Saturday, 21 December 2024 09:55

Farmlands defends card fee hike

Written by  Sudesh Kissun
Farmlands has announced that starting from February, its card fee will rise to $65 plus GST per card. Farmlands has announced that starting from February, its card fee will rise to $65 plus GST per card.

A Farmlands shareholder is questioning the rural trader’s decision to more than double its annual card fee.

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.”

More like this

LIC ends year with $30.6m profit

Herd improvement company LIC has ended the 2024-25 financial year in a strong position - debt-free and almost quadrupling its net profit.

Featured

Australia develops first local mRNA FMD vaccine

Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.

NZ household food waste falls again

Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.

Editorial: No joking matter

OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.

National

Machinery & Products

Tech might take time

Agritech Unleashed – a one-day event held recently at Mystery Creek, near Hamilton – focused on technology as an ‘enabler’…

John Deere acquires GUSS Automation

John Deere has announced the full acquisition of GUSS Automation, LLC, a globally recognised leader in supervised high-value crop autonomy,…

Fencing excellence celebrated

The Fencing Contractors Association of New Zealand (FCANZ) celebrated the best of the best at the 2025 Fencing Industry Awards,…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

A step too far

OPINION: For years, the ironically named Dr Mike Joy has used his position at Victoria University to wage an activist-style…

Save us from SAFE

OPINION: A mate of yours truly has had an absolute gutsful of the activist group SAFE.

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter