Earlier this week, Aldi became the first UK supermarket to offer free period products in its in-store toilets.
From the end of May, colleagues and shoppers using one of Aldi’s bathrooms will be able to help themselves to tampons and pads, with no questions asked, no cryptic code words and – crucially – no cost.
Being caught by surprise and trying to make do with toilet paper while doing the weekly shop, walking the dog or presenting in the boardroom is a universally recognised emergency ‘solution’. It’s not exactly pleasant, but is it really such a big problem? And do we really need supermarkets to provide free tampons in every store?
Well yes, it is, and yes, we do.
Period poverty
Currently, four out of every 10 people in the UK who have periods cannot afford to buy the products they need, according to menstruation charity Bloody Good Period, with which Aldi worked on the launch.
The discounter’s research also found that, of those who admitted they were sometimes unable to afford period products, 15% reported this was “very often” or “always” the case. These figures means that millions of people are being forced to choose between buying pads and tampons or other essentials, such as food, clothes or paying their bills.
This is why Aldi’s move has been met with universal approval. By making period products freely available, the discounter is taking a huge step towards menstrual equity.
“We never want our customers to have to choose between buying the period products they need and feeding themselves or their families,” said Aldi’s Julie Ashfield at the time.
“For millions of people across the country, having access to period products is a basic and essential need, and we believe the provision of these in public toilets is as vital as toilet paper and soap.”
It’s a hugely emotive topic, easy enough to implement, and answers a fundamental human need. Win-win, right? But this simply raises the wider question of why no one else has done it yet.
Supermarkets lagging behind
Free tampons and pads have been appearing in toilets across the UK for some time now, easily accessible in workplaces, cafés, restaurants and bars. And the conversation around period poverty is not a new one for retailers.
Tesco has been at the forefront of campaigning for affordable period products for almost a decade, first addressing the cost of period products in 2017, when it offset the cost of VAT on all tampons and pads. Later, it was a vocal voice in the campaign for VAT to be removed completely, which the government finally implemented in 2021, when the neatly titled ‘tampon tax’ was abolished.
More recently, Tesco was also the first to offset VAT on period pants, making the products 20% cheaper, while also playing a major part of the Say Pants to the Tax campaign, which called on the government to reclassify period pants so they too could also be exempt from VAT.
In terms of offering free period products in store, Morrisons was the first supermarket to make the jump, when it launched the ‘Ask for Sandy’ campaign in 2021.
“Customers in need” can go to any Morrisons customer service desk and ask for a package for ‘Sandy’ or, if they don’t fancy beating around the bush, a ‘period product pack’. Customers will then be given a free discreet envelope with sanitary products and “no questions asked”.
Tesco launched a similar ‘Ask for Beth’ scheme a year later. But neither of them – or, indeed any of the other UK supermarkets – had made the move to simply make the products freely available at the point of need. Until now.
Bloody Good Period fights for menstrual equity and the rights of all women and people who bleed. It points out, very clearly, that access to period products is not a luxury, it’s a basic human right.
The fact that Aldi has recognised (and addressed) this issue is to be applauded. The real question is why it took so long – and how quickly the rest of the UK’s supermarkets will follow suit.
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