Against Supevalu's Kids in Action Voucher Scheme

Supervalu Admit their Vouchers are Worthless

This is an opinion piece about the Supevalu 'Kids in Action" voucher scheme that gives "free" sports equipment to schools; this equipment is anything but free, and Supervalu, in their Terms and Conditions, admit that the vouchers are worthless.

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Supervalu has admitted that its vouchers for the Kids in Action programme are worthless.

The recently launched Supervalu 'Kids in Action' voucher scheme claims to provide schools with free sports equipment. This is a fallacy. Simple maths will explain: in order for a school to claim a 'free' gymnastics mat that retails at about €280, customers will have to spend €32,840 in Supervalu (i.e. 3,240 vouchers at €10 each); in order for a school to claim a 'free' basketball (that you could buy for around €10) customers will be asked to add €1,570 to Supervalu's bank account, and so on. (Source: 2009 Supervalu's 'Kids in Action' Catalogue, available at supervalukidsinaction.com)

What a scheme like this actually does is allow an under-funded education system to continue to be under-funded by allowing the government to continue to abdicate its responsibilities in this area. The line seems to be: if Supervalu are willing to provide sports equipment, why not let them? The same is true of other voucher schemes such as Tesco's 'Computers for Schools' scheme, which claims to give free IT equipment to schools. Could you imagine the uproar if Supervalu et al decided to run a 'Medical Equipment for Hospitals' voucher scheme? Or, 'Non-Lethal Weapons for the Gardaí' voucher scheme?

The only free thing that comes out of this scheme is free advertising for the supermarkets. Looking at the terms and conditions, however, of this scheme we can see something very telling: Condition 8: "The nominal cash value of each Supervalu Kids in Action voucher is €0.001". The subtext here being that the vouchers are worthless (especially when you look at Condition 19: "Vouchers are not redeemable for cash"). Indeed.

The Irish National Teachers Organisation has called on its 34,000 members to 'reject [these campaigns] by sending the vouchers back or by putting them in the recycle bin". Indeed, this is advice that every right thinking parent ought to consider (whilst also writing to Supervalu to let them know that we are not going to allow our education system to be co-opted by private enterprise).

If you'd like to do something about this contact someone who can effect change in this matter.