Whanganui Wahine Stopped Leaving Pak'n Save Hopes Shoppers Are Aware Of New Tax Policy

Friday, 7 March 2025, 8:43 pm
Article: RNZ

Pokere Paewai, Māori issues reporter

A woman who was stopped from leaving a Whanganui Pak'n Save until she gave personal details is hoping to ensure other shoppers are aware of the recently introduced policy.

Taysha Puohotaua Williams and her children went grocery shopping at Pak'n Save Whanganui on 1 March, spending more than $1000.

Williams said she was stopped and asked for private information by Pak'n Save staff and told she could not leave the supermarket without doing so. She said she spoke to five different supermarket workers, including three supervisors, who couldn't produce the relevant policy.

Under tax legislation introduced in 2023, businesses must collect customer details for purchases over $1000 to ensure compliance with tax rules.

Williams told RNZ that she was curious as to why she needed to give her details and when the staff members couldn't tell her she grew concerned.

"I knew that I needed to follow through with asking why so I could show my tamariki that just because people in uniform are asking and saying these things. You are in your rights to ask why."

Williams said although it was an ordeal for her and her tamariki, she just wants people to be aware of getting caught out by the policy.

"I have seen comments made about people not shopping at Pak'n Save, I just wanted to put forward that that was never my intention to deter anybody from shopping at any space that they want, but more so just to create awareness for my community and our whānau and rohe that this policy is in place. Next time, maybe they can be aware about that, because I wasn't."

Williams said she was eventually given the policy from Foodstuffs on Wednesday and has briefly seen it now. She has also received an apology from the owner of Pak'n Save Whanganui.

"I have done shopping over that amount plenty of times for my whānau, for sports national competitions, and I've never been asked, never been asked that question before.

"I felt a little bit scared. I was feeling like I was being harassed and probably mostly trapped because I didn't have the knowledge around whether I could just walk out. Which I wish I had known that I could just have gone."

Williams said Pak'n Save should put some training in place for their staff so that someone else doesn't go through something similar.

"It would be really good for their staff to all have the knowledge and training base around this policy."

Pak'n Save committed to 'reviewing our processes and training'

In a statement a Pak'n Save Whanganui spokesperson said they were sorry for Williams' frustrating and upsetting experience and said they could have handled the situation much better.

"Under tax legislation introduced in 2023, businesses are required to collect customer details for purchases over $1000 to ensure compliance with tax rules. Unfortunately, we did not explain this clearly at the time, which understandably led to confusion," the statement read.

"We have since met with the customer to apologise and we are committed to making things right. To prevent this from happening again, we are reviewing our processes and training our team to ensure these conversations are handled with care, clarity, and respect. We are committed to improving the experience for all our customers."

'Businesses need to have a good understanding of the requirement' - Retail NZ CE

The chief executive of Retail NZ Carolyn Young said businesses need to have a good understanding of the GST requirements and how they need to comply with them. The difficult thing is that what happened in Whanganui is not something that occurs very often, she said.

Young said the change to the tax legislation only came into affect on 1 April 2023, so it is still relatively new.

"When somebody's transacted over $1000, you need to have name and contact details and most of us aren't aware of that because lots of us aren't in business firstly, so we don't have to worry about GST requirements. And secondly, when we buy in lots of stores, we're already members of those stores or we're happy to have our registered with that store," she said.

But in a store like Pak'n Save where there's no loyalty program, they don't retain any customer details, so when a purchase hits the threshold, they need to then ask for name and contact details, Young said.

Since the onus is on businesses to properly explain the rule staff training is important, she said.

"When you're on the spot, sometimes it's really hard, isn't it? To always remember exactly what it was about and once you get under pressure, then you forget more.

"I think that yes, training is really important. But the first time you go through that, you may not remember it that well. It's really about making sure that you escalate it to your manager at that point."

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