Why is Australia ripped off so much, and we accept it?

[GQPorkroll]

Ok, 2 things I'll discuss here firstly, let me say I work casually in a spare parts shop, a small franchise in NSW only, Sydney mainly, but also Hunter Valley, Taree and Tuncurry. 12 stores all up.

Supercheap auto. Hundreds of stores Australia wide. Ok, advertised specials, and their own brand, they're cheap. Other stuff, like filters, etc, they're not.

A girl came in for an air filter for her Pulsar. Repco $48, Supercheap, $79 (and those two shops are side by side) we had one for $12.95 same brand. $60 odd dollars difference. She bought it and vowed to never go back in there.

A lady wanted wiper blades. Gave her a price of $10 and she asked how much for fitting. Nothing. Ill throw them on, only take a minute. She told me SC wanted $35 a side for the blades and $15 PER SIDE to fit!! Wiper blades, for f!ck sake.

Another guy came in and wanted roll pins. He made the comment no one in supercheap knew what they were. We had them but not the size he wanted. He also commented the last 4 things he bought there, he had found cheaper elsewhere. I asked why he kept going back. "They're cheaper".

My favourite was a guy who came in and asked for the diesel oil we had in our catalogue. I told him we hadn't had a catalogue out since Dec and he started arguing, so I took him over to our oil section, we had it there, Valvoline Super Diesel, 10L, he pulls out the catalogue, $59.95. Ours is on the shelf, every day at $44.95. He wouldn't buy it from us, as the catalogue was cheaper. Is there a new math I'm unaware of? He left our shop and bought the exact same item from supercheap for $59.95 and bought it back in to show me. He compared it to ours, exactly the same. Same bottle, packaging, lid, everything. He still maintains theirs was cheaper, even after looking at his docket, and our price.

Anyway, despite me absolutely hating the store, it's not my main issue.

Find a car that's sold in Australia and, lets say, America. Our dollar is stronger. Even allowing for a bit extra for the car to be built as RHD the prices shouldn't be radically different.

Boss was looking at a Ranger. He was shown a top of the line Toyota Landfill. $129k from memory. He googled it at work and in the US, the same spec vehicle is selling for around $50-60k. Half the price we pay.

The new Dodge Chargers and Ford Mustangs, even the Vipers are all sub $60k cars in a reasonably hot spec. I remember a segment on Top Gear where Hammond had to buy a Charger for $10k over book price and still it was under $50k. So why is it when they're imported into Australia (considering we have Ford, Dodge and GM dealers) are the so ridiculous dear!? I was all but set on buying a Charger or Challenger, until I saw they were $120-145k. Even Hummers and F250's are cheap cars in the states. If someone can show me $120k value in a Hummer, I'd love to see it.

My mate bought a caravan. $5000 to buy a container and ship it over, $35k for the van. $2000 for government bullshit and probably a few hundred for rego and insurance. $145k in Aus. He lived in it for a few months, sold it for $90k. He had 15 people phone up for it the first day the paper went out.

Now, that's big scale stuff, but what bout small scale? Iphone apps in the US are 99c. Ours are $1.19 for the same thing, with a stronger dollar. If you have kids, or buy a few apps that soon adds up, especially if you have in app purchases etc. That's a minimum of 20c on each app. The difference increases as the app price does, too.

We have one of the most inefficient Internet networks in the modern world, with some of the slowest speeds and tightest caps per $. I'm paying $149 for 200gig per month for ADSL2 because Tel$tra has a monopoly and no one else has lines in our exchange, my mate in the states pays $50 for unlimited net and phone with faster speeds.

If you want parts for a V8 Ford or Chev, 9 times out of 10 it's cheaper to buy it from the states and import it. I wanted a carby for my GT motor, only one importer in Aus, at the time $899 plus $50 freight for the 850 I wanted. On eBay, I bought a brand new, chrome 850 quick fuel for $425 plus $50 shipping from the distributor, the same place the Australian supplier bought theirs from, and I had it in 3 days. Allowing for his discount for bulk, etc, he's putting 100% markup on the item, and then will complain no one supports him.

That's another thing that pisses me off. Why does our postal service take 3/4 days to get a parcel from Sydney to Newcastle! It's a 3hr drive. I'm presently waiting on a CB from Perth and I'm placing bets on what will arrive first, the CB, or the parcel coming from the states. Again, we're paying top dollar for a slow, inefficient, Neanderthal like service. Couriers can be just as bad. Try being in a shop and telling the customer that a parcel coming from a warehouse 45mins away won't arrive until the next day when they order at 9am. It costs us $9 and it takes 24hrs plus for it to arrive. It's almost like some couriers are delivering on foot. We had a parcel delivered to Sydney instead of Cessnock, again, 2 1/2 hr drive. I was told 2 days to get it to me. Come on, you stuffed up, get in your van and deliver it to me. It was 12pm when I contacted them. I then had a mechanic tell me to punch it up my arse as he needed it for a job.

I think my rant is over, on this section, anyway, but god some things piss me right off.

[NP99]

I agree with your comments...........I bought all my cruiser motor bike parts from the US............Cheaper including postage than from here........Its disgusting.

Greed = Supercheap

[threedogs]

Import tax on luxury cars over $50k is huge ,
plus our leaders are sheep, or followers
You'll notice a lot of shops say Ebay stuff is seconds and not good quality.
so far I'm happy with every purchase I've made,
2nds my hat, they say that cause losing sales.
Will have more to say on this, as some ppl are just thieves/greedy

[taslucas]

Wow man, you sure got worked up! Lol. Just watch the swearing though.
Big franchises use advertising tricks to get people in the door.
What about a burger from a franchise? Cheaper than your local corner store but a lot worse yet people are "loving it".

As far as I know the US car industry is still heavily subsidised by the government since the GFC.



FanTapstic!

[NP99]

I buy 90% of my fishing gear online from O/S. I'd love to spt local, but my wallet wins out!!!!

[lorrieandjas]

Tariffs to protect their local manufacturers and import tax to protect our local manufacturers..........

[Maxhead]

I refuse to go to supercrap anymore...bunch of imbeciles that pretend they know what they're selling

[NP99]

I refuse to go to supercrap anymore...bunch of imbeciles that pretend they know what they're selling

They cant even pretend up here. We have a good bunch of staff at Repco though.

[mudnut]

I'm just happy that Auto Pro has re opened in town. Now I've got a choice of two parts suppliers. Wooo hoo!!

[NP99]

Spare parts have a disgusting mark up..............we are being ripped off. A mate of mine sells Land Rover spares and has been offered to buy out because he is causing competitors grief. He under sells them and still makes a healthy margin.

[Winnie]

I've got supercrap and bursons next door to each other and repco just across the road, it's great. Got a mate who works at repco so price is always good there

If you're happy and you know it tap a post!

[mudnut]

We lost our Holden Dealer and Our Ford/Nissan dealer in one blow, because a bloke bought both then reckoned they weren't profitable, so he shut both shops. Many jobs lost and choice of suppliers in town, halved. The Holden dealers parts manager had years of knowledge and was able to get hold of any hard to source part for just about any vehicle.

[taslucas]

What annoys me about trying to shop local is that theres plenty of businesses that simply import items from the internet, put a markup on them and sell them on.
I got a pertronix for my mate from a Melbourne pertronix stockist. They cost $70 more than the authorised US seller and sent us the wrong one!
A few weeks later I bought another identical pertronix fir my self from the US dealer and saved $70......
Now I'm all for supporting local shops but Im not just going pay people for buying off the net and reselling at a profit!!!
My boss organised to purchase a reco gearbox from a company in Hobart. He was going to drive down and get it(a few hours). They told him there's an 8 week wait. When he asked why, they Saud it's because they import them from a company in the US.... They even told him the company! So ofcourse he rang the US company and organised his own gearbox sent to his door QUICKER AND CHEAPER!? What extra service would he have got for the extra dollars?? None.......

FanTapstic!

[GQPorkroll]

Yes agree with a lot of posts here.

I'm restoring a 69 Yamaha scooter. Went into local Yammie dealer with part numbers I needed (like a full rebuild kit plus other stuff) was quoted over $1000 on the bits he could be bothered to find. Went online to bike bandit and got every single part, $50 postage, $320 for the whole order with extra bits like stickers and badges and stuff.

I try not to be too hard on the supercreeps staff, most of them are just young kids looking for any job, but the managers and senior staff should have spare parts training.

We don't order any parts off the net simply because it's too big of a risk if there is a warranty or a fault. We use suppliers we can go back on (and even then they can be bloody idiots) if there is an issue. Try talking to an eBay supplier 6mo after purchase and saying there's a problem!

It does get me frustrated because as a country, we're being ripped off and we are happy enough to sit back and do nothing. Car companies are complaining they can't sell a local product, but the government is forcing them to pay unskilled labourers massive amounts to do menial tasks, where as in china they do it for next to nothing. If our wages were in line with the job performed, and the average wage was reduced, people could afford more employees, and make better products.

Did you know that McD's, KFC, Dominos etc have agreements with Govt to pay under award wages due to amount of people employed, but Subway, for example, a small privately run franchise has to pay award wage. Not really fair.

I dunno about McD being cheap, it's like $4.50 for a Big Mac. But, again, because of media, plus it's image, people go there rather than to a shop with proper food,

[Drew]

Coz we ain't too bright is why


“The best way to cheer yourself is to cheer somebody else up.” - Albert Einstein

[GQPorkroll]

You're right, Drew. The government wants a nation of dummies. In a few years, we won't be able to make anything, or fix anything. Everything is disposable from furniture to cars, in the earlier days, it would have be re-used, re engineered, fixed, rebuilt, or sold to someone else. Now days if a chair breaks, it's thown out, and a new one bought, mainly because people don't know how to use a drill and a spanner and fix it. I bought a $1750 designer bed for $20 because one thread was stripped. I strengthened it and added nuts and bolts. $20 fix, a few hours and it was like brand new. He went and financed a $3000 bed because it must be better, right?

[mudski]

A girl came in for an air filter for her Pulsar. Repco $48, Supercheap, $79 (and those two shops are side by side) we had one for $12.95 same brand. $60 odd dollars difference. She bought it and vowed to never go back in there.

A lady wanted wiper blades. Gave her a price of $10 and she asked how much for fitting. Nothing. Ill throw them on, only take a minute. She told me SC wanted $35 a side for the blades and $15 PER SIDE to fit!! Wiper blades, for fuck sake.


Not arguing the point but I can't see the filters being the same brand with such a massive price difference.
Plus SC have at every shop a sign saying $2 to fit wiper blades, so I think that lady misunderstood. Also she would have been quote the $35 for the blade assembly, not the blade itself. I have the national contract for the Supercheap group so I see these shops probably 5 times a week. Plus I worked in the spare parts industry for 18 years myself (up until three years ago) so there must be a mistake on the filter too. Sorry for the nit pick but that just doesn't add up...
But yes I do agree that we aussies do get ripped, hard. Look at diesel chips for instance, by a DP or equivalent and its minimum of $1300 straight up. I know for a fact it doesn't cost more than $60 to make. Put in the factor of R & D and it still doesn't sit right with me.
But at the end of the day, everyone has to make a coin or two. Do your research and you will save your coin or two....
On the plus side. If anyone wants new batteries, and you can travel to Campbellfield, Victoria, let me know. 15 plate Supercharge batteries cheaper than anywhere in Melbourne.

[taslucas]

Coz we ain't too bright is why


“The best way to cheer yourself is to cheer somebody else up.” - Albert Einstein

Yep..... people complain about jobs going over seas but then they buy cr@p from multinational companies.

But GQ porkroll, dont ever suggest we go down the path of china and india etc with super low wages that create a cuture of poverty. That would be a horrible country to live in!!

[threedogs]

Most other countries only keep cars for 3 yrs then change, as government make it too pricey to re register
They then unload them on to us as grey imports, there is an 8os toyota somewhere brand new rebadged as a nizmota[not true]
and runs a V6 [true]

[Drew]

Another thing is we all want a pay rise but nobody wants to pay for things made by those same people (us) coz it costs too much to buy.

It's like everybody wants the big $$$$ but nobody wants to pay for the goods or the taxes to pay for those $$$

Don't start me coz I'll have to get up on my soap box, but suffice to say it can't continue.


“The best way to cheer yourself is to cheer somebody else up.” - Albert Einstein

[mudski]

Another thing is we all want a pay rise but nobody wants to pay for things made by those same people (us) coz it costs too much to buy.

Thats another thing that annoys me. Young kids expect to get paid the bigger dollars when they just come out of school. How about working hard for your dollar, work your way up the corporate ladder, rather than expecting to get paid more to do little. That annoys me more than the OP's post. But thats another rant/ story.

[taslucas]

another thing is we all want a pay rise but nobody wants to pay for things made by those same people (us) coz it costs too much to buy.

It's like everybody wants the big $$$$ but nobody wants to pay for the goods or the taxes to pay for those $$$

don't start me coz i'll have to get up on my soap box, but suffice to say it can't continue.


“the best way to cheer yourself is to cheer somebody else up.” - albert einstein

spot on mate

[threedogs]

Now lets flip the coin and say you get what you want, what will you/me complain about next

[GQPorkroll]

Mudski, it may be different in a rural area, or store to store. I know I've seen advertised in NSW rural, at least, $15 fitting and occasionally in a catalogue it will say $10 fitting, but I've never seen $2.

Yes, you are probably right, it was more than likely for a wiper arm as opposed to a blade, but it comes to product knowledge. I know that on that car, I can swap blades over easily enough. And $35 for a wiper arm is excessive when ours, plus our competition are no dearer than $20 each, as the sales rep keeps tabs on all prices so no one is undercutting each other and costing him sales.

No idea with the filter. The girl said it looked the same, was the same part number, same coloured box, etc, and had the same name on it. Our oil filter was a good $15 cheaper also, but it was a different brand.

Re the chips, I know what you mean, I'm looking to buy a dash pod for my GQ. The company who makes them won't do our store a cheaper price than what they sell them to the public for and their price hasn't dropped, it's increased over years. Once they make the template there's no more cost involved and labor time is minimal. It's also an extra $20 from memory for a DIN hole and $5 for a switch hole to be cut. They would have sold a hell of a lot more if the price was a lot cheaper, however, if you're the only person with the product you can set your price.

[NP99]

Good luck having the pimple kid fit anything?...

[taslucas]

The wiper fitting at my local sc is $2. Thats in Burnie, tas and it's damn rural hahahaha

FanTapstic!

[GQPorkroll]

Damn right, not even in Australia, lol.

Dunno. Maybe a staff member just gave her the wrong price, but I have heard several people say they're asking $10 - $15 to fit wipers.

Anyway, neither here nor there, it's a service we choose to do for free, if they want to charge, it's understandable as it takes time and mechanics or dealers will charge.

[jaztaz]

It does get me frustrated because as a country, we're being ripped off and we are happy enough to sit back and do nothing. Car companies are complaining they can't sell a local product, but the government is forcing them to pay unskilled labourers massive amounts to do menial tasks, where as in china they do it for next to nothing. If our wages were in line with the job performed, and the average wage was reduced, people could afford more employees, and make better products.

I'd happily work for 25% of what I'm getting paid now if the cost of living was cut the same amount.

People want/need more money to cover the rising costs of living but then government, big business, etc just put up their rates, prices, etc to take away that extra income.

It's a vicious circle, just like an ar$ehole with teeth.

[MC97GQ]

They cant even pretend up here. We have a good bunch of staff at Repco though.

I have to disagree mate, Repco is getting more like Supercrap everyday, went in to my local Repco to buy exhaust manifold washers, They didn't have a single one.

But if I wanted a plastic model of a V8 engine they had heaps. Once you could walk into Repco and get any part you needed and they were way cheaper than genuine and of the same quality.

Not any more.

Mark

[MC97GQ]

Thats another thing that annoys me. Young kids expect to get paid the bigger dollars when they just come out of school. How about working hard for your dollar, work your way up the corporate ladder, rather than expecting to get paid more to do little. That annoys me more than the OP's post. But thats another rant/ story.

The other problem too is everybody wants it all straight away, when my parents bought their first house it was a fixer upper as that was what they could afford, When they could afford it they moved to a bigger better house. Now people want the MacMansion straight off the bat, mortgage themselves to the hilt then whinge when the interest rates go up.

Anyway that another whole new rant.

Mark

[NP99]

I have to disagree mate, Repco is getting more like Supercrap everyday, went in to my local Repco to buy exhaust manifold washers, They didn't have a single one.

But if I wanted a plastic model of a V8 engine they had heaps. Once you could walk into Repco and get any part you needed and they were way cheaper than genuine and of the same quality.

Not any more.

Mark

The Repco service and knowledge is a store by store thing..............I agree on the crap toys though!

[rusty_nail]

I refuse to go to supercrap anymore...bunch of imbeciles that pretend they know what they're selling

dont you have kids mate, 16-18 year olds know everything, i thought that was why they only employed them or retirees lol

[NP99]

dont you have kids mate, 16-18 year olds know everything, i thought that was why they only employed them or retirees lol

WRONG...........that's my wife! She knows all :-)

[Coldcomfort]

If I need work cloths's / jeans / jackets and any other bits and pieces I use Daves New York... http://www.davesnewyork.com/ Motor cycle tyres Jake wilson.. .
http://www.jakewilson.com/cl/52/Motorcycle-Tires

I can get 3 pair of jeans delivered for just over the cost of 1 pair bought locally. Jake wilson I can get a pair of Michelin PR3's deilvered for the price of 1 tyre locally.....

Is it any wonder the internet has spelt the doom of of many retailers that instist on living in the past and expect us to pay like that as well??

[GQPorkroll]

Yes, a friend went to the US and bought king gee work clothes for less than half the price they are over here. Last time I bought shorts they were $55 a pair. In the states, $20 or 4 for $60. There was also cheaper brands for a lower price. It's almost too dear to buy King Gees now and the quality is not there. When I worked 6 days a week in a workshop, they lasted me 2-3 years. The last pair I bought as a truck driver lasted one season.

Take a look at the Statesmans we sent over to US for police cars. They were, what, 70k for a 6L here, about 40k in the states as a left hooker. Same as the 5.7 and 6L Monaros. I saw 6L GTO's topping 100k. In UK the 5.7 base model was 21 GBP!!! Top of the line 6L was still only 44GBP. So again, we're ripped off.

But we'll gladly import Chery's and Great Walls, sell them for next to nothing and run the Australian car manufacturers out of business because they simply can't compete.

[lorrieandjas]

I think the advent of Internet retailing has definitely been a great thing - now hear me out before you shoot me down for being un-Australian and not supporting local jobs. Since the dawn of time retailers have been seeking ways to expand their contestable market. It starts out opening in one location, then others, then other States, the overseas, etc. The Internet has just enabled that to be done much more easily.

The difference between going to the local shop and going online *used* to be service. On-line retailers nowadays are realising that the level of customer service they need to provide is just as important as price (not always the case - but that's the same for your local retailer too).

I believe more and more goods will be sold online to the point where local retailers will have no choice but to follow suit. Think back when the Banks brought in ATMs. Oh the uproar and the hue and the cry about service being lost, etc. I for one would prefer not to have to queue for 20 minutes to withdraw $100 out of the bank. Same as ever tried to buy something in a store like Sanity, EB Games, etc lately. Much prefer to buy online than wait in the queue. But that's me - I'm impatient and have other things to do!

While this is a little hijack of the OP it is relevant and I agree with Coldcomfort - why pay more - be it in time or money. I think the only things that will remain as local stores will be services - hairdressers, physio, etc. Bit hard to get that online! (Well there is one *service* you can get online - but I digress)!

Jas

[Winnie]

But then you have to wait a week fr it to arrive!

If you're happy and you know it tap a post!

[Steve4wdin]

Last year, my wife went to Rebel to buy a pair of runners. $270.00 Came home, on line, from USA $130.00 Delivered to the door. Same brand and colour. Placed order Tuesday Delivered Friday.
Steve

[NP99]

Last year, my wife went to Rebel to buy a pair of runners. $270.00 Came home, on line, from USA $130.00 Delivered to the door. Same brand and colour. Placed order Tuesday Delivered Friday.
Steve

You would think Rebel have the buying power to sell sub 200...............greed!!!!

[GQPorkroll]

I think online shopping is great. I own a classic car and without eBay I would have to travel to every swap meet and compete against morons and thieves to get what I want. I've bought many an obsolete part, or NOS part I needed for an absolute song.

However, working in retail I see the other side of it. You'll be asked to quote on an item, and the comment will be 'nah get it cheaper on eBay' ok, well, if we're talking hundreds of dollars I understand, but recently we were quoting on plug leads, we were $4 dearer than the eBay price. He shows me the eBay ad to prove it (I would have matched the price). He didn't mention the $15 freight or the 5 days handling time, or that the seller was in WA and we're in NSW.

Given that info, he insisted eBay was cheaper. So I wrote the eBay price, plus $15 freight down. And I got my plug leads off the shelf. I told him he could buy mine for the same price eBay and have them now, or he could buy them, pay another $15 freight, wait for the seller to get them from his supplier, then wait another 2-5 days for them to arrive at his house. He decided he'd buy the eBay ones.

Sometimes you just can't help stupidity.

[GQPorkroll]

Oh yeah, I've done similar with joggers. Until I had my accident and needed comfortable shoes, KT26 was the only brand name I had. I looked at those Nike Shox things, the cheapest I found was about $299 for basic black ones. Went onto eBay, and from US they were $129 plus about $40 shipping from the states, arrived in 3 days. Again. Retailers greed. But I guess when you look at the overheads, wages, rent, bills, insurances, freight that actual shops pay, versus an online shop, or eBay advert, it's easy to see why online can sell so much cheaper.

How about this. The new apple and windows operating systems are both half the price in the US compared to Australia. You can buy these products online. If you go to the US website, you get a different price to the Australian site. Same deal with all apple products. A iphone 5 64 gig is half the price it is in Aus, in the US.

[NP99]

I think retail want to introduce a fitting fee because of eBay purchasing. Try in shop.......buy on ebay!

[Drewboyaus]

Last year, my wife went to Rebel to buy a pair of runners. $270.00 Came home, on line, from USA $130.00 Delivered to the door. Same brand and colour. Placed order Tuesday Delivered Friday.
Steve

Don't start me on this one......the bloody manufacturers (Asics I'm talking about you) have now shut down any way of importing sports shoes via online retailers by blocking online retailers from selling to Australia. If you go to order Asics on line from Footlocker in the USA, there is a disclaimer they can't be shipped to Australia. What does our government do about such anti competitive behaviour? Nothing. You can still get some via eBay but I'm a bit dubious of their origin.
Part of the problem lies with real estate trusts and landlords who have such over the top expectations for rent which forces inflated prices to cover the retailers' largest fixed cost. That said, we all have superannuation and if rents and yields went down in the property market, our super would suffer just as it would if the banks weren't making killer profits......
Sorry, ended up sliding a bit off topic there



Tip tip tip......tap tap tap....

[GQPorkroll]

I don't understand that, either. We have a trade agreement with most of the world. I wanted to purchase an accessory for my iPod but the company was forbidden by apple to send to Australia, but could send to UK, As I saw a UK review on YouTube.

Yes, again, we're being ripped off with rent, power, bills etc compared to the rest of the world. How are we meant to be competitive with the rest of the world? Look at wages, a junior in a US shoe shop would be paid $4-8p/h. In Australia you're looking at double that and more during penalty/weekend time, so shops can only employ one person, not 2 or 3, and then people complain about service and buy online. Vicious circle. If cost of living was lower, and wages were lower, products could be lower and we could compete and encourage growth.

[GQPorkroll]

My biggest complaint however, is jails. If they're in use, they're a breeding ground for criminology and of they're empty they're a waste of space.

How about this: all empty jails are turned into shelters for the homeless. Ok, not the most comfortable or hospitable place, but there is a room with a bed, a room for chow, plus they could use it as a physical address to claim benefits, they could learn repair skills fixing parts of the jail that are worn, plus cooking skills, cleaning skills, painting, lawn mowing, etc. they could also grow vegetable and keep chickens etc to help towards sustaining the center with produce, with any excess given to salvos or Vinnies, etc.

Jails in use should be growing fresh produce or raising cattle. If 3 jails grew tomatoes, 3 grew potatoes, 3 grew pumpkin, 3 kept chooks for eggs, 3 raised chickens for food, sheep, beef, etc, there would be a lot of produce made that could be put into hampers and delivered to low income families on a monthly basis. Nothing fancy, no profits, just all given back to the community. Isn't jail about paying for your crime?

Prisoners could learn how to grow vegetables, how to interact with people, even tractor driving, spraying, etc skills, plus I'm sure there could be a handshake done with producers in the area to give them some paid work upon release. It would also show prisoners that they can be a benefit to society, they can contribute in a meaningful way and if they saw who some of the produce went to, as in families living in poverty and barely able to put food on the table, it might set them straight.

Maybe I'm living in a perfect world.

[NP99]

My biggest complaint however, is jails. If they're in use, they're a breeding ground for criminology and of they're empty they're a waste of space.

How about this: all empty jails are turned into shelters for the homeless. Ok, not the most comfortable or hospitable place, but there is a room with a bed, a room for chow, plus they could use it as a physical address to claim benefits, they could learn repair skills fixing parts of the jail that are worn, plus cooking skills, cleaning skills, painting, lawn mowing, etc. they could also grow vegetable and keep chickens etc to help towards sustaining the center with produce, with any excess given to salvos or Vinnies, etc.

Jails in use should be growing fresh produce or raising cattle. If 3 jails grew tomatoes, 3 grew potatoes, 3 grew pumpkin, 3 kept chooks for eggs, 3 raised chickens for food, sheep, beef, etc, there would be a lot of produce made that could be put into hampers and delivered to low income families on a monthly basis. Nothing fancy, no profits, just all given back to the community. Isn't jail about paying for your crime?

Prisoners could learn how to grow vegetables, how to interact with people, even tractor driving, spraying, etc skills, plus I'm sure there could be a handshake done with producers in the area to give them some paid work upon release. It would also show prisoners that they can be a benefit to society, they can contribute in a meaningful way and if they saw who some of the produce went to, as in families living in poverty and barely able to put food on the table, it might set them straight.

Maybe I'm living in a perfect world.

Its a good idea, but take it a step from here! What is of concern is the privatisation of our jails. We all know big business and pollies are in bed with each other for $$$$ What if business applies pressure to pollies to apply pressure to judges to start handing out jail sentences to fill jails. You can bet the private companies would be paid on how many cells are full on top of their normal rate of $$$..........just a thought!!!

[Drewboyaus]

How are we meant to be competitive with the rest of the world? Look at wages, a junior in a US shoe shop would be paid $4-8p/h. In Australia you're looking at double that and more during penalty/weekend time, so shops can only employ one person, not 2 or 3, and then people complain about service and buy online.

I've spent a bit of time "Stateside" and what's really interesting is the customer service you get from many clothing stores. In general, it's outstanding. Even in the face of lower wages and lower prices. 'Know why?
Because the sales assistant gets a cut of your purchase to supplement the shitty hourly rate they earn. Certainly focusses the mind on delivering good service and up-selling. If I were a retailer here, that's how I would try to structure my business.
Not that it would be allowed to happen here, no matter how generous the commission that was on offer. It's all about grinding out the hourly rate in Australia.


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[rusty_nail]

There was a real interesting story on triple js hack this arvo about how electronic sales are significantly marked up here in oz, if anyone missed it u can download Te podcast,


Tappin

[Drewboyaus]

'Might go have a listen to that, cheers Rusty!


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[mudnut]

Its a good idea, but take it a step from here! What is of concern is the privatisation of our jails. We all know big business and pollies are in bed with each other for $$$$ What if business applies pressure to pollies to apply pressure to judges to start handing out jail sentences to fill jails. You can bet the private companies would be paid on how many cells are full on top of their normal rate of $$$..........just a thought!!!

Wasn't there a state in America that had a privately owned juvie facility being supplied kids by an "over-zealous " judge?