FairPrice donating up to S$500,000 for needy

Singapore

FAIRPRICE has pledged to donate up to S$500,000 through its online grocery orders.

The funds will help five organisations in need, namely, Lee Ah Mooi Old Age Home, Metta Welfare Association, Assisi Hospice, Touch Community Services and Food from the Heart.

A FairPrice spokesperson said: "The funds will provide much needed aid to these organisations, which help less fortunate and vulnerable individuals and families, during the escalating Covid-19 situation where donations to support their social work have diminished."

FairPrice has also intensified its efforts to enable more customers to order their groceries online.

It has invested heavily over the past two months to upgrade its online grocery infrastructure, and hired and trained about 150 staff to become skilled pickers and packers.

This has resulted in an increase of 25 per cent in the number of delivery slots available for online customers.

In the coming weeks, FairPrice will continue to hire more staff and also further increase its online capacity by another 30 per cent by converting a brick-and-mortar FairPrice store into another dedicated fulfilment centre for online orders, among various other activities.

Seah Kian Peng, group CEO, FairPrice Group, said: "FairPrice continues to invest in our online grocery service to ensure more families in our community are able to have access to their daily essentials. As the Covid-19 situation impacts our lives, it is important also to look out for one another, especially those who may be most affected. We galvanise the community to share in our efforts to do good and play a part for the community."

To engage the community to do their part for the less fortunate, FairPrice Foundation will match the service fee for all online orders and donate up to S$500,000 to the five organisations.

The service fee of S$3.99 has been applied to all online orders.

Some customers are encouraged by the move. Housewife Chah Sing Yee said the initiative is commendable as the staff members are working doubly hard. "I'll take it it's their deserved fee for working out there, while we stay home."

Bank employee Anna Ng agreed and said the implementation of the service fee has opened up more delivery slots, which is much needed.

"With more delivery slots opened up, there may be less need for people to go down to shops physically and risk getting infection or infecting others," she added.

Others had their reservations.

Chen Baoling, a mother of three who works in the science industry, said such a move may drive more people to queue up outside the shops to "save on the fee".

When asked if the service fee will remain after the Covid-19 situation blows over, a FairPrice spokesperson said: "The service fee, which was waived when FairPrice first introduced it in March 2020, partially covers the costs of processing, picking and packing online grocery orders.

"This fixed token fee of S$3.99 is very low and is a subsidised rate considering the costs involved in processing grocery products which involve cold chain management, transportation for bulk goods, manpower and stringent food safety and quality measures. As such, the delivery and service fees will remain regardless of whether or not we are in a period of high demand like the current Covid-19 situation."

Mr Seah said: "We adopt a transparent pricing approach - there are no hidden mark-ups on products themselves as our online platform maintains uniform prices with our brick and mortar stores.

"The service fee only partially covers the total costs of processing, picking, and packing online grocery orders."