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THIS WEEK'S NEWS
LOOMIS REDUNDANCIES LEAVE CASH FACING ‘DEATH SPIRAL‘
TRADE UNION GMB IS WARNING THAT THE UK CASH INDUSTRY ISFACING A ‘DEATH SPIRAL’ AS LOOMIS ANNOUNCES MORE THAN 300REDUNDANCIES.
The UK cash industry faces a “death spiral”, according to the GMB union, after the news of 312 redundancies at cash-in-transit security and ATM servicing company Loomis.
The Nottingham-based UK arm of Loomis AB, which is headquartered in Stockholm, announced the jobs across the country – over a fifth of its UK workforce – will go from next month.
Loomis provides service to thousands of ATMs and stores across the UK for clients including Tesco.
The news comes after G4S announced a restructure last month that would put 1,150 jobs at risk, mostly among cash handlers following reductions in cash payments during the coronavirus pandemic and associated lockdown.
Roger Jenkins, GMB National Officer, said: “Our country’s cash infrastructure is facing a death spiral. The collapse of the cash industry could have a terrible impact on the elderly and most vulnerable and wreak havoc on a whole host of businesses that rely on cash transactions. There is a real risk of the UK sleepwalking into a cashless society.”
UK IN RECESSION FOR FIRST TIME IN 11 YEARS
LOCKDOWN HAS CAUSED THE BIGGEST SLUMP ON RECORD WITHTHE COUNTRY NOW OFFICIALLY IN RECESSION.
The UK economy suffered its biggest slump on record – 20.4% – between April and June compared with the first quarter of the year, as the Covid-19 lockdown pushed the country officially into recession.
Defined as two consecutive quarters of economic decline, the recession is the first since 2009’s banking collapse.
Commenting on the grim news, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the government was “grappling with something that is unprecedented”.
There are some positive signs however, with Office for National Statistics data showing that the economy bounced back in June, growing by 8.7% month-on-month, after month-on-month growth of 1.8% in May. Gross Domestic Product for June, however, remained a sixth below the pre-coronavirus level in February.
SPAR LAUNCHES £30K COMMUNITY CASHBACK
Spar Scotland has launched its first Community Cashback campaign, with over £30,000 to give away to community groups and charities around the country. Customers, store staff and HQ employees can nominate a local charity or community group to win cash. There are 21 cash prizes up for grabs, ranging from £800 to £2,000.
The campaign is running in all 109 CJ Lang company-owned Spar stores, with the winning groups being announced in November. It is being supported with in-store POS, social media, online website content and Spar Live radio.
Colin McLean, CEO of Spar Scotland, said: “During the pandemic local community groups and charities have suffered as they rely so much on donations from the general public. We hope a number of organisations will benefit from a share of the Community Cashback campaign.”
JULY 2020 SALES GROWTH OUTSTRIPS JULY 2019
The latest BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor for July 2020 has revealed that total UK retail sales increased by 3.2%, compared with sales growth of 0.5% in July 2019.
This is the second consecutive month of growth since the start of the pandemic.
Retail sales grew 4.3% on a like-forlike basis from July 2019, when they had increased 0.3% from the preceding year. This figure excludes temporarily closed stores but includes online sales.
Over the three months to July, food sales increased 8.2% on a like-for-like basis and 6.1% on a total basis.
LIDL UK APP
Lidl is now introducing its‘Lidl Plus’ mobile app tostores in the UK following theintroduction of the app in theRepublic of Ireland last month.The mobile payment optionallows customers to pay in-appand collect loyalty points, whilstgranting access to partneroffers.
FAIRER DELIVERIES
The Scottish Governmentlaunched a new website thisweek to combat “shocking”charges for deliveries to ruraland island communities. Thesite offers a parcel deliverypricing map to help residentsfind the best deals from anumber of delivery companiesincluding DPD, UPS, TNT,Parcelforce, MyHermes andMenzies.
NEW ZEALAND COVID CASES
New Zealand has confirmedits first cases of Covid-19outside managed isolationfor the first time in 102 days.Prime Minister Jacinda Ardernscheduled an impromptupress conference with virtuallyno notice to announce thatfour new cases have beenidentified.
ATHLETICS SUPPORT
Spar is to honour itsagreement to support therescheduled British AthleticsChampionships, which will beheld on 4-5 September behindclosed doors in Manchester.The support is part of a threeyearsponsorship deal signedwith British Athletics in 2018.
PLASTIC BAG CALLS
NFRN has welcomed newstatistics from the governmentthat show that sales of plasticcarrier bags have fallen by95% since the carrier baglevy was introduced, but hascalled on the governmentto follow through with itspromise to extend the schemeto independent retailers inEngland.
DON’T WASTE SAVINGS
Zero Waste Scotland isurging local retailers to takeadvantage of adaptations toits Food Waste ReductionBusiness Support that nowprovides free online virtualassessments. Almost 280businesses have already beensupported with typical annualcost savings of around £5,000.
