In a study conducted in October 2022 by The Behaviour Change Agency (BCA) in Cape Town, it was estimated that 45% of South Africa’s total available food supply is being lost or wasted yearly, with the primary production stage of the food cycle on farms a major contributor.
But while farmers are doing their best to meet the challenges of fluctuating weather conditions caused by climate change and Eskom’s unreliable schedules affecting irrigation patterns, we as often-victimised consumers can testify that retailers are also partly to blame for food waste and for the rising number of the population who are going hungry.
Retail stores push bulk-buy “specials” and so-called bonus packs onto consumers, often with short sell-by dates, without any consideration for the pockets and consumption rate of single or smaller households. And by so doing are leaving a large sector of the public out economically, especially pensioners and those with monthly social grants or pensions who just can’t run to bulk buys.
The cost of waste falls on us
Increased pre-packaged sizes or bonus “Three for the price of two” gimmicks are advantageous if you have a big family and sufficient funds to take advantage of the offers, but if you don’t have either and do manage to scrape together to buy the only pack-size available it can mean running over the “Best Before” date before it can be consumed, causing costly and unnecessary food waste.
So is food waste an environmental, a humanitarian or an economic issue? The answer is all three.
In pre-Covid times, when prices were a little more accessible and there was slightly less unemployment, many fell for the increasing number of supermarket bulk-buy offers, but often found themselves with leftovers they simply couldn’t consume before the BB date, so would kindly pack up a “give-away” for someone in need. But now fewer and fewer single or small households can afford them in the first place.
In the current economy people are becoming more and more aware of the value of every crumb they buy, especially those on a tight budget who pretty much constitute the masses in South Africa at the moment.
Meeting the need and avoiding waste
This leads me to explain that today’s article is addressed to food producers and retailers on behalf of consumers as a plea to make more products available in small cheaper packages, albeit in addition to the larger packs on offer for bigger families.
Already a couple of decades ago, the food supermarket division of the Tesco group in the UK launched a special mini department within their stores where the shelves and cooling counters offered attractively displayed smaller food packages, refrigerated or otherwise, across a whole range of basic food products as well as non-essential but appealing delicacies, aimed specifically at pensioners, bachelors, or anyone living solo – “singletons” they called them – who just couldn’t afford or benefit from “buy bulk and save” campaigns, or even consume the contents in time to justify the outlay.
The above departments now offer hundreds of single-serve pre-packaged products, as well as hand-sized portions of fresh meats and vegetables, so that shoppers don’t need to wade through the same bulk-buy product every day to justify it, but can choose and enjoy variables within that same month’s budget.
This doesn’t mean that suppliers and retailers should stop promoting bulk offers, but that they should consider both ends of the consumer scale.
After a personal visit to one of the above stores, I enthusiastically emailed the head office of one of SA’s largest food retail groups who, coincidentally, had just employed an executive from the UK company. But got no response! So wake up SA, you can make money out of “singletons” too, but at their monthly budget convenience and without causing waste.
And as 23% of South African households are single perhaps it’s now time to readdress the issue in the hope that the retail sector will speedily focus more attention on catering for individuals as well as families, and in so-doing help the economy and reduce waste.
But SA is not the only country that is cutting out a whole section of shoppers by not seeing the potential of the smaller customer.
Right now in 2023, singles globally are complaining that supermarkets are punishing small shoppers, forcing those buying for one person to pay bigger bills at the checkout tills than bulk-buying couples and families. Persuading them to “stock up and save” and run over the BB date, again causing food waste and financial loss to smaller shoppers who can constitute up to a third of the population.
Short-sighted thinking
In the UK the country’s service economy generally is said to be passing on bigger savings to pairs or groups “because they’re buying more”, a concept that has been dubbed “The singles penalty”. This policy even applying to basic household essentials such as eggs, cheese, pre-packed meat and chicken, and even toilet rolls.
And now South Africa is penalising its single customers and smaller householders in the same way. But this is short-sighted thinking, as by additionally marketing smaller packs to customers who are not able to buy the bigger packs or go for the mid-month special offers, the difference is not only accounted for and surpassed, but they will now have increased their customer base and helped keep the country and the economy alive.
So if you, the reader of this article, run a single or small household, or are on a tight monthly budget, which doesn’t allow for bulk buys, now is the time to let your local store manager know, and ask him or her to send your request through to head office. Retailers can change the game – and together we can bring about change, environmentally, socially, and economically!
