A disappointing decision from Olio

Olio is an app that launched in the UK in 2015, encouraging people to share surplus food and so prevent food waste. It then expanded to allow the sharing of non-food items on a similar model to Freecycle or Buy Nothing Groups.

As well as food sharing between individuals, Olio also distributes surplus close to sell by date food from businesses. Around 30% of Olio’s revenue comes from large supermarkets such as Tesco and Iceland, who have to pay to dispose of unsold food so instead pay Olio to have it collected by “Food Hero” volunteers who then list it on the app. The remainder of Olio’s revenue comes from adverts in the app or from a paid subscriber tier of users who pay £2.99 a month, with the app also available to access for free.

To my disappointment Olio recently made a change to notifications so that notifications of new listings will be sent within 15 minutes to those on the subscriber tier, but only within an hour to users of the free version.

To keep Olio free and accessible for everyone, while continuing to grow and fulfil our mission, we moved frequent notifications into the Supporter tier in June 2025.

We understand that faster alerts can make a big difference when it comes to claiming items quickly, and this wasn’t a decision we made lightly. By limiting them to Supporters, we can lower costs and avoid expensive infrastructure upgrades, helping Olio stay sustainable without introducing paywalls for core features.

Moreover, sending millions of these notifications every day puts a significant strain on our systems.

I am very uncomfortable with this decision – Olio is a B Corp and as such needs to take into account the social impact as well as the financial and environmental impact of its decisions, and it feels unfair that those who can afford to pay to subscribe will potentially get notified of new listings and get a chance to claim them before those who may have a greater need. I sent the following email to hello@olioapp.com outlining my concerns:

I’m writing to express my concern about the decision to limit fifteen minute notifications to paid supporters. I do appreciate the Olio needs to cover its costs and that it is difficult for apps focussed on public good rather than profit to do so, but I feel that this decision is taking the app in the wrong direction. 

While I know that Olio was created to help solve the problem of food waste not food poverty, the economic situation in the UK has changed dramatically since it was launched and the fact that a significant number of your users now use it as a significant source of food they could not otherwise afford can’t be ignored. With an estimated 3% of people in the UK and 6% of children having to use food banks at least once a year, and the upcoming cuts to disability benefits likely to push a further half million people into relying on foodbanks to eat, it seems deeply unfair to restrict the fastest notifications of available food to those who can afford to pay. 

I’d urge you to reconsider this move in the interests of fairness and find alternative supporter benefits or sources of revenue if you possibly can.

I’m starting to wonder whether I’m unusual in that receiving a response that doesn’t address anything I’ve said makes me angrier than not receiving any response at all. I’d imagine most people would respond in the same way, but the fact that companies keep responding like this suggests perhaps most people don’t and this is a strategy that works for them. I received the following stock message in response, which doesn’t even touch on the issues of equity that I raised.

Hi there 

Thanks so much for your feedback, and we completely understand where you’re coming from 

We recently made a change to how notifications work so we can keep Olio sustainable and accessible for everyone. You can still receive hourly notifications for free 

, which means you’ll be updated within an hour of new listings near you.

We know it might be disappointing if you’re used to quicker notifications, and we’re truly sorry if this feels like a step back. But please know this change helps us avoid costly infrastructure upgrades, so we can continue to offer the core features of Olio completely free for everyone 

Please note that all user’s can still visit the app and see exactly what is happening at any given time, without needing to wait for notifications to come through before requesting.

We’re always here to help and listen, so if you have any more thoughts, feel free to share 

 And if you’d like to become a Supporter and unlock more benefits, just tap ‘Support Olio’ in the app menu 

Warm wishes,
The Olio Team 

I am reconsidering my support of Olio in future.