Emissions Trading Scheme

I think we should start this one off with a link to today's article regarding this. Emissions Trading Scheme

From what I understand, we are all going to be paying yet another tax based on "pollution" but it seems like the taxes from this are not even going to be used to alleviate the "pollution" issue.

Why on earth does another tax happen and then it's being redistributed to the low income earners, pensioners, carers and such?

I really don't understand how our government can think by taking more money from people is going to make anything any better. All I can see is those of us that do contribute to the economy are going to be slugged yet again and in the end we will all have to increase our prices to make up for it, which in turn will end up hurting the other end of the scale.

I will admit it, I never voted for the labour party and never will. Everyone that didn't vote for them knew this sort of crap was going to happen and now are dreading it even more.

If this tax has to come in, 100% of the funds should be put back into the country as subsidies for those that do help with pollution by adding solar power, changing their cars and anything else that they can do to help. 

It should also be given back to businesses that help with it. For some reason a business couldn't take advantage of the water tank refunds and refund for adding gas to their vehicles because they are a business. Why, they are the ones that use more of everything so they should be allowed to help out and be able to take advantage of the refunds as well.

Ok that's enough of my rant today. This one got to me as I'm really sick of this government we have in.

Faz Out 

Australia's Internet Choices

Why is it, Australia is still in the age of slow internet speeds?

Are we not one of the biggest countries around?

For some reason our telecommunications industry seems to be happy to leave us Aussies in the dark ages when it comes to hi-speed internet.

Yes we have Adsl2 and Cable, but compared to other countries this is just an advanced version of dialup.

I don't know about you, but when I was in the US early last year the first thing I noticed surfing the net was how incredibly quick it is over there. 

Their wireless connections were astonishingly fast. It really put into perspective how far behind we are in the age of the internet.

Outside of this, the prices for internet over there are so cheap for these high speeds. We truly do get ripped here in Australia for internet usage. Whilst I was there, I had the use of this hi-speed wireless, unlimited downloads (no speed caps) for a month for only $29.95. 

Here in Aus, we pay for hi-speed ADSL or ADSL2 and get told once we hit our monthly usage we get capped to 64kbps to bring us into unlimited usage.

On top of all this, hotel's in the US gave free unlimited usage of either their lan lines or their wireless lines. This is something I have yet to see here in Australia. We seem to get ripped on average $10 a day in hotels just to use a crappy slow connection.

I can't even imagine what's going to happen when we finally do get T1 lines in Aus, and the rediculous prices we are going to be charged to use this service.

Faz Out

Petrol Price Fluctuations, why?

I've been thinking about why petrol prices rise and fall during the week and why.

It seems to me that the petroleum industry is one of the few that can rip off the public just because it's pay day, or a public holiday.

Why is it so that on Wednesday afternoon at around 4pm the price of fuel rises by usually 4cents or so. Just because the majority of the population live week to week and fill up their fuel tanks around this time, the petrol stations think this is a great time to rip it to the public and make a quick buck.

A long weekend comes up, and the same thing happens, the price rises again.

Just yesterday fuel was $1.59 per litre and then this morning it had jumped to $1.65. 

I have two businesses myself and am sure that if I raised my prices on a day to day basis, I would never make a cent. In the last 3 years I have never increased my prices until last month due to all the suppliers doing it. In general the building industry has a price every 12 months, and most companies wear these costs increases themselves or end up pricing themselves out of the market. 

Fuel has increased on average 65 cents per litre since I started my business. Thats a fair whack of increase to take out of our own pockets. I'm sure that most people have not had that sort of payrise themselves in the last 3 to 5 years.

The powers that be should step in and say enough is enough, the price of fuel needs to stay fixed permanently and evaluated on a month by month basis dependent on the world price of fuel.

Faz Out

Architects, what's the point?

Ok so Architects are a necessary evil. Most people that have had to use them would probably agree. But when dealing with tradesmen that have to work with Architects you will probably find that most times the Architect should just stick with the initial designs and leave the nitty gritty to the tradesmen.

I think personally they are just glorified draftsmen. Yeh they know how to design a house or building, so does a draftsmen, but they can do it with a little bit more of a flourish for design and look.

That is where it should end.

Nearly every single project I personally have worked on that has had Architects specify it, there have been issues that the Architect have no idea how to deal with.

Being in the cabinet making industry I deal with alot of specialized products and hardware. Most times I can foresee an issue that is designed before starting to manufacture and deal with it then. But every now and then there is something that the Architect wants to do that is either just plain stupid or not possible. Sometimes I think they do not look at their ideas from all angles to see whether they are either possible or practical.

To make the matters worse, they cost an arm and a leg to the client and then the client feels that the Architect should be involved in every decision because of this outlaid expense.

So in all that, if you really have to use an Architect, I suggest get them to just do the look and design and leave the actual manufacturing and installation decisions to the tradesmen that do it every single day.

Faz out

Unions and Strikes

It seems that now that Labour is back in government that the Unions are stepping up and strikes are happening more often.

Qantas is being hammered by them recently to the poor flyers dismay. Today I read in the paper that the fire fighters are considering action as well for a pay rise.

Ok so I understand people want a pay rise, but does going on strike really help to get it. From my understanding when you go on strike you don't get paid for the time you are striking. Does a measly % really make up for the lost income when on an extended strike?

Wouldn't it be easier to personally go and talk to your bosses and ask them for the payrise? Most bosses would prefer an upfront and honest approach as opposed to being forced into a situation.

It just seems that now the unions have a foot in the door, they aren't planning on taking it out again.

I am sure most people in this country knew this was coming, but for some reason the majority still voted Labour in just for a new change. The old saying "a change is as good as a holiday" seems pretty sad when it causes issues in the country.

Faz out

Alcopop Tax Increase

How much has this topic made some changes to the cost of having a drink after work.

As someone that doesn't mind having a bourbon after a long days work, I was quite disappointed to see the amount it increased to the price.

Personally I drink Wild Turkey bourbon, and don't mind buying the premixed in carton form to save a few dollars when buying them. But the price increased by an average of $1 per bottle in the carton. Quite an increase. Granted I still buy them this way when I'm off to a party or camping and such. But I always have bottles in my own bar to mix my own when I feel like a drink.

After being at a few parties recently that had 18year olds and other age groups, the one thing I noticed was that instead of them bringing premixed drinks, they all seemed to turn up with full bottles.

There has to be a worse situation when they are mixing their own drinks. The measures are not accurate so they drink alot more than they normally would. At least with premixed drinks, the measures are done right and are controlled.

Instead of a tax increase, wouldn't it have been better to bring in an age card that stops them from buying more than say a 6 pack per day? or per week? if the government is truly interested in trying to stop binge drinking, limiting it is the only real way I can foresee it to be possible.

Considering they now have laws in place that don't allow young drivers to have passengers in their car after certain times of the day and other laws for young drivers that older ones don't have, they should be able to do the same with the drinking.

To me I believe this was more of a money grab from an area that most of Australia enjoys regularly. If it was indeed to curb binge drinking, then why is the more responsible part of the population paying the price of it as well?

Faz out

Free quoting of services

This topic is something that I think about all the time. Since I am in an industry that requires quoting to be done on a regular basis to continue gaining work, it is a necessary evil.

Just about all quoting goes about being done for free. This really means that the business owner is spending anywhere from 3 to who knows how many hours working for the possible clients for free on those quotes on the hope that they will win the quote.

I look at it like this. Generally it takes 30 mins or so to drive to a quote and another 30 to drive back. As a general rule I try not to spend anymore than 1 hour in a quote getting measurements and determining what the client is wanting. Then after spending a further 45mins to 1 hour doing the design and then another 15 to 30 mins doing the actual pricing. I figure it works out to 3 to 4 hours for a basic quote, this would mean no outsourced products that have to be faxed off to get prices on as well, or any out of the ordinary items that require special attention to quote on.

Say one would do 3 quotes a week, thats an average of 9 to 12 hours a week on just basic quotes. All of a sudden 1 day a week is spent working for clients that more than likely you will never recoup. 

I have always thought that free quoting should be thrown out the door and customers should be asked to pay a minimum fee of say $100 to get a quote done. If the quote is won then the $100 should be taken off of the price. This would at least allow tradesmen to get paid something for their time and also cover expenses in travel time, and would probably also get people to stick with around 3 quotes instead of some getting up to 10.

I have personally had quotes that have taken nearly a week to price up. Some industries it's quite simple to walk in and quote on the spot EG: curtains, but others like my own (cabinet making) that isn't possible due to the options that people ask for. Same goes for building of houses and architectural work.

More than likely this will never happen and it's probably something that myself being someone that has to do this will just have to live with. But wouldn't it be nice if people realised that tradesmen probably do charge more for their services because of all the down time that they don't actually get paid for.

I guess the main thing to think of is 3 quotes is a good amount to get. Don't jump on the cheapest quote if its way differant to the others as normally it would mean they have missed something and it's gonna hurt when you find out they did, and also be courteous and call the tradesmen to let them know whether they have either won or lost the quote.

Faz out