Farmlands defends card fee hike

The shareholder, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Rural News that shareholders shouldn’t have to pay “a high amount of money just to get a card”

In an email to shareholders this week, Farmlands announced that starting from February, its card fee will rise to $65 plus GST per card. The current card fee is $28.75 plus GST.

Farmlands pointed out to shareholders that it is the first increase in five years.

“We have held off a fee increase for as long as we could.”

But one shareholder isn’t convinced.

“As we had to pay to belong to Farmlands Society, we don’t think we should have to pay a high amount of money just to get a card,” the shareholder says.

“When we rang Farmlands, we were told we had to have a card to have an account.”

In a statement to Rural News, Farmlands general manager of marketing Daniel Herd noted that Farmlands has charged an annual fee for a long-time and reiterated that this is the first increase to the fee in five years.

“We have held off any increase for as long as we could, while costs of managing and administering our services have gone up.

“The majority of our shareholders save hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars each year in rebates and discounts in our stores and from our Card Partners.

“The fee increase can be offset by the savings made on less than a tank of diesel per month or one visit to Card Partners such as Noel Leeming or Mitre 10.

“We’re committed to helping Farmlands Card users get even more value from their card.”

Herd says they’ve just released a new version of our Farmlands Card app – where it’s easy to find the nearest card partner and see transaction and account information.

“We’re also working to provide more shopping options – with the likes of Briscoes, Noel Leeming, and VetPost now accepting Farmlands Card online.”