In the news today Woolworths and Coles will no longer be allowed to have restrictive leases that preclude another supermarket opening up shop. They have done this in the past and now it's to be stopped to allow competition, Costco are rumoured to have twisted the arm of the ACCC to allow them to set up shops....

I'm sure they will find away around this ruling.

Yep.they will buy up the whole complex.I always understood that monopolies were banned in Australia.Perhaps I live in the past.Yesterday at the servo next to Woolworths at Raymond Terrace had ULP at $1.09cpl.(Caltex).At the same time bananas went up by !.58 per kilo.This was just one product that I noticed had risen as the price of fuel had dropped.How much longer are we going to just cop whatever the monopolies deal out to us.Cheers.Ibbo.

exactly,its time to start supporting the small business before they are all gone,we have lost people power,bring back common sense as big is not necesserly better.

Mate, common sense is an oxymoron, a bit like military intelligence

It's just not so common.

(An oxymoron is the idiot with the acetylene gear.)

Hey Guys and Gals

Next time you see some footage of our great leader Kevin Rudd and his treasurer at a $5000 a head dinner have a look who is sitting with them at a the same table.......shock horror is that a Woolworth s or a Coles chief executive i see ??Donating $$$$$$$ to a worthy cause no doubt.(ie:Labour Party )

Yeah right the duopoly is dead long live small business owners,as long as the two anal hole companies have the cash to bribe buy out or ruin whoever they want.Nothing will ever change.What i don't get is in USA this would never happen why is it allowed here.

The ACCC is useless.Government will never upset the big two not while they employ thousands and kick millions into government coffers.



-- Edited by Stefan on Sunday 20th of September 2009 01:20:08 PM

We need to vote with our  wallet support the little ones,at least there you can talk to the guy who runs the store instead  of just excepting it as being thats the way it is .

I make a point of never buying my newspapers at Coles or Woolies but going into a proper newsagent to get them. Also I go to a small chemist to get my prescriptions never a chemist supermarket type. If we dont support these now then they will dissappear in the not too distant future. We all made the mistake of leaving the corner hardware store and going to Bunnings, now they can dictate to us what they sell and how much of it. Havent you been peed off when you only want a couple of screws but have to buy a sealed packet, and when you buy a pair of hinges for example you need a dozen screws and guess what there packed in tens. Look after the small shops now or they wont survive Keith

kesue wrote:

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I make a point of never buying my newspapers at Coles or Woolies but going into a proper newsagent to get them. Also I go to a small chemist to get my prescriptions never a chemist supermarket type. If we dont support these now then they will dissappear in the not too distant future. We all made the mistake of leaving the corner hardware store and going to Bunnings, now they can dictate to us what they sell and how much of it. Havent you been peed off when you only want a couple of screws but have to buy a sealed packet, and when you buy a pair of hinges for example you need a dozen screws and guess what there packed in tens. Look after the small shops now or they wont survive Keith

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Yes Bunnings have seen the end to hardware shops where the person selling the stuff actually had a clue to it's end use. I was trying to get some paint matched and it was a nightmare, had to go to a 3D paint shop where I got some guy who knew what he was doing....

 

hi Speaking of small business owners,I went to a Telstra shop LOL to ask about a "blue tick" phone.The sales assistant and i use that term loosely must work there during here lunch break from school. ME asks do you seel blue tick phones? HER what ? ME phones you can use in remote areas. Her Duh.... oh yeah there down the end wall there Me what do i look for. her Uhhh blue ticks me are the prepay or plan her both me where can i get covereage her duh oh oh giggle i have gone blank sorry you can probably find it on the web me ok thanks bye bye!!, Guess where i wont be getting my phone :O)

We have recently tried a few telstra shops lately trying to sort out a problem,they are a total wast of space ,they just hand you a telstra or bigpond phone no.
then come the indians............................................................................................

I mentioned just this same problem to a Bigpond "Activations" person while I was wrestling to get my internet back. I was told they are a franchise. I told the bloke they are misrepresenting Telstra. The poor attitude and lack of customer service is appalling. I hope the recorder got that message too. I had to buy another USB "device". One of the Telstra shops in this big town had just one in stock, and as it turned out, wouldn't install. I took it back, received a refund, but they were less than helpful. In the end Telstra Bigpond sent out a "device" registered to my account, and it works! Well, so far so good. So folks, these franchises which are letting you down need to be reported tso the franchisee can be dumped for poor business practices. Speak up. Express your opinion. You'd be surprised who listens. Cheers Chris

It's not just the telstra shops either we only connected to internet about three mths back,had connecting trouble with usb device,after many ph callsto bigpond and no improvement i had to insist on a warranty replacement.Because we were on the road we asked for it to be sent to a post office further up the road,a week latter nothing,more callsto find out the courier won't deliver to PO,needed fixed address.
another week in c/park,nothing,more calls they sent it to our home address,had to get it posted to us,they said it was out of their hands,another week ,gues what ? wrong one,more calls,another week ,nothing,morecalls another week ,nothing.
I refused to talk to tech support anymore,finalygot a mature aussie lady at the gold coast&told her the story,we got what we wanted in a few days ..We changed to a homenett gatway unit ,its great & heeps faster.Another example of to big & dont care.It took six weeks to get back in the system again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!