A COVID-19 update from Countdown
Received via email:
Kia ora,
The safety and wellbeing of our customers, team members, suppliers and New Zealanders is always our utmost priority. We want to let you know what we are doing in response to Coronavirus (COVID-19).
Good quality, safe food is essential to all of our health, and having access to food and groceries is also really important for our peace of mind.
Keeping food and other essentials in stock
We're very lucky in New Zealand to have some of the best food in the world, and there is plenty to go around. There's no need to stock up.
We're working closely with our suppliers to keep food moving quickly through the network and make more deliveries to our stores. If you're seeing empty shelves or some products missing, it's because the product is on its way. It doesn't mean that we're going to run out.
We'd encourage all our customers to shop as you normally would, and to be thoughtful of others to ensure that all Kiwis have access to the food and products they need.
Good hygiene and safe food
We have always had very thorough cleaning, hygiene and food safety processes in our supermarkets and right through our supply chain.
To make sure we're doing as much as we can, we've also put in place even more cleaning and sanitising for each of our sites, and are installing hand sanitiser and wipes for our customers to use across our network of stores.
We're also following the Ministry of Health's guidelines around hand-washing and cleaning, and have reinforced this with all our teams.
Supporting our team
As a business which comes into contact with millions of Kiwis every day, we have a responsibility to help keep people safe. Right across our business we're following the government's requirements around self-isolation for any of our team members who are returning to New Zealand from overseas travel, as well as any of our supplier partners who are coming into our stores. We are supporting our team with leave if they have been impacted by self-isolation requirements.
Our online team is here to help
Our online service is experiencing high demand, and our personal shoppers and drivers are working very hard to provide a great service. If you're a first time online shopping customer, welcome!
If you're self-isolating, or you'd just be more comfortable with us dropping your groceries off at the doorstep without any contact, please let us know in your Delivery Instructions in the online checkout. We will leave your groceries on the doorstep and send you a text to let you know they're there.
Our teams are doing all we can to serve you during these busy and challenging times. We thank you for your continued patience and support.
Natalie Davis
Managing Director
Best way to use leftovers?
I'm sure you've got some excess ham at home or cold roast potatoes.
What are some of your favourite ways to use leftover food from Christmas day? Share below.
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️