There has been increased awareness lately on the fate of surplus retail products and other non-perishable goods. From clothing to small appliances, health and beauty to toys where do all the good things go?
Amazon has recently come under fire for destroying unsold items with one of Amazon’s smaller warehouses sending 293,000 items to landfill in a nine-month period. Similarly, Burberry were called out last year for destroying over £90m ($162m AUD) of unwanted items in the past 5 years to prevent them being stolen or sold cheaply.
There are a lot of reasons businesses and retailers end up with excess goods. Some of these include; end of season stock, product lines discontinued, rebranding and small production errors to name a few.
Many reasons that businesses end up with surplus stock are unavoidable and part of the cost of business for the company. But there is a better solution for dealing with surplus stock!
Currently, French manufacturers and retailers dispose of €800m worth of brand-new goods each year. France has announced that by 2023, manufacturers and retailers will have to donate, reuse or recycle the goods.
Amazon has responded to public criticism of their disposal practices and have launched a new program that allows third-party sellers to donate their excess and returned goods. Amazon has partnered with Good360 in the US and a number of charities in the UK to facilitate this.
Good360 Australia has been working with businesses for the past 4 years to help repurpose items of values. Good360 is a matchmaker helping connect the brand-new surplus goods of businesses with the Australians who need them most.
For Not for Profit organisations and Schools it can be difficult to locate and obtain the product donations needed for their programs and services. It is a time-consuming process and for under resourced organisations it can be a drain on both time and budget.
Similarly, it is difficult for the product donors, with each call the business receives from well-meaning charities they have to do their own due diligence, making sure the donations they gift are going where they are needed most.
This is where Good360 can help. Good360 is the matchmaker bringing together the brand-new surplus goods of businesses with the people working to lift up Australian communities. Eligible Not for Profits (registered with the ACNC) and Schools (with an ICSEA ranking below 1,000) can access FREE Good360 Membership, once registered they can browse our online catalogue for the goods they need. The goods are free with members just paying a small shipping and handling fee to get the goods delivered right to their door.
To date, Good360 has provided over 9 million items to Australians in need from top brands such as BIG W, LEGO LUSH, L’Oréal Australia, SC Johnson, Moose Toys, 3M and many more.
Our platform for online giving allows our members to find the goods they need quickly and easily. Our donors also have the reassurance that Good360 are monitoring our members and that the goods are going to Australians in need.
All this wouldn’t be possible without the goods donated to us. There are a number of reasons businesses donate their brand-new excess goods to Good360. We sat down briefly with Good360’s Head of Marketing and Communications to find out just a few reasons.
If you are or know an eligible Not for Profit or School that could benefit from Good360 go www.good360.org.au to register and find out more.
Our April Member of the Month was The Beauty Bank! The Beauty Bank has been a Good360 member for almost 4 years, joining in October 2016. During COVID-19 they have been spreading joy and love by supplying little luxury gift packs to our front line workers.
Lydia is a Year 6 student at Delegate Public School. During the recent bushfire crisis that severely impacted the Delegate community, Lydia was evacuated six times whilst her parents remained home to defend their property from the fires. She has written and shared a beautiful poem on her experience.
Published by Power Retail – 18 May 2020
