ALAN Fells' revelations with regard to 'price gouging' fail to identify another version of price gouging which is currently rampant in Australia. Some retailers, but mainly connected with food distribution whether it be straight retail or restaurants, are adding a 1.5 per cent surcharge to purchases by patrons paying with credit cards. How absurd.
Margins selected for products sold in retail businesses including restaurants cover not only the final net profit for the retailer, but also a sum or percentage to cover all of their business expenses. I would have expected this would include bank fees.
Today I was gouged at a well known Newcastle establishment. I paid what I consider to be top price for three products. Expense margins would have to have been built into these robust prices, otherwise management would not be doing its job. To add another 1.5 per cent to the total, a measly $1.66 in this case, is in my opinion just an unjustified rip-off without any validation. With the massive turnover of this particular business, their credit card fees would be much less than 1.5 per cent. Credit cards are now the norm in retail business. Businesses adding a surcharge in addition to their selected margin are just plain gouging when some quarters of our society are advocating a cashless society.
Richard Devon, Fishing Point
Who should pay price for race?
A CORRESPONDENT (Letters 19/2) suggests residents should pay for removal of Supercars remnants, in an extreme misinterpretation of "user pays". Should residents of country towns pay for construction of bypasses, since they want to rid their main streets of heavy traffic?
Should Supercars have paid for the track's construction in the first place? Should residents and businesses be compensated for lost trade during the race, as Sydney shopkeepers were during tramway construction?
The council made the error inviting Supercars into a residential zone, an error which they eventually addressed, and sadly now we ratepayers all share the burden of restoring normality. Since your correspondent lives in Lake Macquarie, his concerns for our financial welfare seem a little concocted.
John Beach, Cooks Hill
Teacher workload is unrealistic
THE attrition rate of new teachers is widely discussed, but there is very little research as to why teachers burnout and quit. In 2012 as a new teacher, I noticed the workload placed on teachers was unrealistic. Working 9am to 3:30pm in front of students with multiple yard duties, I wasn't provided an opportunity to complete the administrative tasks required.
To identify what was required as a new teacher, while maintaining a 40-hour work week, I drew on my business background and with the principal aware and limitations in place, I personally employed staff.
I identified that to meet the workload requirements of a new teacher I needed to have 2.5 full time support staff per teacher in addition to my teacher's aides, science lab assistant, agricultural assistant I oversaw.
These staff helped lighten the administrative demands of excursion planning, lesson preparation, programming, development of individual learning programs, diary and mandatory recording keeping, assessment writing, student marking, analysis of students performance, setting growth goals, new teacher training as well as weekly whole school meetings and professional development. These are tasks all new teachers face.
What became clear was administrators have forgotten the fact that teachers don't have time for administrative tasks. I believe it is the failure of those in educational administration that are driving teachers from the profession in droves.
Greg Adamson, Griffith
Negative gearing has got to go
ANGLICARE Australia acting executive director Maiy Azize gave her opinion on how politicians were protecting themselves in regard to negative gearing rentals ('Property investor tax breaks blamed for housing crisis', Newcastle Herald 22/1).
Ms Azize should know Labor made the reform of negative gearing a key part of Bill Shorten's platform only to be rejected by voters after a bitter campaign by the Coalition. Now we get people like Ms Azize, who I can only assume expects that we blame all politicians for the greed of the Coalition and its media backers who distorted the facts with lies. That election campaign has now caused ordinary workers to be screwed by landlords as home ownership is out of their reach.
The quicker negative gearing is abolished together with the obscene tax concession on capital gains, the sooner we can make progress for home ownership. I think we should appeal to the real culprits, the Coalition MPs that have blocked these reforms to favour their rich supporters.
Frank Ward OAM, Shoal Bay
New head of Reserve Bank is impressive
SO far, new Reserve Bank of Australia boss Michele Bullock impresses me. She won't be pressured into raising or lowering interest rates whichever the case may be. She's more impressive to me than the former boss, Phillip Lowe.
David Davies, Blackalls Park
Contempt in Joyce's descriptions
IF Barnaby Joyce has such a low opinion of his colleagues and workplace then maybe he shouldn't be a representative of our federal government at all. Do not pass go, do not collect your $200 or your ill-earned pension. To describe them the way he did shows his contempt for our leaders.
John Bradford, Beresfield
Ranking promises a slippery slope
GLEN Wilson (Letters 17/1), I did not ask who supports Labor's broken tax promise, I asked where do those who support the breaking of this promise draw the line on breaking pre-election promises. Is a promise made to high income earners of less value than one made to those of us less well off? When recently asked whether the tax cuts would go ahead as repeatedly promised Albo said "my word is my bond".
Dave McTaggart, Edgeworth
Rates sting differs over the border
MARK Olsen (Letters 19/2); you don't have to worry about paying rates for Newcastle since you're in a different LGA.
Bryn Roberts, New Lambton
Don't use taxes to promote breaks
THE federal government should not have to spend $40 million to explain income tax cuts. Surely the electorate understands that all workers are getting a cut to their income tax originally laid down under the Morrison government. The use of taxpayer funds to promote government initiatives, especially one developed by the Opposition, is questionable at best. The reporting of the stage three tax cuts was confusing and there was a move to undermine this valuable initiative in sections of the media.
