What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word exploitation? Are children being forced into the workplace too young? Slaves working against their will? A kind person being taken advantage of by a crook? Crooks taking advantage of anyone and everyone they can take advantage of?

What about Woolworths and Coles: do they pop into your mind? Cambridge Dictionary defines exploitation as “the act of using something unfairly for your advantage.” Given that Coles and Woolies have raised their prices higher than the rate of inflation and made record profits last year (FY ending 2023)—as noted by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) in their supermarkets' inquiry—I'd say they're taking advantage of the fact that these are irreplaceable essentials for financial gain. They’re exploiting your need to eat just to line their pockets.

Now that we've focused our attention on Coles' and Woolies' business practices, what are we to do now? Do we willingly continue to be exploited just to get essentials? Or, do we protest the exploitation of inflated living? I, for one, would choose to protest, and  I see two ways to do so. First, we demonstrate and we rally. We show Coles and Woolies that what they are doing is not cool. Bad Coles. Bad Woolies. The Green Party here in Melbourne has been doing anti-price gouging demonstrations, which is an excellent move that I completely and utterly welcome and applaud for its sentiment. (Update since writing this: there has been an inquiry into price gouging by Coles and Woolies. While, again, this is very good and I am happy it is happening, and it is less just for sentiment than a demonstration. Unfortunately, the essence of the point I am making still stands). The only thing corporations understand and care about is their bottom line. The only way they would change is if their profit margins were attacked. Finger-wagging won’t cut it.

Great, Ali. I know that’s the only thing corporations respond to, but what am I to do? Stop buying essentials? I can’t stop buying essentials, they’re essentials. Are you a moron?

I never said to stop getting essentials. We should stop buying them. It is illegal to steal from a grocery store. That being said, I do not believe that every illegal action is necessarily morally wrong. Allow me to contextualise my belief with an illustration.

The ever-increasing rollout of the dear self-service is undoubtedly a purely money-driven decision to cut staff in favour of unmanned tills. With that decision, Coles and Woolworths are seemingly incentivising… let’s call them creative self-scanning techniques. A bean counter somewhere very high up the chain of command has decided that more self-service tills, and thus the reduction in staffing, would generate more money than if they maintained their previous levels of staffing—despite any tomfoolery at the scanners.

An example of self-scanning creative tomfoolery, completely and utterly for clarity, would be taking the same two items, placing both in your reusable bag, scanning just one, and taking both out with you—and none’s the wiser.

The decision to decrease staffing and increase grocery prices from Coles and Woolworths, during a cost-of-living crisis, is completely legal. Yet, creative tomfoolery at the self-scanning machine is not. The law does not care that it is their greed, their exploitation of us, which makes the creative tomfoolery at the scanners easy. Or, for some, even necessary.

Hence, my belief. To me, in this instance, the legal decision to increase prices and employ fewer staff just to increase the profit margins in a corporation owned by obscenely rich individuals is immoral. The unequivocally illegal decision to potentially creatively scan some of your items in protest, especially if out of necessity, is not immoral in my opinion. If you agree with me, then tomfoolery at the scanners may be a consideration for you!

Otherwise, or if tomfoolery at the scanners is too scary, what other options does one have? 

1. Go to your local (weekend) farmer's market! Woolies and Coles have been paying their farmers less and less, and they charge you more and more. Ask your under-21 Coles or Woolies employee: they don’t pay them much either. Farmers markets are not as convenient as they have shorter trading hours, less convenient public transport options, potentially slightly higher prices on certain items, and lacklustre online options. However, you’re supporting locals, you’re paying them a more livable wage, and you’re getting something fresher and healthier. Interacting with lovely people and making your day immeasurably better is a HUGE bonus of shopping at the local market. Another bonus is free tastings!
2. Go to your (permanent) market and local butcher and poultry shop! Again, it may be less convenient sometimes due to the possibly more out-of-the-way location, shorter opening hours, and the fact that you cannot get everything from that one store. However, you pay less for a fresher, better version of the same stuff.
3. Go to your local independent grocery store! It could be a bigger store like KFL or Quality Groceries, or a smaller guy, like your corner Asian store. It may be a bit more difficult to navigate due to; the less familiar store design, less familiar shelf grouping and order, not as convenient (noticing a theme?), and a tad more expensive. However, I would probably feel a bit more uncomfortable forking over all the money I otherwise would to Woolies and Coles, given what I’ve discussed in the article.

Think about what you would buy from Coles and Woolies throughout the week. Would it cost you much more than if you bought it from your local market, butcher, farmer’s market, and local independent grocery store? Would it even out to be the same cost?

There’s a part of you, deep down, that doesn’t want to do all this. You’re thinking something like: “It’s too much work. It’s too tiring. You don’t get it, Ali. I work too much and don’t get paid enough to do all this work. ‘Better world’ this ‘exploitation’ that la-dee-da hoity-toity gibberish you’re typing up on this online publication of yours. Do you even have a job? With Coles and Woolworths, I can go at any time of day, in a nice air-conditioned mall, with parking lots larger than a footy oval. Well, I suppose that would be a great area to build this housing thing that people keep talking about. It would be well connected via roads and public transport and it would be near amenities. I’d rather park in it though. To go to Woolies and Coles where they can charge me way too much and line up their pockets. I can afford to. Otherwise, I’d need to WALK? WHAT? No. Definitely not. Why are you giving me that look?”

I am being facetious. I can relate to being too tired, being too emotionally and mentally exhausted, and being too time-poor to be able to take on such giants. We’re only human, we’re only one person, what does it matter anyway?

It matters. It definitely and utterly matters, way more than you think. However, life gets in the way, and it is an extra burden on a difficult and exhausting week. There is no judgement from me in this piece. I am making my point, and I hope you heard it. So, the next time you are at Woolies or Coles self-serve checkout, I want you to look down at your basket and think: is self-scanning my shopping without any tomfoolery the morally correct thing, or simply the legal, convenient thing? Is giving them any sort of money, despite tomfoolery at the till, the moral thing to do?

Perhaps you don't think that Coles and Woolies are doing anything wrong. Perhaps you would feel that calling it exploitation is going too far. You could say that this is just the market, as it should be. Ali can grow his food if he doesn’t like it. Or you could say that the whole system is crooked and it needs to be overthrown.

However, neither approach is quite practical right now.

In conclusion, our choices at the checkout counter extend beyond mere transactions. They shape the world we inhabit, one basket of groceries at a time. Coles and Woolworths, with their rising prices and record profits, both epitomise corporate exploitation, disproportionately affecting the already struggling working class. But we need not be complicit passive bystanders. Yes, it’s inconvenient, and yes, it requires effort. Everything I have outlined is not ideal, and wouldn’t be necessary if we didn’t live in a world filled with greedy people. Yet, in those moments when you scan your items, consider whether you’re merely following the law and lining the pockets of those greedy people, or making a conscious choice for a fairer, more ethical world. The answer lies not just in legality but in our collective resolve for social justice and a fairer world. So, next time you reach for that reusable bag, remember: that convenience may be legal, but conscious action is transformative. 🛒🌱🌍

I welcome objections! Email them through, and I will address them in a separate article.