Woolworths and Coles are in the headlines at present in regards to the monopoly and pricing policies.
But the same can be said regarding other large national retail operations.
For example, Bunnings has just about annihilated the small hardware retailers in Australia's large to medium-populated areas. They would never open stores in the smaller regional towns. The independent operators provide this service. There are very few small hardware stores now operating in Logan City.
Likewise the same can be said regarding the Officeworks store growth in our country. Independent news agencies now virtually rely on Lotto and Scratch entry to keep their doors open.
There are many other examples in the retail trade.
All of the above is promoted by the power of in-your-face advertising.
The question I ask is, are we any better off by supporting these so-called monopolies?
To me, the FRANCHISE industry has allowed the opportunity for independent operators to seek a career in industries across the board.
what does the future hold for us the customer?
Jay&Dee
peter67 said
09:31 AM Feb 23, 2024
I think the (W)banking industry and the way the insurance industry treats loyalty by taxing you for not shopping around is spread right across the big companies now, they all compete to drag the last dollar out of all customers. Only when the ACCC occasionally wakes from it's coma is something said and soon forgotten AKA royal commission into banking.
-- Edited by peter67 on Friday 23rd of February 2024 09:31:58 AM
Possum3 said
09:37 AM Feb 23, 2024
Corporate power and their marketing will never behave in the best interests of the common people.
It is my firm belief that it is the Banks are the biggest leaches on our community - Power, not necessarily just money is their aim.
Just one example is how the Trucking Industry has killed off Railways - Poor Joe wants an independent life, he goes to "Bank" cap in hand and the wonderful bank lends him the money to buy a brand new, shiny, bells and whistles, Road train.
Poor Joe has a snowballs chance in hell of ever paying off the loan as an independent trucker.
Joe has to accept a contract with "Mr Big Transport" to stave off the wolves (read Banks) - having to work stupid hours just to eke out a living. Paying premium rates to bank for a truck he will never own outright.
If the loans manager at the bank only allowed Joe the funds to buy a little Pantech or Flatbed - Joe may have been able to have his dream come true.
Franchises are all in a similar vain - it doesn't matter what the product is - Fill a poor couples head with gobbledygook - Promise the World (verbally only) - have them sign an airtight contract, which in reality is a slavery agreement for the couple and their unfortunate offspring.
Some Pigs are more equal than others.
JayDee said
11:31 AM Feb 23, 2024
Well said Possum.
Today Australia is virtually a service industry, and the customer is at the bottom of the pecking order.
Boy, am I glad that I have lived in the decades of the 20th century?
Cheers
Jay&Dee
Whenarewethere said
12:27 PM Feb 23, 2024
About a year ago I looked at all the receipts from hardware stores.
I thought I was going to Bunning all the time (they are closer to where I live).
It turned out that I ended up going to a proper hardware stores instead of kids store.
Bunnings do not stock for example.
Drills in 0.1mm increments.
Sandpaper up to 7000 grit.
Tap & dies, taps in taper, intermediate & bottom.
Taps in all the metric & imperial threads.
316 stainless screws that don't break.
10.8 volt Bosch drills etc.
Stahlwille spanners & sockets.
Just to name a few.
They are as useless as t--s on a bull.
If they start stocking the items I need them it will be easier for my shopping.
rmoor said
12:28 PM Feb 23, 2024
"Boy, am I glad that I have lived in the decades of the 20th century?"
Not wrong, I have said many times, take me back to 01/01/1970 and leave me there.
Cars were cars, people were human, TV was innocent, sport was sport, drugs were scarce, hamburgers were hamburgers........
The list goes on.
The day will come when we walk into a Bunnings (etc) store and there will not be a human in sight. A.I. will be running the store, images of what shop assistants used to look like and any questions one has will be answered by an avatar on a screen. The only human in the building will be an I.T. person upstairs monitoring the store (maybe) that will be completely self service. One then poses the question, with no wages whatsoever in store, do the product prices go down.......
msg said
02:28 PM Feb 23, 2024
Just a thought on the trucking industry. Not meant to criticize the industry. but, the roads are becoming almost undriveable, and costs $m's to repair. Congestion is another issue. We hear almost daily of serious accidents involving cars and trucks. I am not saying that the industry is at fault in these incidents.
But, I do think, we need to consider carefully, just what goods are carried by trucks and perhaps maybe carried by trains?.
Is it really necessary for toilet paper, (as an example) to be trucked overnight say from Sydney to Melbourne? Who needs toilet paper that badly?
"Just in time warehousing" is a contributor to this issue. Nothing is stocked locally.
Or is it the internet? A business puts something up for sale on the internet, they get an order, it is supplied from their central warehouse and trucked to the buyer, often overnight, because we, as consumers cannot wait.
In fact, this is quite a complex issue and bears a more indepth look. On the surface, if businesses were to stock more goods in their places of business, the need for a lot of the quick overland transport would be considerably less.
And to my mind, this would relieve congestion, damage and repairs to roads etc.
I realise this not going to fix everything or maybe nothing and it also is at odds with current general business practices which would upset CFO's of large conglomerates (wreck their bottom line) larger costs for small business because their stocking levels would need to increase (finance costs) upset the truckers because fewer required, but would it be worth it for safer roads?
What about less carbon emissions, better to lessen carbon though trucks rather than cows. That could be another whole topic. Do railways have less co2 emissions?
-- Edited by msg on Friday 23rd of February 2024 02:32:47 PM
Are We Lost said
03:16 PM Feb 23, 2024
msg wrote:
Is it really necessary for toilet paper, (as an example) to be trucked overnight say from Sydney to Melbourne? Who needs toilet paper that badly?
Overnight or in a week makes little difference. It would still be a truck on the highway and the driver's time the same.
msg said
03:49 PM Feb 23, 2024
Are We Lost wrote:
msg wrote:
Is it really necessary for toilet paper, (as an example) to be trucked overnight say from Sydney to Melbourne? Who needs toilet paper that badly?
Overnight or in a week makes little difference. It would still be a truck on the highway and the driver's time the same.
You are quite right Are We Lost. But what about sending certain goods by train that do not require quick delivery. Benefits could be substantial.
Could there be a cost reduction for train transport? Certainly a road congestion and road damage benefit. Especially if they build overpass or underpasses on the roads.
Whenarewethere said
03:50 PM Feb 23, 2024
The dunny paper is probably on the runs!
Trucked to central hub. Then a percentage probably is shipped back to retail outlets a lot closer to the manufacturing location.
Dougwe said
03:52 PM Feb 23, 2024
G'day MSG.
I ordered something on-line at 2.00pm yesterday 22/2 from somewhere near Newcastle NSW, expecting it sometime next week to a small regional town near Wagga Wagga. Around midday today 23/2 on returning back from an hour out, the item was sitting next to front door. I have no idea how it arrived so quick.
I ordered something from Cranbourne South East of Melbourne on the 2/2 and didn't arrive until 20/2, that was after a few phone calls and complaining on the 19/2.
Keep Safe
msg said
05:04 PM Feb 23, 2024
Hi Doug,
You can't rely on AP? can you. Of course, mistakes can happen but not that often surely.
I gave up on Wikicamps and have ordered a new Camps Book. Camps people ticked the signature required box. Makes it automatically a candidate for drop the card and run.
Guess I won't get it delivered but will have to pick it up from PO.
As a side note on Wiki: Issues not altogether their fault. I have more of a beef with Google maps. With the normal size the maps really only show main roads. To see anything in detail, you have to zoom in or out. I was getting dizzy. At least with camps what you see is it. No zooming. Wiki is still slow loading. For me anyway.
dogbox said
05:59 PM Feb 23, 2024
as far as retail sector goes, I think we have probably got what we deserve, we voted with our wallets an they have responded.
unless you are sending goods in large volumes (bulk) rail is very inefficient.
JayDee said
06:01 PM Feb 23, 2024
In particular, in Queensland regional areas west of the Great Divide, the railway tracks that were once the lifeblood of the outback towns have been ripped up and stored. Take the township of Monto. At the free camp that is in the heart of town, there are piles and piles of timber sleepers and also heaps of rails ( Tracks) stored. Our government should have had a plan in place to protect the rail system. But the clients want door-to-door delivery, which falls into the laps of the trucking industry.
The parliamentary people that we elect to look after our great country, failed miserably to look to the future. Lack of forward planning and a good example is the current infracture which is way out of wack with our population growth.
Back to the subject topic, never never will you see Coles or Woolies open a store in say Clermont or Monto Qld, the region's population relies upon the independent owner to pioneer the region to service their needs.
Jay&Dee
Gundog said
07:19 PM Feb 23, 2024
JayDee,
Coles and Woolworths whilst they have the largest footprint, they have competition in the form of Aldi, Foodland, Drakes Supermarkets and IGA.Personally the majority of my shopping is with Drakes and IGA, Coles comes in 3rd, Woolies and Aldi almost never.
In metro areas yes the dominate hardware is Bunnings but there are smaller hardware stores around you just need to look, when you get out of the larger population areas this in where the independant hardware stores. Remember Bunnings was started by the Burns Phillp company which aquired Coles Meyer.
Coles Meyer started Officeworksin 1994 after aquiring Viking Office supplies an on line retailer, and then Harris Technology taht was then I began to grow, there are plenty of newsagents that are successful and continue to thrive the biggest money spinner and profit for the comes from Lotto and scratchies, books and magazines are continuing to decline because of online purchases, its not officeworks thats killing them.
Peter,
The banking industry is faceing the biggest challenges that is why branches are closing, their face to face contact with customers is make small branches unprofitable as the majority of the people are using the online rather than going to a branch. In the past 4 years I have been in a branch twice.
Possum
The biggest failing of the rail freight system was it inability to be flexible, when our family had a vinyard in regional Victoria the railfreight system could not pickup fruit from the farm in the afternoon and then deliver it to market in Melb or Sydney by 3am the nxt day. Then the road freight sourced back loads of general freight back to the towns along the way. Many a large trucking company grew from a couple of single axle semis into a major transport network, our small town had 2 brothers stated with a truck each and now moves freight all over Australia.
At the end of the day these behemoth companies create employment, remember both coles and woolies evolved from a dept stores in main street towns into what they are today. Even Bunnings aquired Adelaide Tools to have a specialist tool business to cater for proffessional, their tool shops within the big green shed are aimed at the home reno and handyman who buys the cheaper brands for the casual use.
PeterInSa said
07:44 PM Feb 23, 2024
Re ( On the surface, if businesses were to stock more goods in their places of business, the need for a lot of the quick overland transport would be considerably less.)
To me not viable for a small business, you need computer stock control, book parts received into a location, use the part, write down stock, then you have stock not in correct location, theft etc.
I previously have stock of various bits and pieces in my double garage, when I need a part it would take longer to find it than a trip to Bunnings, now any surplus parts off a project I return to Bunnings with my next purchase.
Southern Cruizer said
09:23 PM Feb 23, 2024
Dougwe wrote:
G'day MSG.
I ordered something on-line at 2.00pm yesterday 22/2 from somewhere near Newcastle NSW, expecting it sometime next week to a small regional town near Wagga Wagga. Around midday today 23/2 on returning back from an hour out, the item was sitting next to front door. I have no idea how it arrived so quick.
I ordered something from Cranbourne South East of Melbourne on the 2/2 and didn't arrive until 20/2, that was after a few phone calls and complaining on the 19/2.
Keep Safe
And like Doug , I'm not that far from him and I ordered something on evil bay last thursday night and allowing for weekend was at PO Box monday morning. Funny how some things get to a small town quick and other times take forever.
msg said
09:25 PM Feb 23, 2024
Peter. Having managed large inventories, I am aware of what is involved. The main drawback is cost to consumer. Business would have no option but to pass these costs on. Which is quite ironic. We accuse Colesworth of greed and making profit over customers. How about we, the consumer, demanding the cheapest prices causing suppliers to cut corners.
Then if you consider cost, we the consumer are responsible for the issues raised by the OP and also the issues raised by myself regarding trucks on the road.
We have really dug ourselves into a great big hole haven't we?
Any ideas how to get out and fill in the hole?
Now here is something I never thought I would think, maybe the lefties are on to something. Change everything, toss it into the air and see what comes down. Would that work?
Izabarack said
08:55 AM Feb 24, 2024
Inside information about one of the big supermarkets shows how staff rosters are used in an, apparent, effort to train in-store customers to use the self-service checkouts and to have Internet connected customers to use on-line ordering. Fewer early start staffer are being rostered on and start times have been pushed back a half hour as a way of the store paying less in early start penalty wages. Supervising staff at the service desk and on the self checkout area have also been reduced. The reduction of helping staff on the checkouts means much longer wait times when the robot Maningridas the checkout has a sad and requires you to call for a staff member to log in and tell the robot to settle down, nothing to see here. If a disabled customer turns up and needs extended help scanning items collected in the conveniently supplied wheelchair friendly trolly, self checkout customers with a station requiring human guidance to the limited AI equipped robot can now wait several minutes while the disabled customer gets the help they need. In-store customers are more and more an annoyance rather than an opportunity to build brand (store) loyalty.
Try doing an early visit to Bunnings on a week day. Early, the only checkout opportunity available is the service desk. Another example of saving staff costs through clever rostering of start times.
Computer modelling for crowd control and management started all this. Patterns of people movement and demand for provision of services has been refined for many years now. My source tells me that even the volume of sales and how they were distributed, of hot cross buns, is analysed across the country. Bakery staff in the store I have knowledge of are told when to have specific products ready in a Just-in-Time logistics type technique that values process and profit over people.
dogbox said
09:06 AM Feb 24, 2024
Gundog wrote:
JayDee,
Coles and Woolworths whilst they have the largest footprint, they have competition in the form of Aldi, Foodland, Drakes Supermarkets and IGA.Personally the majority of my shopping is with Drakes and IGA, Coles comes in 3rd, Woolies and Aldi almost never.
In metro areas yes the dominate hardware is Bunnings but there are smaller hardware stores around you just need to look, when you get out of the larger population areas this in where the independant hardware stores. Remember Bunnings was started by the Burns Phillp company which aquired Coles Meyer.
Coles Meyer started Officeworksin 1994 after aquiring Viking Office supplies an on line retailer, and then Harris Technology taht was then I began to grow, there are plenty of newsagents that are successful and continue to thrive the biggest money spinner and profit for the comes from Lotto and scratchies, books and magazines are continuing to decline because of online purchases, its not officeworks thats killing them.
Peter,
The banking industry is faceing the biggest challenges that is why branches are closing, their face to face contact with customers is make small branches unprofitable as the majority of the people are using the online rather than going to a branch. In the past 4 years I have been in a branch twice.
Possum
The biggest failing of the rail freight system was it inability to be flexible, when our family had a vinyard in regional Victoria the railfreight system could not pickup fruit from the farm in the afternoon and then deliver it to market in Melb or Sydney by 3am the nxt day. Then the road freight sourced back loads of general freight back to the towns along the way. Many a large trucking company grew from a couple of single axle semis into a major transport network, our small town had 2 brothers stated with a truck each and now moves freight all over Australia.
At the end of the day these behemoth companies create employment, remember both coles and woolies evolved from a dept stores in main street towns into what they are today. Even Bunnings aquired Adelaide Tools to have a specialist tool business to cater for proffessional, their tool shops within the big green shed are aimed at the home reno and handyman who buys the cheaper brands for the casual use.
your Foodland, IGA, Drakes ect,ect they service the small population areas, naturally do to low volumes costs will be higher. what do we do? we stock up at the bigger centers to save a dollar or two then complain about the high cost of things in rural areas. our population is small compared to our countries (California has more people in one state than Australia has) and our population is mainly in the coastal areas we need to decentralise.
Whenarewethere said
09:15 AM Feb 24, 2024
Yesterday in Woolworths (or Coles for that matter) I was at one of the very few cash checkouts.
It failed.
I knew the value of the one product I was buying. Gave enough money to the staff member & said you sort it out & simply walked out with un-scanned item.
I have paid for it & it's on camera.
Probably caused endless paperwork, but I will continue to do that until these companies pull their fingers' out.
Whenarewethere said
09:19 AM Feb 24, 2024
I also bring a Helinox folding chair & sit in the queue when it takes too long.
I'm old, nothing embarrasses me!
watsea said
12:17 PM Feb 24, 2024
Izabarack wrote:
Inside information about one of the big supermarkets shows how staff rosters are used in an, apparent, effort to train in-store customers to use the self-service checkouts and to have Internet connected customers to use on-line ordering. Fewer early start staffer are being rostered on and start times have been pushed back a half hour as a way of the store paying less in early start penalty wages. Supervising staff at the service desk and on the self checkout area have also been reduced. The reduction of helping staff on the checkouts means much longer wait times when the robot Maningridas the checkout has a sad and requires you to call for a staff member to log in and tell the robot to settle down, nothing to see here. If a disabled customer turns up and needs extended help scanning items collected in the conveniently supplied wheelchair friendly trolly, self checkout customers with a station requiring human guidance to the limited AI equipped robot can now wait several minutes while the disabled customer gets the help they need. In-store customers are more and more an annoyance rather than an opportunity to build brand (store) loyalty.
Try doing an early visit to Bunnings on a week day. Early, the only checkout opportunity available is the service desk. Another example of saving staff costs through clever rostering of start times.
Computer modelling for crowd control and management started all this. Patterns of people movement and demand for provision of services has been refined for many years now. My source tells me that even the volume of sales and how they were distributed, of hot cross buns, is analysed across the country. Bakery staff in the store I have knowledge of are told when to have specific products ready in a Just-in-Time logistics type technique that values process and profit over people.
That is a problem for a Customer Oriented business- The Customers
Whenarewethere said
04:56 PM Feb 24, 2024
watsea wrote:
That is is a problem for a Customer Oriented business- The Customers
I had that argument in the 1980s with middle management together with a few other staff at my level. Boy did I make a mistake.
I suggested that customers were paying our wages (a Yes Minister episode!).
Some years later the company folded in Australia. It was Sydney largest manufacturer up until that point.
Customers... what are they actually for!
gold dandelion said
08:28 PM Feb 24, 2024
Grey Nomads are probably the worst offenders, because they are retired, they try and save a few bucks and don't go to the local IGA or Hardware shop, they go to Woollies/Coles or Bunnings, especially when travelling, they usually stock up first and think they are supporting the local towns when they go through because they have stayed in the caravan park or bought a coffee at the local cafe. Well thats what i noticed in my travels around OZ.
yobarr said
08:54 PM Feb 24, 2024
gold dandelion wrote:
Grey Nomads are probably the worst offenders, because they are retired, they try and save a few bucks and don't go to the local IGA or Hardware shop, they go to Woollies/Coles or Bunnings, especially when travelling, they usually stock up first and think they are supporting the local towns when they go through because they have stayed in the caravan park or bought a coffee at the local cafe. Well thats what i noticed in my travels around OZ.
Equally as bad are those people who use the "free canp" at country pubs.
They arrive, set up their van, use "free" showers and toilets, sit around outside under their canopies yapping and drinking, cook a meal, and go to sleep.
In the morning they again use the facilities, fill up their water tanks, pack up and hit the road.
And never even venture into the pub whose owner no doubt provides the "free camp" in an effort to boost trade.
What these travellers do is not in the right spirit. Low lifes who spoil it for others.
When a publican spoke with me about that problem I suggested that he charge $15-$20 per car, but give the travellers a $15-$20 voucher to be used on food or drink in the pub.
If they use the voucher then obviously the camp is free, but if they don't they still have had low-cost camping. Cheers
JayDee said
08:28 AM Feb 25, 2024
When I took a redundancy pack back in 1995 I was the State Sales Manager of one of the largest food suppliers in Australia. Back then we had to pay Woolworths and Coles hefty fees when we introduced a new product to the market. Also for a weekly special plus the product/s to be mass displayed on a Gondola, the fee was around $5000.
The term co-operative advertising and rebates was equal to 5% of the retailer's total company purchases. Huge $$$ rebates. Now consider that practice right across the board and the rebate per annum would be in the many millions, that was back in 1995. After listening and reading about the duopoly, the fees and charges seem to have increased three-fold in today's marketplace.
OK, now consider this.
The two giants are promoting home delivery. The computer grocery order is completed by the customer, the store then employs staff to assemble the said order and it is then delivered to the front door of the customer. All this costs the customer who wants home delivery service, cost of around $15.
So how do the two retailers cover the cost of this transaction. We the customers including the home delivery client are hit with the large price increases over the store's range. I bet that this type of service is not a headline in the inquiry into the retail trade.
We are being forced into the "service industry" with no or very little thought given to what we the customers want.
There endth today's lesson.
Jay&Dee
Aussie1 said
10:48 AM Feb 25, 2024
Whenarewethere wrote:
Yesterday in Woolworths (or Coles for that matter) I was at one of the very few cash checkouts.
It failed.
I knew the value of the one product I was buying. Gave enough money to the staff member & said you sort it out & simply walked out with un-scanned item.
I have paid for it & it's on camera.
Probably caused endless paperwork, but I will continue to do that until these companies pull their fingers' out.
Bit confused there Cobber?, "yesterday at Woolworths (or Coles for that matter) I was at one of the very few cash checkouts" "It failed"
Does that mean you were at both stores and they both "failed" all at the same time.
Anyhow, you really showed them and I bet they are tugging away at their collective fingers to do better
msg said
11:26 AM Feb 25, 2024
With home delivery, F&V you take what you get. Most of the time it's what the shoppers instore don't pick. I get click & collect quite often. I never get exactly what I ordered. Just wish they would get it right once. Never allow substitutes. Some of the pickers have no idea. But, I am pretty picky.
Gundog said
07:20 PM Feb 25, 2024
Whenarewethere wrote:
Yesterday in Woolworths (or Coles for that matter) I was at one of the very few cash checkouts.
It failed.
I knew the value of the one product I was buying. Gave enough money to the staff member & said you sort it out & simply walked out with un-scanned item.
I have paid for it & it's on camera.
Probably caused endless paperwork, but I will continue to do that until these companies pull their fingers' out.
Soon sir you will have to move from childish attitude to technology banking, eventually you will encounter a situation where someone wont accept cash !
they wont change to suit you because you are minority.
Woolworths and Coles are in the headlines at present in regards to the monopoly and pricing policies.
I think the (W)banking industry and the way the insurance industry treats loyalty by taxing you for not shopping around is spread right across the big companies now, they all compete to drag the last dollar out of all customers. Only when the ACCC occasionally wakes from it's coma is something said and soon forgotten AKA royal commission into banking.
-- Edited by peter67 on Friday 23rd of February 2024 09:31:58 AM
It is my firm belief that it is the Banks are the biggest leaches on our community - Power, not necessarily just money is their aim.
Just one example is how the Trucking Industry has killed off Railways - Poor Joe wants an independent life, he goes to "Bank" cap in hand and the wonderful bank lends him the money to buy a brand new, shiny, bells and whistles, Road train.
Poor Joe has a snowballs chance in hell of ever paying off the loan as an independent trucker.
Joe has to accept a contract with "Mr Big Transport" to stave off the wolves (read Banks) - having to work stupid hours just to eke out a living. Paying premium rates to bank for a truck he will never own outright.
If the loans manager at the bank only allowed Joe the funds to buy a little Pantech or Flatbed - Joe may have been able to have his dream come true.
Franchises are all in a similar vain - it doesn't matter what the product is - Fill a poor couples head with gobbledygook - Promise the World (verbally only) - have them sign an airtight contract, which in reality is a slavery agreement for the couple and their unfortunate offspring.
Some Pigs are more equal than others.
Today Australia is virtually a service industry, and the customer is at the bottom of the pecking order.
Boy, am I glad that I have lived in the decades of the 20th century?
Cheers
Jay&Dee
About a year ago I looked at all the receipts from hardware stores.
I thought I was going to Bunning all the time (they are closer to where I live).
It turned out that I ended up going to a proper hardware stores instead of kids store.
Bunnings do not stock for example.
Drills in 0.1mm increments.
Sandpaper up to 7000 grit.
Tap & dies, taps in taper, intermediate & bottom.
Taps in all the metric & imperial threads.
316 stainless screws that don't break.
10.8 volt Bosch drills etc.
Stahlwille spanners & sockets.
Just to name a few.
They are as useless as t--s on a bull.
If they start stocking the items I need them it will be easier for my shopping.
Not wrong, I have said many times, take me back to 01/01/1970 and leave me there.
Cars were cars, people were human, TV was innocent, sport was sport, drugs were scarce, hamburgers were hamburgers........
The list goes on.
The day will come when we walk into a Bunnings (etc) store and there will not be a human in sight. A.I. will be running the store, images of what shop assistants used to look like and any questions one has will be answered by an avatar on a screen. The only human in the building will be an I.T. person upstairs monitoring the store (maybe) that will be completely self service. One then poses the question, with no wages whatsoever in store, do the product prices go down.......
Just a thought on the trucking industry. Not meant to criticize the industry. but, the roads are becoming almost undriveable, and costs $m's to repair. Congestion is another issue. We hear almost daily of serious accidents involving cars and trucks. I am not saying that the industry is at fault in these incidents.
But, I do think, we need to consider carefully, just what goods are carried by trucks and perhaps maybe carried by trains?.
Is it really necessary for toilet paper, (as an example) to be trucked overnight say from Sydney to Melbourne? Who needs toilet paper that badly?
"Just in time warehousing" is a contributor to this issue. Nothing is stocked locally.
Or is it the internet? A business puts something up for sale on the internet, they get an order, it is supplied from their central warehouse and trucked to the buyer, often overnight, because we, as consumers cannot wait.
In fact, this is quite a complex issue and bears a more indepth look. On the surface, if businesses were to stock more goods in their places of business, the need for a lot of the quick overland transport would be considerably less.
And to my mind, this would relieve congestion, damage and repairs to roads etc.
I realise this not going to fix everything or maybe nothing and it also is at odds with current general business practices which would upset CFO's of large conglomerates (wreck their bottom line) larger costs for small business because their stocking levels would need to increase (finance costs) upset the truckers because fewer required, but would it be worth it for safer roads?
What about less carbon emissions, better to lessen carbon though trucks rather than cows. That could be another whole topic. Do railways have less co2 emissions?
-- Edited by msg on Friday 23rd of February 2024 02:32:47 PM
Overnight or in a week makes little difference. It would still be a truck on the highway and the driver's time the same.
You are quite right Are We Lost. But what about sending certain goods by train that do not require quick delivery. Benefits could be substantial.
Could there be a cost reduction for train transport? Certainly a road congestion and road damage benefit. Especially if they build overpass or underpasses on the roads.
The dunny paper is probably on the runs!
Trucked to central hub. Then a percentage probably is shipped back to retail outlets a lot closer to the manufacturing location.
I ordered something on-line at 2.00pm yesterday 22/2 from somewhere near Newcastle NSW, expecting it sometime next week to a small regional town near Wagga Wagga. Around midday today 23/2 on returning back from an hour out, the item was sitting next to front door. I have no idea how it arrived so quick.
I ordered something from Cranbourne South East of Melbourne on the 2/2 and didn't arrive until 20/2, that was after a few phone calls and complaining on the 19/2.
Keep Safe
You can't rely on AP? can you. Of course, mistakes can happen but not that often surely.
I gave up on Wikicamps and have ordered a new Camps Book. Camps people ticked the signature required box. Makes it automatically a candidate for drop the card and run.
Guess I won't get it delivered but will have to pick it up from PO.
As a side note on Wiki: Issues not altogether their fault. I have more of a beef with Google maps. With the normal size the maps really only show main roads. To see anything in detail, you have to zoom in or out. I was getting dizzy. At least with camps what you see is it. No zooming. Wiki is still slow loading. For me anyway.
unless you are sending goods in large volumes (bulk) rail is very inefficient.
The parliamentary people that we elect to look after our great country, failed miserably to look to the future. Lack of forward planning and a good example is the current infracture which is way out of wack with our population growth.
Back to the subject topic, never never will you see Coles or Woolies open a store in say Clermont or Monto Qld, the region's population relies upon the independent owner to pioneer the region to service their needs.
Jay&Dee
JayDee,
Coles and Woolworths whilst they have the largest footprint, they have competition in the form of Aldi, Foodland, Drakes Supermarkets and IGA. Personally the majority of my shopping is with Drakes and IGA, Coles comes in 3rd, Woolies and Aldi almost never.
In metro areas yes the dominate hardware is Bunnings but there are smaller hardware stores around you just need to look, when you get out of the larger population areas this in where the independant hardware stores. Remember Bunnings was started by the Burns Phillp company which aquired Coles Meyer.
Coles Meyer started Officeworks in 1994 after aquiring Viking Office supplies an on line retailer, and then Harris Technology taht was then I began to grow, there are plenty of newsagents that are successful and continue to thrive the biggest money spinner and profit for the comes from Lotto and scratchies, books and magazines are continuing to decline because of online purchases, its not officeworks thats killing them.
Peter,
The banking industry is faceing the biggest challenges that is why branches are closing, their face to face contact with customers is make small branches unprofitable as the majority of the people are using the online rather than going to a branch. In the past 4 years I have been in a branch twice.
Possum
The biggest failing of the rail freight system was it inability to be flexible, when our family had a vinyard in regional Victoria the railfreight system could not pickup fruit from the farm in the afternoon and then deliver it to market in Melb or Sydney by 3am the nxt day. Then the road freight sourced back loads of general freight back to the towns along the way. Many a large trucking company grew from a couple of single axle semis into a major transport network, our small town had 2 brothers stated with a truck each and now moves freight all over Australia.
At the end of the day these behemoth companies create employment, remember both coles and woolies evolved from a dept stores in main street towns into what they are today. Even Bunnings aquired Adelaide Tools to have a specialist tool business to cater for proffessional, their tool shops within the big green shed are aimed at the home reno and handyman who buys the cheaper brands for the casual use.
To me not viable for a small business, you need computer stock control, book parts received into a location, use the part, write down stock, then you have stock not in correct location, theft etc.
I previously have stock of various bits and pieces in my double garage, when I need a part it would take longer to find it than a trip to Bunnings, now any surplus parts off a project I return to Bunnings with my next purchase.
And like Doug , I'm not that far from him and I ordered something on evil bay last thursday night and allowing for weekend was at PO Box monday morning. Funny how some things get to a small town quick and other times take forever.
Then if you consider cost, we the consumer are responsible for the issues raised by the OP and also the issues raised by myself regarding trucks on the road.
We have really dug ourselves into a great big hole haven't we?
Any ideas how to get out and fill in the hole?
Now here is something I never thought I would think, maybe the lefties are on to something. Change everything, toss it into the air and see what comes down. Would that work?
Inside information about one of the big supermarkets shows how staff rosters are used in an, apparent, effort to train in-store customers to use the self-service checkouts and to have Internet connected customers to use on-line ordering. Fewer early start staffer are being rostered on and start times have been pushed back a half hour as a way of the store paying less in early start penalty wages. Supervising staff at the service desk and on the self checkout area have also been reduced. The reduction of helping staff on the checkouts means much longer wait times when the robot Maningridas the checkout has a sad and requires you to call for a staff member to log in and tell the robot to settle down, nothing to see here. If a disabled customer turns up and needs extended help scanning items collected in the conveniently supplied wheelchair friendly trolly, self checkout customers with a station requiring human guidance to the limited AI equipped robot can now wait several minutes while the disabled customer gets the help they need. In-store customers are more and more an annoyance rather than an opportunity to build brand (store) loyalty.
Try doing an early visit to Bunnings on a week day. Early, the only checkout opportunity available is the service desk. Another example of saving staff costs through clever rostering of start times.
Computer modelling for crowd control and management started all this. Patterns of people movement and demand for provision of services has been refined for many years now. My source tells me that even the volume of sales and how they were distributed, of hot cross buns, is analysed across the country. Bakery staff in the store I have knowledge of are told when to have specific products ready in a Just-in-Time logistics type technique that values process and profit over people.
your Foodland, IGA, Drakes ect,ect they service the small population areas, naturally do to low volumes costs will be higher. what do we do? we stock up at the bigger centers to save a dollar or two then complain about the high cost of things in rural areas.
our population is small compared to our countries (California has more people in one state than Australia has) and our population is mainly in the coastal areas we need to decentralise.
Yesterday in Woolworths (or Coles for that matter) I was at one of the very few cash checkouts.
It failed.
I knew the value of the one product I was buying. Gave enough money to the staff member & said you sort it out & simply walked out with un-scanned item.
I have paid for it & it's on camera.
Probably caused endless paperwork, but I will continue to do that until these companies pull their fingers' out.
I also bring a Helinox folding chair & sit in the queue when it takes too long.
I'm old, nothing embarrasses me!
That is a problem for a Customer Oriented business- The Customers
I had that argument in the 1980s with middle management together with a few other staff at my level. Boy did I make a mistake.
I suggested that customers were paying our wages (a Yes Minister episode!).
Some years later the company folded in Australia. It was Sydney largest manufacturer up until that point.
Customers... what are they actually for!
Equally as bad are those people who use the "free canp" at country pubs.
They arrive, set up their van, use "free" showers and toilets, sit around outside under their canopies yapping and drinking, cook a meal, and go to sleep.
In the morning they again use the facilities, fill up their water tanks, pack up and hit the road.
And never even venture into the pub whose owner no doubt provides the "free camp" in an effort to boost trade.
What these travellers do is not in the right spirit. Low lifes who spoil it for others.
When a publican spoke with me about that problem I suggested that he charge $15-$20 per car, but give the travellers a $15-$20 voucher to be used on food or drink in the pub.
If they use the voucher then obviously the camp is free, but if they don't they still have had low-cost camping. Cheers
When I took a redundancy pack back in 1995 I was the State Sales Manager of one of the largest food suppliers in Australia. Back then we had to pay Woolworths and Coles hefty fees when we introduced a new product to the market. Also for a weekly special plus the product/s to be mass displayed on a Gondola, the fee was around $5000.
The term co-operative advertising and rebates was equal to 5% of the retailer's total company purchases. Huge $$$ rebates. Now consider that practice right across the board and the rebate per annum would be in the many millions, that was back in 1995. After listening and reading about the duopoly, the fees and charges seem to have increased three-fold in today's marketplace.
OK, now consider this.
The two giants are promoting home delivery. The computer grocery order is completed by the customer, the store then employs staff to assemble the said order and it is then delivered to the front door of the customer. All this costs the customer who wants home delivery service, cost of around $15.
So how do the two retailers cover the cost of this transaction. We the customers including the home delivery client are hit with the large price increases over the store's range. I bet that this type of service is not a headline in the inquiry into the retail trade.
We are being forced into the "service industry" with no or very little thought given to what we the customers want.
There endth today's lesson.
Jay&Dee
Bit confused there Cobber?, "yesterday at Woolworths (or Coles for that matter) I was at one of the very few cash checkouts" "It failed"
Does that mean you were at both stores and they both "failed" all at the same time.
Anyhow, you really showed them and I bet they are tugging away at their collective fingers to do better
Soon sir you will have to move from childish attitude to technology banking, eventually you will encounter a situation where someone wont accept cash !
they wont change to suit you because you are minority.