Posted on 10-4-2003

Letter To The Editor.
 
I am surprised Mr Stephen Tindall of The Warehouse Ltd  is urging Kiwis to think more about generosity, as I have been reliably informed that on a wall of his executive head office he has a sign which reads "Have you been mean today?", exhorting his staff to follow this instruction.
 
In my personal experience of doing business with this man, I discovered his generosity of spirit did not even extend to honouring contracts he had signed much less to keeping written promises regarding New Zealand made content in his stores.
 
The money Tindall spends on charity in New Zealand is meagre in that it represents 1.5% of the $600 million his company spends outside New Zealand each year purchasing imported products that should and could be made in New Zealand, by New Zealanders, for New Zealanders. This costs other New Zealanders $320 million in welfare payments, loss of taxation, and loss of spending power.
 
Furthermore his so called charity represents a paltry 0.562% of the $1.6 billion that New Zealanders spend lining his pockets each year. 
 
Mr Tindall should be reminded that charity begins at home. Placing orders with local manufacturers will equate to more New Zealanders in work and less Kiwis in need of charity.''
 
Yours sincerely, Stephen Tindall - the woman.
Founder of MADENZ, PO Box 4580, Mt Maunganui, Tel/Fax 07 5745822