Dear Salvation Army Team,
I am seeking clarification regarding how affordability is defined and applied within Salvation Army retail operations.
The Salvation Army Australia Annual Report 2023 outlines your purpose as relieving poverty and supporting vulnerable and disadvantaged people.
Your listing on the Australian Charities and Not for profits Commission Charity Register states your charitable purpose includes advancing social welfare and providing public benefit, including the relief of poverty.
In your Pre Budget Submission 2023 to 2024, you highlight the impact of cost of living pressures on vulnerable Australians and the importance of access to essential goods and services.
Salvos Stores public communications describe stores as providing low cost and accessible goods to the community, alongside promoting reuse and sustainability.
Based on this, affordability and accessibility appear to be key components of the retail model.
I am seeking clarification on the following:
How affordability is defined within Salvos Stores pricing frameworks
What internal guidelines or benchmarks are used to price donated goods
How affordability is considered in relation to the communities being served
How consistency is maintained across different store locations
For context, I have attached a small number of recent photographs taken in a Salvos store in Kingston, Tasmania.
These images show examples of donated items currently priced at or above comparable new retail alternatives.
They are provided as current, real world examples to support the questions raised regarding how affordability is being defined and applied in practice.
There is a significant volume of public feedback indicating that some customers are experiencing difficulty accessing goods due to pricing. This suggests a potential gap between stated positioning and customer experience.
This request is focused on understanding how affordability is defined, implemented, and reviewed within your current retail model.
For transparency, I have also initiated a petition and raised this issue with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in relation to pricing practices across charity retail more broadly.
Kind regards,
Cassandra