When speaking to the manager of your local branch of Woolworths, either on the phone or in person, be firm and insistent but remain polite and courteous - they're just doing their job and the shoddy policies handed down by head office aren't their fault. Don't assume that they won't agree with what you're saying - they may turn out to be extremely supportive.
Here are some key points and questions to cover, and for maximum impact ask for your concerns to be passed on to head office. You can also print this page so you don't have to be in front of your computer when you call.
When you're ready, find the number of your local branch - we'll even send it to your mobile!
- Introduce yourself as a Woolworths customer or a Greenpeace supporter, and ask why they're still selling incandescent light bulbs, given the amount of energy they waste and how important it is to save energy to tackle climate change.
- Did you know Woolworths has come bottom of a new Greenpeace league table, which looks at how soon retailers are prepared to stop selling old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs?
- Most other retailers have named the date when they'll stop selling inefficient light bulbs and some have already stopped selling them, but not Woolworths. Why not?
- Hundreds of varieties of far more efficient light bulbs are now available which only use a fifth of the energy and last up to 12 times as long, so selling inefficient bulbs no longer makes any sense.
- Woolworths do sell a limited range of efficient light bulbs, but they cost over 10 times as much as the cheapest power crazy bulbs, so for customers there's no genuine choice.
- Many companies are changing their practices in response to customer concern about climate change - why won't Woolworths?
- Switching over to selling only efficient light bulbs is a simple thing to do, but it could have a massive impact on our efforts to tackle climate change.
- Woolworths could take the lead and agree to stop selling inefficient light bulbs. If every retailer did the same, we could save enough energy to close two power stations.
- Ask for reassurance that the manager will speak to the chief executive officier, Trevor Bish-Jones, about the points you've raised.
