Dollar Reaches Parity...

[sinkas]

It means that original New Zealanders have a far more healthy and participatory role within their country and its society than the original Australians do here. I reckon it's a fair point. Having worked over in NZ a little I've seen first hand that Maori culture is well respected and an accepted part of normal NZ life. The recent death of an elder monarch, Princess Piki Paki saw live television coverage of the funeral and a national week of moarning - wouldn't happen here.

and you as an immigrant care to blame the indigenous australians for their plight?

 

[geoffi]

It means that original New Zealanders have a far more healthy and participatory role within their country and its society than the original Australians do here. I reckon it's a fair point. Having worked over in NZ a little I've seen first hand that Maori culture is well respected and an accepted part of normal NZ life. The recent death of an elder monarch, Princess Piki Paki saw live television coverage of the funeral and a national week of moarning - wouldn't happen here.

No. It wouldn't happen here. But that's because there is no 'Aboriginal culture', any more than there is 'a European culture' or 'an African culture'. The Maori are more or less one people with a shared language. Aborigines are many different peoples with different languages and cultures.

And you wouldn't find, nor would you ever have found, an Aboriginal 'monarch' or 'princess' or anything of the sort.

You simply cannot compare the two cases.

 

[Nick JD]

NZ ain't no ethnic harmony.

 

[DJR]

<flamesuit> Keep it on topic guys, this is a brewing forum not a socio-political discourse forum.

 

[Brewindo]

Just ordered 2 Perlick 525ss from US. ~AU$100 + AU$20 postage, including shanks. Hope I get them :unsure: ???

But hey, take a chance, the price is right ATM.

 

[Aus_Rider_22]

There we go.

If only I could think of something that I need from the US! :blink:

 

[big78sam]

My Crankandstein mill is on the way! I ended up lashing out on the 2D for easy gap adjustment so the improvement in the exchange rate in effect allowed me to get an free upgrade

 

[Pollux]

This is the point where I really want 5.11 tactical to hurry up and get international shipping sorted.......

Their tactical pants are awesome, but I'd much rather pay $60 for them from the states than $90 locally......

 

[Sammus]

This is the point where I really want 5.11 tactical to hurry up and get international shipping sorted.......

Their tactical pants are awesome, but I'd much rather pay $60 for them from the states than $90 locally......

I thought tactical pants was just a fancy word for cargo pants?

 

[beerbrewer76543]

Fancy pants?

 

[brettprevans]

Completely non brewing related but tactical pants got me thinking... one for the bikers... Kevlar jeans any cheaper from US than draggins here? Bike leathers etc

 

[Pollux]

Sammus, they are effectively cargo pants, but tend to be better quality and higher in the durability stakes than the general fare available here...

And who doesn't want teflon coated pants with ripstop technology???

 

[chadjaja]

Can anyone that ordered perlicks from our fav ebay seller give me an indication of the shipping time? I had some sent on the 19th of October and they still haven't arrived yet other priority mail from the US has beat them here by a week or so. I usually get stuff from the West coast quicker than east coast of US and he is in Chicago so I would expect some delays but.....

 

[pk.sax]

A good 1.5 US cent lead on the greenback according to xe.com

And to boot, personally this makes a mental impact - Aussie dollar can buy ~1 Indian rupee more than the USD. Now that's something I haven't seen for a while. USD has gone south wrt a currency I usually index against as india tends to try n keep the rupee down too. It was on the news that Obama is visiting India to secure business for the US farmers etc to help pull them out of the mess, n we are making (allowing to be made) ourselves pricier. Damn interest rates etc etc.... I almost wish I voted for the libs last election.

 

[Batz]

Good read

Much to Mr. Smith's frustration, and my bank's delight, I'm a huge fan of internet shopping. But as I constantly remind him, the hours I spend shopping online are the hours I save him in a shopping centre.

Firstly, you have the sheer convenience of shopping from your work, or from home in the comfort of your PJ's, with a glass of wine next to the keyboard. And secondly, if you're like me and have perfected shopping into a fine art, there's the 'present feeling' you get when your purchase finally arrives.

To be honest, I'd probably do more shopping from local online retailers if the postage costs were more competitive. Australia Post hasn't really encouraged shopping online because their costs are so high.

Clearly, I'm not alone. Even more so now, thanks to our rising dollar, more and more Australians are logging on to shop overseas.

However, for many Australians, we don't just shop online for convenience. More than ever before, we are shopping online, and sending our hard earned dollars overseas, simply because it's cheaper to get it from America. Or China. Or Europe. Perhaps even Greenland these days!

And guess what? Aussie retailers don't like it. The Australian retail industry is worth about $292 billion, and it's estimated that this year Australians will spend about $6 billion online.

They think they're losing out on a chunk of that income. Well, they are, but not a whole lot.

Quite simply, why should you pay more when you know you can get a product cheaper elsewhere?

I certainly won't. As every other basic living cost is on the rise, every dollar saved there is another dollar towards something you really want.

In a recent interview, Russell Zimmerman head of the Australian Retailers Association is 'crying out' to the government to fix this problem. What problem? He cites job losses, business closing down and all other dramatic scenarios if a stop isn't put to this madness! When will the pesky consumer learn to pay higher prices for far less options?

In 2005 the government increased the amount you could spend overseas before paying any GST or duties. As of today, if you spend less than $1,000, anything you buy overseas won't attract a tax charge.

But, for an Australian retailer because of the volume they purchase in, they must pay taxes. It's simply unavoidable.

Zimmerman, appealing to the government's need for someone else's money has reminded the government that it's missing out on revenue, 'There's around $6 billion worth of goods coming in without any form of duty or GST being paid on them... there is around $600 million worth of GST the government is missing out on.'

He's even suggested that import value be lowered to $400 and then apply duties or GST. The problem isn't that retailers are under threat of closing down. At the moment, people shopping online is more about eating into retailer profits, which no business likes.

But what's worrying is that he expects that government to 'save' the industry by forcing more tax on people. Considering that online shopping accounts for little more than 2% of the entire industry you have to think they must be really desperate for sales.

Instead of trying to get the government to tax you even more and make you pay more for goods, perhaps he should be listening to why consumers are shopping online rather than in stores? That way they may get some of the business back.

Yes, a strong Aussie dollar has encouraged me, and many others to increase internet shopping where possible. Thanks to central bankers fiddling around with things, you can now get more for your money from overseas online stores.

But there's also the choice factor. There's a far greater variety available overseas and online. Much more than the shops offer here, and Zimmerman is missing this opportunity to hear what consumers want from their retailers.

Last time I checked, retailers were supposed to serve a purpose, but right now, that purpose isn't being met. So consumers have voted with their dollars and spent them elsewhere.

Yet, all Zimmerman wants the government to do is to 'save the industry and job losses'. Which really means increasing the taxes you pay.

Now, if items are too expensive in Australia, doesn't it make more sense to appeal to the government to lower the taxes and duties paid by retailers in order to remain competitive and keep Australian retailers in business?

Of course it does. But he knows that the government is never willingly going to give up a nice revenue stream.

It appears that he knows the only way the government will listen to his pleas is to increase tax on items bought overseas, rather than lower it for retailers so they can try to compete with online retailers.

So before the government listens to the boy crying wolf by gouging you for more tax, and while the Aussie dollar is worth more than the greenback, jump online and get yourself a bargain.

Yet again we have another vested interest who thinks the only way to save an industry is to tax the consumer more, rather than give the consumer what they want.

You can't save an industry, business or country by applying more taxing because all you end up doing are hurting the very people that support it.

Shae Smith
Assistant Editor

 

[pk.sax]

That is just right too Batz, I costs me more to get something shipped from Bendigo than from the US or UK. It costed me less to post my belongings from Germany to Australia (DHL) than it did for my friend to do so from Australia to India (whatever was cheapest). We do have some of the most ridiculous setups here.

 

[Paul H]

Good read

An over simplified rant by an indivivdual who either doesn't understand or choses to ignore the many other factors in play such as economies of scale.

:icon_cheers:

Paul

 

[JonnyAnchovy]

Completely non brewing related but tactical pants got me thinking... one for the bikers... Kevlar jeans any cheaper from US than draggins here? Bike leathers etc

Bugger - didn'y even think of this. Just spend north ov $400 for riding gear for the missus.....

 

[boriskane]

An over simplified rant by an indivivdual who either doesn't understand or choses to ignore the many other factors in play such as economies of scale.

:icon_cheers:

Paul

yeah that 'rant' may have been oversimplified, but it touched on the key solution to a problem that only has that as a plausible one.

australia= isolated location, low population, high cost of labour/high minimum wage. and in this context, the governments importation taxes policy is harmful to local business

high minimum wage in australia means that economies of scale are hard to achieve locally, and even if goods are coming from overseas, with the various importation charges, a giant costco or a kmart that runs 24/7 is not going to be profitable simply because there isnt enough demand to sustain it.

location, population and minimum wage wont be changing any time soon, so theres not much in terms of choice for a retailer who has to make huge outlays for wages, not to mention rent costs, simply to stay afloat. if youre wondering why hop farms in the US can offer such low prices, well the US has a minmum wage of ~$8/hour and a population that can afford to drive product prices down through excessive spending and allow a business to stay profitable. (although this spending is what caused the 'bubble' to begin with)

the only way to get people to spend more at retail stores in australia is to lower the prices and increase variety to compete with intl stores like the 'rant' said. if the government lowered taxes for shop owners, then owners would be able to afford to pass savings onto customers as well as take a risk on offering a greater variety of goods.

i say let the boat people in, more population the better. competition drives innovation after all and businesses will have more in their pockets at the end of the day.

'rant' over, now back to exam studies

 

[manticle]

An over simplified rant by an indivivdual who either doesn't understand or choses to ignore the many other factors in play such as economies of scale.

:icon_cheers:

Paul

Care to explain simply why people who might struggle to sometimes put food on the table should reconsider buying overseas products when the difference in their pocket is so ridiculously high then?

My understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) is that you are either a business owner or at least involved at a managerial level of business.

For those who aren't, shopping for anything CAN be as simple as less money spent = more money in pocket for basics.

Yes the economy might be more complex than that article is making out but the real effect on real people should also be takedn into account.