VACC applauds report on fuel discount shopper dockets

The VACC has backed a new report into fuel discount shopper dockets – an issue the industry body has previously urged the ACCC to examine.

“The new report by the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) substantiates what VACC has been saying all along – that so-called supermarket shopper docket discounts are a sham and they are a contributing factor to the demise of independent service stations,” VACC executive director David Purchase says.

VACC recently released data showing that Coles and Woolworths control approximately 50 per cent of the Australian retail fuel market, through their retail fuel partners, Shell and Caltex. VACC’s statement says that, considering both these alliance partnerships were only formed in 2003, “their grab of market share has been considerable”.

“Conversely, the demise of independent service stations has been extreme. In the last 40 years, the number of members in VACC’s Service Station Division has dropped from 3,050 to 215,” the statement says.

“VACC shares concerns about the supermarket shopper docket discount scheme, expressed recently by the AAA which found the latest ‘double discount’ promotions on fuel by Woolworths and Coles over the summer short-changed motorists.

We applaud AAA for highlighting this issue. “For many years, VACC has said the supermarket shopper docket discount scheme is a con. AAA reported that higher fuel prices were used to offset the discounts.

VACC believes that Woolworths and Coles underpin their fuel discounts with higher grocery prices. Whatever smoke and mirrors are used, the bottom line is motorists are being dudded because the so-called discount is not a real discount.

“We have previously called on the Government regulator, the ACCC, to intervene in this matter, but, in our opinion, it has been slow to act. As a result, Coles and Woolworths now dominate the market to the point where they can manipulate it and have too much influence,” Mr Purchase says.

“We note Senator Nick Xenophon’s comments on the issue of supermarket shopper dockets and his call for Petrol Commissioner, Joe Dimasi, to be sacked. While we would not go that far, we do support his claim that there is too much ‘looking’ at petrol prices and not enough action.

"We too have repeatedly been told by ACCC that it is ‘looking into the matter’; with all this ‘looking’, maybe it is time the ACCC bought a bigger mirror,” Mr Purchase says.

VACC, the peak automotive industry body in Victoria, has repeated its call for greater Government intervention into supermarket shopper docket discounts.

VACC represents more than 5,000 members in the retail, service and repair sector of the automotive industry, including more than 200 independent service station members.