Sunshine Coast Daily backs nationwide recycling scheme

This is today's editorial in The Sunshine Coast Daily - 18 September 2008



IN OUR OPINION

Bring back the bottle deposits

The State Government should heed calls to encourage the recycling of empty bottles through the introduction of a deposit scheme.

South Australia has had compulsory bottle deposits in place since 1977 to encourage recycling and reduce waste.

A deposit system for empty bottles in Queensland was abolished 30 years ago.

Queensland Consumer Watch spokesman Paul Tully said the time had come for a 10 cent mandatory container deposit scheme.

As he points out, it is a tragedy that millions of empty bottles are dumped at land fills around Queensland every year when they could be recycled.Generations of Queenslanders will no doubt remember the days when they could earn good pocket money by handing in bottles.

Compulsory deposits on all drink containers would be a major boost for the environment as well as performing an educational role by encouraging everyone to recycle their waste containers.

The Queensland opposition has backed the call, with environment spokesman Dave Gibson labelling the Bligh government "lazy" for ignoring community concerns over the issue.

And with South Australia recycling twice as many drink containers, it's clear the deposit scheme is worth implementing.

Let's hope the idea can be implemented nationally.


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Coca-Cola becomes an anti-environment Australian disgrace

Coca-Cola Amatil Australia has been dealt an embarrassing blow to its national credibility by the company's Corporate Affairs Director Alec Wagstaff.

Despite the overwhelming success and community acceptance of the South Australian Container Deposit Legislation (CDL), Mr Wagstaff has highlighted Coca-Cola's anti-environment and anti-Australian stance with a boots and all attack on the system.

In today's Queensland Times in Ipswich Queensland, this corporate troglodyte is quoted as saying CDL is an outdated and expensive solution.

It has not been tried in Australia outside South Australia, so how can it be outdated? As for being expensive, the consumer pays an extra 10 cents at the point of purchase which is later fully refunded. What could be fairer than that?

Coca-Cola's Corporate Affairs intellectual giant goes onto say:

"It's a very complex system.

"We've got a terrific kerbside recovery that's hassle-free and convenient.

"The challenge is to increase our recycling rate."

Is this guy for real?

Seeing that you claim to be across this complex issue, how do you explain the data from the Total Environment Centre showing that the Australian national drink container recycling rate is about 40% while in South Australia it is as high as 80%. On the latest available annual figures, 420 million drink containers in South Australia were recycled out of a total of 540 million - the highest return rate of any state or territory in Australia.

And now a spokesman for Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett has said container recycling is on the agenda for a future Environment Protection and Heritage Council (EPHC) meeting, comprising state and federal environment ministers in early 2009.

But the pace of change is quickening. Are you listening Mr Wagstaff? Family First senator Steve Fielding introduced a drink container recycling bill into the Senate in March of this year, proposing a system similar to South Australia's. Tasmania, Western Australia and Victoria all have draft legislation prepared.

Coca-Cola is proving itself to be anti-environment and anti-Australian on this issue.

At a time when Australia and the rest of the world are becoming environmentally-conscious, Alec Wagstaff has been let loose on the Australian public telling us that Coca-Cola's current second-rate recycling system - outside South Australia - is better than the high-successful model which has been operating in South Australia since 1977.

Coca-Cola is a multi-national conglomerate whose corporate greed outweighs its ability to join in with a new environmental initiative which would be good for Australia, good for the environment and would be a national model for the rest of the world.

Coca-Cola could do a lot worse than dumping its Corporate Affairs Director as its national spokesman and get someone in his place who is more in tune with our evolving environment and the aspirational hopes of millions of ordinary Australians.

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Australia Post Ripoff starts Monday 15 September 2008

Australia Post is about to ripoff 20 million Australians with its increase in the price of standard letters by a whopping 10%.

A jump of 5 cents to 55 cents will have a dramatic effect on many people in the community across Australia including pensioners and low income earners.

But Australia Post couldn't care less as they fleece Australian consumers as they bask in record profits.

The price hike for the basic letter rate is just the start as Australia Post embarks on the biggest price increase for letters and parcels in Australia's history.

But the classic rub-it-in-your-face move by Australia Post is the discount to be given for the first time for metered or imprinted letters without stamps. In its infinite corporate generosity, Australia Post has decided to offer a whopping 1 cent discount for such letters which can be posted for 54 cents instead of 55 cents.What great fellas they are.

They make Al Capone look like a timid Boy Scout on his way to Sunday School.

AL CAPONE:
He could have learnt
a thing or two from Australia Post

Of course, the amount of publicity given to this price rise by Australia Post is somewhere between Buckley's and none - except for this hard-to-find entry on their website:


Price Changes effective 15 September 2008

On 15 September 2008 a number of price changes will come into effect for domestic and international services.

The changes, which are necessary to cover the increased cost of providing these services, include changes to the Registered Post, Print Post and international letter and parcel services.

Additionally two new price categories will be introduced:

Metered/Imprint - provides a moderate discount for full rate letters where postage has been paid using a postage meter or via an Australia Post charge account; and
Acquisition Mail - an addressed, geographically targeted, non-personalised saturation delivery service

Price sheets detailing the specific changes are available via the links below. Please refer to these price sheets for non-contract articles.

The weighted average price changes include:
Domestic Letters - 8.1%
International Letters - 3.9%
Print Post - 2.8%
International Parcels - 3.8%
Registered Post - 2.7%


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Telstra Chief Sol Trujillo laughs as consumers languish!

According to The Courier-Mail on 8 December 2007, the CEO of Telstra Sol Trujillo now has an obscene pay package of $22 million a year.It's a pity that his lust for the big money is not reciprocated to consumers with an emphasis on quality service.

Just take this example of Telstra treating customers with total disdain.



Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo
thinking of ways to increase
his $22 million annual salary
package.

Last Tuesday 3 June 2008, my home phone / internet line went as dead as a door nail and was promptly reported to Telstra with a guarantee it would be fixed by 7pm Tuesday 10 June 2008.

This was despite advice today from the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman that this time frame exceeded the customer guarantee for fixing landline faults, which Telstra is obliged to follow.

I was assured that if a technician attended my home and we were not there, they would leave a calling card with a contact number.

On Friday, I called Telstra on an unrelated matter and was told that no technician had yet been assigned to my job - 3 days after the initial complaint.

Today, a check with Telstra in Ipswich revealed that a technician did come out on Saturday but had failed to leave a calling card.

The problem was supposedly a line fault in the second pit from my home which allegedly had concrete over the top of the pit.

Today, I personally inspected all of the pits from my home for a distance of 250 metres. Lo and behold, there was no sign of any concrete impeding access to any pit over that distance.

Sol Trujillo holds up 10 fingers -
one for each of the almost
$100,000 he earns each
weekday as head of Telstra.

A call to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) gave me a reference number and a contact number with Telstra who blithely told me that they had 10 days to respond positively to a TIO complaint but that they would pass my complaint onto a case officer.

I suppose I should be really grateful for that.So, Telstra now has 17 days to fix this line problem!

You make a complaint to the TIO which automatically gives Telstra extra time to finalise the matter - a pretty, bloody stupid system.

The TIO stated that Telstra will be liable for breaching their Customer Service Guarantee with a daily penalty of $14.52 for 5 days (after either 1 or 3 days, depending upon my location) plus $48.40 a day thereafter.

Frankly, I cannot give a hoot about this compensation.

As a loyal customer of Telstra for 34 years, I expect nothing more and nothing less than a prompt response to my complaint with the line being fixed as a matter of priority.

And a note left in my letterbox as promised, rather than hanging around like a dill waiting for Telstra to arrive.

In the good old days in the 60s, you could speak directly with a technician at the local exchange and get prompt replies and service.

Now, while Sol Trujillo counts his weekly salary of $423,000, all I want is my bloody phone connection restored!

Is this Sol Trujillo
counting his $1.83 million
monthly pay packet.

Sol - is that too much to ask?

Sol, Sol - are you listening? Sol, Sol - what's that noise? Actually, it sounds like bank notes being counted with ecstatic laughter every few seconds!

Sol, Sol - I know you are busy but could you please spend just a few minutes to help one of your loyal customers.

WE WANT YOUR FEEDBACK
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Has Telstra failed to give you proper service within a reasonable time frame?
Has Telstra treated you as a nuisance rather than a customer?
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Moviegoers given dud deal by Birch Carroll and Coyle

Michelle Vecchio might be pretty smart academically when it comes to being the Queensland Marketing Manager for Birch Carroll and Coyle (BCC) but she appears to be out of her depth on the issue of forced seating allocations.

BCC has recently unilaterally imposed seat allocations for all movie goers at its cinemas including Garden City, the Myer Centre, Chermside and Indooroopilly.

In the past, you could walk into the cinema and pick your own seats based on the theatre layout, distance from the screen, how tall the people were in front of you and whether or not you wanted to be surrounded by young and restless children.Not any more.

It all seemed to work very well until the marketing gurus at BCC decided that they were smarter than the Australian public and that people must be told where they had to sit.

That might work in a crowded cinema but how can it be justified in a cinema less than half full?

This is exactly what happened to me and my two sons a fortnight ago at the Chermside edifice of Birch Carroll and Coyle.

John Paul aged 8 and James who is 6 fronted up to watch the Bee Movie and we were politely informed that we would be given specific seat allocations.

When I queried this, I was told that it was "world's best practice" by the dizzy young blonde behind the cash register.

"You can pick your own seating," she said.

"That's what I want to do," I responded.

"No - here on the screen. Pick your own seats."

"OK. Give me these three on the side about half way up," I suggested because my boys wouldn't have anyone in front of them and we wouldn't have anyone behind us kicking the seats and generally annoying us for an hour and a half.

I asked if she would keep the seats free around us for that very purpose.

"Of course," the sweet, young thing from BCC nodded with mock approval because 10 minutes later we were in our seats with a group of wriggling kids immediately behind us and tall moviegoers in front of us - which forced my kids to sway from side to side for the whole movie trying to get a a glimpse of part of the screen.

We had been mislead - if not lied to - by the staff of Birch Carroll and Coyle!

The cinema was less than a third full and whereas previously we could have chosen our own seats, we were now forced to sit in unacceptable, pre-allocated seats like regular inmates in a German concentration camp.

And now Michelle Vecchio reveals the height of her marketing prowess when she declares that forced seating allocations at BCC cinemas are no different from attending a QPAC concert or a major sports stadium.

I'm surprised she didn't throw airline seating in as well.

Michelle - there is no comparison!

When you go to your favourite coffee shop and there are plenty of spare tables, you would be unhappy if the staff told you where to sit, irrespective of your own wishes.

In my 50 years of movie going since I first enjoyed the canvas seats at the El Dorado cinema at Indooroopilly in 1957, I have never seen fist fights or punch-ups over self-selection seating arrangements.

What has changed so dramatically to force this new situation on patrons?

Ah! World's Best Practice. World's Best Bloody Practice!

As if we should all bow down and exalt: "World's Best Practice is good for me and good for Australia".

I am in full agreement with the woman in The Courier-Mail who described BCC's new arrangements as "stupid" and vowing never to return after they "has all been lumped together towards the back of the theatre, all in neat little rows on top of each other".

She went on to say: "So long BCC, it's been nice, but don't expect the people in my group to return until this stupidity is removed and people can make their own decisions as to where they want to sit".

Michelle - come down out of your ivory projection room - and talk to the people who are really angry at this new company policy which you are defending so passionately.

It used to be great in a Birch Carroll and Coyle cinema to flop into the first available seat.

Now, the only flop is the company's new seating policy.

And moviegoers in southeast Queensland who object to the new arrangements should boycott BCC and save a stack at the same time by patronising the Cinexplex Cinemas at Southbank, Balmoral, Hawthorne and Victoria Point where adults pay $6, students $5 and children $4 to attend daytime screenings Monday to Friday and just a little more at other times.

And where the popcorn, drinks and ice creams are half the price of that charged by Birch Carroll and Coyle!

It is all reminiscent of 2 years ago when the Birch Carroll and Coyle / Greater Union chain placed a ban on patrons bringing their own food and drinks into their theatres.

The only reason that the patrons were doing it was because of the crackerjack, ripoff prices which they were - and still are - being charged.

The people of Australia voted with their feet and this company - which seems to be perpetually full of out-of-touch marketing experts - was forced to back down.

Click here for a flashback to this disgraceful action by this money-hungry conglomerate.

Will they ever learn?


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