car Brand

Toyota is not only Australia’s most trusted car brand, it is also the largest seller by a significant margin, selling more than 14,000 vehicles in September alone.

But last week, in “one of the biggest claims in the country’s legal history,” Toyota claimed Toyota used “destruction equipment” to hide vehicle emissions and circumvent standards.

Popular vehicles targeted in the lawsuit range from four-wheel drive to utes and vans, including the Toyota Hi-Lux, LandCruiser, RAV4, Prado, Fortuner, Granvia and HiAce.

In a statement, Toyota said it would stick to its reporting of all vehicle emissions and would defend itself “rigorously”.

Maddens Lawyers special counsel Brendan Pendergast said the lawsuit would allege that some Toyota vehicles used “advanced engineering” and “multiple sensors” to meet emissions standards during test conditions, but not when used in the real world.

Maddens claims Toyota could be forced to pay out up to $1 billion.

In September, it was also revealed that Australian motorists will have to wait four years for a brand new Toyota LandCruiser due to ‘unprecedented global demand’, even though the most ordered style has been around for almost 40 years.

ABC – Most Trusted Media Brand

The ABC is Australia’s most trusted media brand, according to the Roy Morgan Awards, but it sometimes seems to be a love-hate relationship.

In March, the broadcaster rejected pleas from viewers to halt the rollout of a new “login to watch” feature on its iView platform.

The login, which is required to access much of the national broadcaster’s streaming content, has been a nuisance for even ABC’s biggest fans.

There are also those who don’t have time for ABC anyway, such as the Daily Mail commentator who said: ‘The ABC is one of the worst abusers of taxpayers’ money in the country’.

“Privatize it or make it pay per view so those who don’t want to watch don’t have to pay for it,” she added.

Another said the ABC was the “biggest waste of $2 billion a year in taxpayers’ money.”

Australia Post – Most Trusted Service

Australia Post also made the top 20 and won the overall award for the best service award.

But it’s also the most complained about the Australian organization outside of Qantas.

Much of the complaining about Australia Post is about the delivery, often non-delivery, of parcels and the dreaded ‘sorry we missed you’ card.

Melbourne couple Wade Short and Veronica Lisbon received $3,000 from the company after repeatedly leaving collectibles by postmen and spending half an hour each week collecting their items from the post office.

Their battle with their local postman began in early 2020, when Mr. Short noticed their packages would either be left at the door or a pick-up slip would be left in the mailbox without knocking to see if anyone was home.

On one occasion, the delivery person threw one of the packages up the stairs of his Melbourne home and left – later saying the stairs did not meet safety standards.

The story resonated with many Daily Mail Australia readers, with some sharing their own problems with the postal service.

Happens to me every week. I even have them in front of the camera, I don’t even ring the doorbell, just post a card because they are too lazy,” said one.

But again, Australians seem to want to forgive and forget when it comes to Australia Post.