Read a story online last night about Woolworths and Coles offering bonus points to customers who bring their own bags.
Coles and Woolies latest desperate plastic bag ploy
I needed to visit both Woolworths and Coles this morning so I thought I'd test it out. In Woolworths, I used a self-service checkout and there were signs about the bonus points - 2 points per bag up to a maximum of (I think) 60 points per day - but no information about what to do to actually acquire the points. It turns out the staff member surpervising the self-service area needed to count the number of bags I used, scan a special barcode and manually enter the number of bags used on the screen.
It didn't seem terribly efficient to me. The staff member would have to manually intervene in every transaction for the points to be awarded which slows down the passage of customers through the self-service area, given they still need to assist other customers who are having trouble with their terminals.
It seems the Coles method is quicker - scan your Flybuys card and if you don't buy a bag in that transaction, you receive a standard number of (30) points.