Fair Go [tvnz.co.nz]
Received from John Evans
Wed, 28 Oct 2015 at 7:55 p.m.
Tonight on Fair Go – https://www.tvnz.co.nz/ondemand/fair-go/28-10-2015 – we find that the Bike Barn franchise has been in breach of the Sale of Goods Act and is being investigated by the Commerce Commission.
The great shame is that the councillors on the DCC will spend $47 million of your money to advance the commercial interests of a private business group.
When will we get some non naïve councillors – apart from Hilary and Lee.
For Jehovah’s sake Dunedin
WAKE UP.
Your representatives are naïve and being conned by outside interests and inside corruption.
[ends]
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
Image: 4.bp.blogspot.com – ScrollCornerJPRfinished, frame added by whatifdunedin
What if? Dunedin... 
http://www.bikebarn.co.nz/returns-and-warranties/
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https://www.consumer.org.nz/articles/layby-fees-breach-sales-rules
29 Jan 2015
Layby fees breach sales rules
Bought an item on layby and been charged a “service” fee? You’re not alone.
Consumer member Steve Strawbridge started a layby with Bike Barn before Christmas. He later discovered a $30 service fee had been added to the price of his new bike. When he queried the charge, Steve says the store manager told him it was set by head office and the store couldn’t do anything about it. But our consumer adviser Maggie Edwards says retailers shouldn’t be loading fees on to laybys.
http://marsinsights.net/2015/06/01/who-doesnt-love-a-bargain/
marsaut / June 1, 2015 / Managerial Insights
Who doesn’t love a bargain?
Bike Barn’s famous half-off-retail-price sales are now under investigation by the Commerce Commission.
http://tvnz.co.nz/fair-go/sale-really-half-price-video-6323425
Fair Go, TVNZ 27.5.15
Is that sale really “half price” ?
Wow, so grubby a 48 hour soaking in carbolic would be needed to remove surface grime.
And then there’s all the deep-down dirt….
In the Sunday Star Times, today 8/11/2015 on page A2, headlined ‘Women behind in cycling uptake’.
{7.11.15 Stuff: Women cyclists trailing far behind men: survey -Eds}
The New Zealand government is pumping $296 million into cycleway projects over the next three years. It is a great deal of wasted money merely to appease a green requirement of a vote in parliament, probably for Supply and to keep the National party in power.
$47 million plus DCC overbudget failures is to be spent at least in Dunedin.
A Nielsen survey reported today in the SST, suggests that men were 3 times more likely to cycle to work than women. Men were also more likely to take up cycling or mountain biking (which does not need a cycleway) over the next 6 months.
The reasons why women were less likely apparently included comfort (no mirrors, no soft seats or heating) and safety despite the overspend on cycleways.
It is clear that the “Build it and they will come” philosophy, strong in bureaucratic circles at this time with other people’s money, has again been proven to be an irresponsible and extravagant gross error of judgement.
An organised “around the Wellington Harbour bike ride only attracted about 120 cyclists”, given a Wellington population of around 450,000 of which presumably around half are women, means that 120/220,000 women took an organised opportunity, less than .055% of the population, even if you assume there are as many female kids as women it is around 1% of the population.
99% of the female population were either at home or travelling in a car.
When one analyses the ACTUAL use of cycle lanes in Dunedin and Otago (apart from the rail trail which does NOT travel alongside a road), it is apparent that the cycleways scam is
1. A waste of public money
2. A failure
3. A philosophy which should be abandoned before the government of New Zealand becomes a total laughing stock like the DCC has proven to be in its mismanagement of Dunedin ratepayers’ hard earned.
I think there are another couple of angles to the government’s huge expenditure in cycleways 1) jobs for the boys (and mates) in the construction business 2) the forlorn hope that this will ‘trickle down’ and stimulate the economy (it won’t – the reality with money is ‘suck up and stay there’, not ‘trickle down’ – the rich are rich because they hang on to their money) and 3) sell New Zealand to tourists. There are much, much better things the stupid government could spend the money on, like the health system.
I am seriously thinking of making a Public Forum submission to the DCC on a totally overlooked transport mode that has MORE sustainability features than the bicycle: the shopping trolley. Why is this brilliant, simple, elegant technology which combines the mechanical advantages of the wheel and the lever not even recognised, let alone supported? (I am actually extremely annoyed that the new ORC regulations for luggage carried on buses pretty much prohibit shopping trolleys. Will have to have a talk to them about this ….)
I guess the DCC might suspect I am pulling their leg. It has happened before.
Shopping trolley or pull cart (some models come with fold-out seat):
Yahoo! Lovely, Elizabeth. At the risk of boring your readers to death, I must say that the Chinese models (like the one at the top) have cunning built-in obsolescence. The centre of the wheel is made out of plastic which eventually cracks. No wonder – with a very long-lasting aluminium frame and a replaceable bag, if the trolleys had good wheels, the manufacturers would probably sell only about three per customer’s lifetime.. This kind has a pivoting foot so the trolley doesn’t fall over when you are not hanging on to it. (Very useful.) However, Suzy, a NZ company, who also used to make ironing boards, made an even better shopping trolley (I have a vintage model – with good wheels!) which had a fold-down handle – very good for getting the trolley on the bus or putting it in the boot of a car. There is even also a smaller backpack variety – which has retractable wheels so it converts into a trolley when too heavy to use as a backpack. People often say to me, “Where did you get that shopping trolley?!!” Because they are extremely envious and want one. There is a wonderful sustainable local industry opportunity here which the DCC could foster. An export industry even. If we could make railway carriages, we could sure make shopping trolleys. Also promote the concept with ‘the Stuart St Challenge’ – just how fast can you pull a loaded shopping trolley up Stuart St?
Seriously though, Paris (for example) is a walking city, with many people living in flats in the inner city. So they go for a stroll down the road to the fresh produce markets, sensibly taking their shopping trolley. Good for car users too, to get all that heavy shopping between the shops and the car park. So good for Park and Ride. Someone was telling me about free city-provided public bicycles in Brisbane. Well, public shopping trolleys would be an even better idea. And virtually NO INFRASTRUCTURE needed!
I wonder if Mayor Cull’s sustainability dreams would be realized if Dunedin became a ‘shopping trolley city’.
I am an ex-cyclist and you can carry a lot more personal freight with a shopping trolley than you can on a bicycle. On a bicycle, you need to be able to accelerate fast to be safe in city traffic and you can’t do this if the bike’s loaded. On the other hand, virtually any fitness level can safely get fitter hauling round a shopping trolley. Sort of invisible inbuilt gearing – but in your own body. So hills are no problem. You just go slower.
Diane, “sell New Zealand to tourists. There are much, much better things the stupid government could spend the money on, like the health system.”
As for tourists, get over the idea that some tourists are to be discouraged. Freedom campers in particular. They “should” pay for accommodation, go to paid camping grounds.
These people are ambassadorial investments and very cheap ones, treated the right way. Christchurch organised toilets (gross but functional) in a hurry. With time to think about it ahead of time, such as happens on big building projects, they don’t have to be gross.
I have friends who tramp, drive out to where they want to start from, sleep in the car then start their climb/tramp in quiet places where they can enjoy the NZ outdoors in peace. They know the old rule about poo (shallow burial is enough, it soon disappears) and other rubbish (you carried it in so carry it out).
Anyone can manage a campervan or car or tent without “facilities” using a bucket and sawdust.
We’ve got effluent disposal places for stock trucks. Hint….
Campervans with full onboard facilities could have a big clearly visible sticker to make identification easy and pacify the neighbours.
Instead of creating neighbourhood bad feeling, and officiousness among officials, and giving visitors a mean experience, invest in hiring portable ablution blocks and place them where the demand is observed. Encourage all and sundry to use their phones to dob in mess-makers, but leave the good travellers alone. They want to spend a night in a beautiful part of the country? They want to save money, spend it on experiences and local food and wine? That’s good, isn’t it?
Invest in other people’s advertising – every delighted tourist shares photos, posts on facebook, tells the folks back home, and when they’re older and have a bit more money they want to come back to the place they had the best holiday ever. Don’t spoil that with solvable elfinsafety issues, or protecting camping ground and motel operators. That’s short term thinking. Tourism as an industry should be a forever thing, keeping NZ clean, keeping it as easy-going as possible, not stomping on visitors’ great adventure. They paid a heap to come here, most of them could have gone somewhere else for much less cost. Investment means they always remember not only that it was a beautiful place but that they had a great time among nice people who did their best to ensure their experience was good every day.
Free advertising is worth paying for by way of providing facilities, it just requires a change from individual payment/punishment model to an investment attitude.
Sorry, Hype, but human pooh does not quickly disappear and break down. And is a serious health hazard. If you get enough of those campers, they will soon be digging up other people’s pooh when looking for a place to bury their own.
Hype, your taking a job from a bureaucrat, just like parking meter wardens and traffic cops, the council dog truck drivers and other unnecessary influences on a pleasant life are jobs for people who are in many cases unemployable generally in a society that favours Production over Bureaucracy.
With Agenda 21 dependent upon Totalatarianist Socialism, such stopper jobs have become the norm.
Creationism? Not in our backyard.
Here’s the lowdown on s****** in the wilderness. I lived without electricity and reticulated water supply for a number of years so I know about this. But the best way to dispose of you know what is to see that it gets positioned on newspaper and then thoroughly burn it on your camp fire. Just don’t set the whole forest on fire in the process! And, of course, you can’t do this during a fire ban.
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2011/04/is-it-okay-to-poop-outside
I still think the majority of people cannot be trusted to do this properly. And my family had ten acres for disposal. Your campers are going to be limited by the land area available for pooh disposal. And if anyone contaminates a water supply, you are looking at typhoid and other horrors. Intestinal worms (ICK!) are going to be the least of your worries.
I wasn’t thinking of situations where an area is frequented by large numbers but of the off the beaten track places people who like to be away from the hordes with their cellphones go. For popular places readily found by local and overseas travellers I suggest the investment option – toilet blocks. Relocatable is good, avoiding big spends and being able to change in response to changes in popularity, seasons etc. And for moderately popular picnic/camping places, perhaps bags & bins like for dog poo in town.
When I travelled along Australia’s west coast studying cycle lane usage from Perth to Darwin, I parked at night in various places avoiding mossies, ants, snakes, etc and I was only once accosted. The Australian Prime minister was in Broome and his security guard moved me away from the fresh cool sea breeze into a mossy infested humid inland park.
On most if not all occasions I was able to find a public toilet and shower and rubbish bins to complete the morning ablutions.
At some places after travelling at 130 k/hour for twelve hours there were no motels and thus I went bush. There is no reason why at 4 hour intervals from towns such facilities even with coin operated services could be provided in New Zealand.
It is reasonable to provide high end accommodation for the 1% market, but with a world wide recession it is reasonable to look after some of the 99% who are on a form of budgeted trip.
I second your motion! Hype.
Oh and of course I almost forgot, not a cyclist from Perth to Darwin, but at least the WA government were smarter than eastern states. They had not attempted a cycle lane along the main highway. Uncommon that I know but Smart. Their tourism dollar is aimed at the 99% who drive cars rather than the less than 1% who ride a bike. Particularly as most of them have been justified by overpaid bureaucrats aiming for the same 1% of tourists whereas the real justification is more tax dollars for the public service. The same philosophy that drives the climate change mantra.
As detectives say- Follow the money.
### ODT Online Thu, 12 Nov 2015
Easing the path for cycleways
Cycleways across the country could become a little easier to build in future after the New Zealand Transport Agency was granted new powers by Environment Minister Nick Smith. Dr Smith yesterday approved the NZTA’s application for requiring authority status under the Resource Management Act (RMA).
Read more
█ The approval gave the agency the ability to apply to councils to set aside land specifically for cycleways and shared paths, in the same way as it was already able to do for roads and motorways. It would also be able to designate cycleway routes in future. (ODT)