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One in 300 lunch vouchers goes to waste
Lunch vouchers worth a total of €35m were either lost or unused by Belgian employees between 2007 and 2011, Le Soir reports today, quoting figures from the ministry of employment. Wild figures had circulated in recent years about the number of ‘wasted’ meal tickets, with commerce and services federation Comeos speaking of tens of millions of euros going to waste every year and Flemish Christian-democrat party CD&V quoting an guesstimate of €10m. The official 2011 figure of €5m lost out of a €1.8bn represents 0.32% of the total volume of lunch vouchers issued. The waste percentage is higher for eco-cheques, however; € 4.7m was lost out of €218m issued. The amounts ‘lost’ go back to the issuing companies, Sodexo and Ederend. The recent introduction of electronic cheques should reduce the loss rate. In April, three Flemish parties announced they were in favour of ending the meal-ticket system, proposing that the equivalent money be paid directly into employees’ accounts instead.
Comments
which three Flemish parties was that? They just might get my vote.
Why would it be so sad to see them go? This is a stupid program that wastes people's money and creates extra unnecessary cost and efforts trying to buy stuff. We left the barter system a long time ago and moved to a monetary economy so buying stuff would be simple and fast. How about the government just tax less so companies can pay people more instead of creating all these stupid worthless programs and loopholes? Wait that would make too much sense.
Finally they have seen sense. The cost to companies that accept them is ludicrous. Firstly they must pay a hefty commission to a dupoly (Edenred & Sodexo) for the pleasure. In addition there is the ridiculous administration costs of stamping every single cheque and sending them recorded delivery, it's a wonder that any company accepts them for payment. The eco-cheques are even worse, with the commission being at 5%. The new electronic cards just as bad - they have now a commission on a par with credit cards. Of course big companies save money by issuing them to their employees, but that doesn't help the cafe on the corner that has to pay all the related costs with accepting them.