How and why Conad, Coop and others (suddenly) digest meal vouchers
Conad, Coop, Federdistribuzione, Fiepet Confesercenti, Fida and Fipe Confcommercio celebrate the 5% cut in commissions on meal vouchers. But the state will pay. Here's what happens (and the criticisms of Anseb, the association that brings together companies in the sector)
Food vouchers suddenly become digestible by small merchants and large retailers.
A small note on the sidelines of the discipline of the public tender for the sector, ConsipBP10, which brings commissions to 5%, was enough to stop the strikes and protests of Conad, Coop, Federdistribuzione, Fiepet Confesercenti, Fida and Fipe Confcommercio.
The small note, however, has a great weight for the state, which is responsible for paying the percentage of the commission cut.
Let's try to clarify.
THE STRIKE OF ASSOCIATIVE ABBREVIATIONS
Let's start with the last protest. On 15 June, bars, restaurants, grocery stores, supermarkets and hypermarkets belonging to the main trade and distribution associations, including Ancd Conad, ANCC Coop , Federdistribuzione, FIEPeT-Confesercenti, Fida and Fipe-Confcommercio, did not accept the vouchers meal as a form of payment.
The strike was aimed at calling for an urgent reform of the ticket system (which they accept as a form of payment after a free commercial negotiation).
THE REDUCTION OF COMMISSIONS
The Deputy Minister of Economy, Laura Castelli (former M5s, now in Together for the Future, the group founded by Luigi Di Maio), took care of unblocking the situation. How? Promising new legislation in the sector, which will allow for a 5% ceiling on commissions, before 17%.
According to sector analysts, an excellent result for large-scale distribution, which has seen its earnings grow even in times of Covid, for bars and restaurants: in fact, they will be able to collect a higher amount. A bad result for the state, called to fill the gap of the commission. And so, if with the old tenders the central administration saved about 200 million euros, now with ConsipBP10, the discount will be around 120 million, according to the MEF schemes.
The discount to the Public Administration, on the nominal value of the meal voucher, in this Consip tender, could probably be between values between 10% and 12%, against 16.5% in the last tender. An additional burden between 82 million and 57 million euros would go to the state. Not a little.
THE CONSEQUENCES FOR COMPANIES WHICH ISSUE MEAL VOUCHERS
The unraveling of the skein proposed by Castelli, then, does not like the companies that issue meal vouchers. Undoubtedly, the big players in the sector, such as Edenred, Sodexo and Day, and the medium-small companies, including Repas, YesTicket and Pellegrini will pay the price: the promises of lower commissions will affect the companies in the sector, that they will have to leave something on their plate.
The association that represents them, Anseb , denounces that it has not seen the text of the reform of the sector promised by the government. This reform is considered partial and anti-competitive.
A SHOT AT THE MARKET (AND COMPANY WELFARE)
The new regulation, according to Anseb, represents a severe blow to the sector and its competition, discouraging, for example, the entry into the market of new startups, which instead are very strong in France and Portugal.
Yet the audience of those who could potentially enjoy meal vouchers, which we remember as the most loved benefit by workers, is much larger than that who actually benefits from the benefit: 18 million potential employees against 3 million served. The market is still large, therefore, despite the famous tickets being the tool to introduce welfare in the company more quickly and simply (something on which more work should be done).
Numbers aside, the results of the new legislation will only be visible in the coming months. What is certain is that the state will spend more. Merchants and issuing companies? Paradoxically, they could find their new equilibrium, thus favoring the desire of Italian companies to give back some purchasing power to their employees.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia-on-demand/come-e-perche-conad-coop-e-altri-digeriscono-improvvisamente-i-buoni-pasto/ on Tue, 12 Jul 2022 12:43:26 +0000.