Supermarket Giveaways Too Restrictive: DAB

The DAB party on Sunday blasted a giveaway plan by Hong Kong’s two largest supermarket chains, saying it’s too restrictive and excludes most people.

ParknShop and Wellcome have agreed to give back to the community after receiving hundreds of millions of dollars from the government’s anti-epidemic wage subsidy, despite seeing a boom in business during the pandemic.

At least half the amount the firms received is to be given back to the community in the form of cash vouchers, food coupons, discounts and other measures by the end of the year.

These vouchers are being dispersed to various groups of people via non-governmental organisations, but the DAB says this arrangement means only people affiliated with these NGOs are getting anything, and most people are being left out.

“We hope that it’s not only for the members in the NGOs, [but also for] all the people who is facing unemployment, who [are] facing difficulties”, DAB legislator Vincent Cheng said.

“We hope that they can provide more vouchers to the public as well.”

There has been widespread criticism of the cash voucher scheme, with both sides saying the supermarkets aren’t giving enough back when compared with the amount of taxpayer money they received from the government.